Day 8 Neckartenzlingen to Tübingen 25 km

Foggy, foggy morning! When I booked the accommodation for last night, I was a bit disappointed that I would be in the river valley, missing a few kilometres on the Jakobsweg up the hill. Both guide books talk about the great views up there. Well, there were no views this morning!!!

I have not been doing well at leaving early this trip. Sometimes that’s because of when breakfast is served, but today it was just because I was not moving very quickly! I managed to get out by 8:20. The plan was to try to get to the city before it was too late to get a good coffee! And I was not exactly sure how far I had to go.

No places to stop today, so I bought a sandwich and a pastry in Neckartenzlingen. Then I crossed a bridge over a small river and, like yesterday, started straight uphill. There were about 150 steps and then a paved path rising very steeply to catch up with the Jakobsweg in Altenriet. On a not foggy day, the views must be really amazing.

After leaving Altenriet, the path followed the usual series of tracks through forests and fields. Today’s novelties: fields of sunflowers, and fields with horses. Someone told me the other day that if you see an apple tree with a yellow band around it, it means the owner is not going to harvest the apples and so you can pick them. I saw a bunch of them today. And they had no apples left.

Today’s major sightseeing spot: the kloster and schloss at Bebenhausen. Beautiful, impressive buildings, courtyards, and walkways. I can tell you nothing about them except that it was cool to walk through them and fun that the camino wound around the whole precinct.

The last big hill before Tübingen felt about 5 times longer than it was! Lots of people out walking and cycling as you get closer to the city. And by then it was a gorgeous sunny day and who would not want to be out in it!

I made it into the city before it was too late to have coffee (barely). Beautiful small city. Little streams and tiny canals - that’s maybe not the right word - but there is lots of water in the city centre. Lots of bookstores. I went to several looking for the guidebook for Jakobsweg part 2. But no luck, I’ll have to find it in Koblenz tomorrow. Bookstores here make me envious! A whole wall of language learning materials, a whole section of guidebooks for German long distance walks, divided by region.

I’m staying tonight in a single room in the youth hostel. There are about 3 million children here. Or so it sounded when I came back from dinner. I’m very happy to be at the very end if a very long hallway where I can’t hear them!

Short day tomorrow into Rottenburg and then this part of this camino is done!Read more