When the Trail Slips Away

8:18 AM

Here we go again. I slept well, but my pack is too heavy because of all the food, and I still have to climb. If I want to cover this section in four stages, I’ll have to walk more than 40 km per day. It’s a matter of adopting the right mindset and just starting. You walk until you get tired,, and whether you reach the goal becomes less important. The only thing you know is that you still have a long way to go.

10:22 AM

I notice that long walking pretty quickly in my neck. The backpack is really too heavy because of all the food; I think I can last about 10 days now. The clouds hang low and it’s damp. Visibility is only a few hundred meters, unfortunately, because now I don’t know whether this is the Ardennes or if I’m actually in a mountain landscape.

12:20 PM

In the Netherlands we would say: the weather is awful. You can get seriously wet here, so I’m walking in a poncho to keep it airy. It’s muggy, damp weather with a fine drizzle. Finally, I climb a bit above the clouds and the sun breaks through slightly. So poncho off, stuffed into the bottom compartment, and getting ready for the descent. I take my first step, slip on the rocky path, and fall off to the side of the trail. Luckily, I can cling to an old tree stump, but by now I’m hanging upside down down the mountain.

That’s a very short route downhill—let’s not do that. I wriggle my way back to the trail and scramble upright. Damn, that really still hurts. Another tear in my pants, and my body is leaking in several places. Take a breath, put some music on, and just keep walking calmly again.

1:14 PM

The vegetation is different from the previous sections. I’m now walking at an average of 1,000 meters in the steaming Ardennes.

4:34 PM

Blimey—if you want your hair standing on end, this is the place to be.

4:45 PM

6:19 PM

I arrive at a campsite and there’s already an Austrian there. My neck hurts a lot, so I want to take a breather here. The Austrian says that the campsites further on are bad and uneven. He’s a NOBO and started at the “Bridge of the Gods,” the border between Washington and Oregon, so he would know that the campsites get worse if I continue. So I pitch my tent here as well and crawl into my sleeping bag. Time to warm up!

Total: 32.93 km in 9:20 hours
1,253 m up, 1,020 m down