Day 12 Treis-Karden to Bullay, 28 km

Some big ups and big downs today. 795 metres up and 754 down. But the rain was less than predicted. It was a typical Scottish or Galician day! Jacket on, jacket off. Wait as long as possible to put on the rain pants. Mostly I was walking in mist in the morning. There was real rain for about 20 minutes, and then this afternoon it was mostly just cloudy, and the sun even managed to come out a couple of times.

The Mosel is a very windy river. Today’s route went well inland, up over some sizeable hills, and then back down to the river after having missed a few oxbows. And then it did the same thing once again to get to where I’m staying tonight.

Most of the day was in the woods. There were a few cool huts along the way. The sightseeing highlight was an 800 year old cloister - Kloster Maria Engleport - that sits in a beautiful valley, with its own walking paths and gardens. The cafe was closed but the public restrooms were open - always welcome in a walk! I dropped my pack and pushed open the door. A young nun in full habit was doing the cleaning! Upstairs a beautiful simple church that actually had women in the murals on the walls.

After the cloister, the path was right back into the woods, following a small book for a good ways uphill, and then a wide forest track for a few kilometres. A long gradual climb that came out into fields just as it started to rain. Five minutes later I was at the first of 3 huts where I finally put on my rain pants and ate the sandwich I had made at breakfast.

The descent into Beilstein around mid day was spectacular. You start getting views when you are still way way up high. The river, a couple of villages, the patchwork vineyards, a ruined castle. It took ages to get down.

Beilstein is a very pretty, full of wine places and guest houses and restaurants and cafes, almost all of the latter two being closed because it’s Monday. Easy to buy a bottle of wine though! Coffee was more challenging. I ended up on a crowded terrace looking over the river, with an $8 cappuccino and an exceptionally good view. I’d hoped to sit inside but that was asking a bit too much.

I did not see a soul today on the Camino. There was a lot of out-loud German practice, some singing, and some osteoporosis prevention (jumping). After the coffee, there was one more very long up, which included a few hundred metres plastered to the edge of a road where cars were blasting by. The turn off from the road was surprisingly subtle - a small painted arrow on the pavement pointing to the other side where there was a barely perceptible overgrown path. Were they not allowed to put markers on the guardrails on the road (the obvious place)? Who is looking down at the road when they are worried about cars? I’d checked the track on my phone at just the right time. And only then did I see the arrow.

Another solid hour of climbing, then a bit of a reprieve and then a very muddy path along the edge of a field, rising slightly and then finally the very top. The view back from where I had come went on forever. And for a few minutes the sun came out.

And then the long long long descent to Bullay. About 8 kilometres of going down. More fantastic views. Still no people. Lots of falling acorns and other nuts. Every so often a small cyclone of leaves.

Bullay is tiny. I have a good room with good rads (my washed socks are already dry!). This room, like lots of others, has no shampoo. Of course I usually carry a tiny thing of shampoo and almost never need it and so this time I left it at home.

Dinner in the restaurant of a place that sells wine. Flammküchen. Sort of a pizza flatbread thing with paper thin crust and some kind cream under the cheese. And a glass of very nice grauburgunder - aka Pinot Gris. The wine has been between 4 and 6 euros a glass and is very very good.

The guidebook says the elevation tomorrow is 1600 metres. It has to be a mistake. Wikiloc and Komoot say 800. Hopefully the relief of it not being twice that much will make the 800 feel not that bad!Read more