Hiking With Dogs - Tumblr Posts

I feel that by now a few introductory words are in order.

I have a plan. It consists basically of walking from Denmark to Spain, ending on Cape Finisterre on the western coast of Spain.

My only company on the road will be Chanel. She is a six year old Jack Russell terrier with a slightly neurotic mind, an abundance of energy and an obsessive curiosity. She became mine a little over a month ago when her owner became too ill to care for her.

The Danish part we have already covered, following Hærvejen/E1 from Nr. Snede to Padborg (the border). The German part of the trail follows the E1 long distance path, the Rheinsteig, and some trails found on Waymarked Trails. The French trails are The Alsace wine trail and the Camino de Santiago from Thann to Vézelay, and from Vézelay to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. From Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port the plan is to follow the GR10 trail, which runs along the Pyrenees all the way to the coast and Irún where the Camino del Norte starts. The Camino continues on to Santiago de Compostela, and from there it’s only 90 km to Cape Finisterre.

I am hoping to spend around four to six months on this project. Any longer and I would just be drifting, any less and I would be setting myself up for failure. But who knows, maybe I fall and twist my ankle a few days across the border and this will all seem pretty silly… Hopefully I will make it through without a (serious) scratch, and return home with some great stories to tell.

I will try to keep this blog updated with stories and observations as well as pretty pictures.

Wish me luck.

Starting again after a long and final break. The completely clear sky hints at an amazingly starry night. Here in the quiet of the countryside I doubt any light will spoil it. At least I hope so. Chanel has been her usual merry self, rolling in just about anything smelly along the road. However, for some strange reason, that I am grateful for, she has not retained any bad smells. This is a great comfort, since we will be sharing a sleeping bag.

We have finally crossed the border into Germany. Unfortunately, on our first night here, my sleeping pad broke, which resulted in me waking up every 3 hours having to blow it up anew. It would probably have been hilarious if I hadn't been so tired. Luckily, a very friendly German couple who lived nearby helped me fix it, as well as helping me buy a pre-paid SIM card. However, despite this minor setback, the road here was absolutely stunning, the weather was fantastic and the bordershop where I resupplied sold cheap Erdinger Weissbier. My favorite. The first picture is of Chanel rolling around in the grass on top of a beautiful stone bridge where we took a break. The other pictures are of the border crossing and the pole with jakobsweg (Camino de Santiago) markings.

The greatest thing about this trip so far has actually been the people we have met. I had imagined that I would spend most nights in my tent somewhere along the road, occasionally paying for a camping spot. And I had to get used to the idea that most of my toilet business would probably be outside.This has not been the case. Not even close.

I have always been bad at asking for help. I don’t mind helping others, but I prefer to “go it alone” when it comes to myself. Whether it be learning, paying for drinks, understanding foreign languages, working on a project, etc… Usually, when I finally ask for help, I am frustrated, defeated and completely boned.

So ever since my first experience of being invited into someone’s home (tak, Birgitte!), and mustering the courage to ask if I could pitch my tent in their garden (because the place I had planned to camp was closed) I have given myself the challenge of asking to sleep in people’s gardens most of the time. So far I have always had a place to sleep if I asked for it, and even better, I have made some fantastic new friends.

I especially have to thank Manuela, Stefan and Jonas, who let me crash at their place for three nights. And crashing is putting it lightly, since after the first night I was pretty much given my own room! We drank red wine and beer(Erdinger Weissbier!), we talked until late in the night, we ate the great food Stefan made and we played minecraft, Kinect games and dart. Even Chanel had a great time, despite the many courting attempts of the family's great black puppy, Bruno. He was constantly rejected, so after a while he contented himself to just sit and pine from afar.

I stayed quite a long time despite my schedule, because my blisters suddenly started to look really serious. I will spare you the graphic details, but suffice to say that I have to come up with a different method to preventing blisters than just plastering them in sports-tape and then walk on.

They're healed now, and I hope to keep them that way. Today I smothered them in a thick creme and no sports tape except for halfway through the hike, when one toe started hurting. Off with the sock, on with some tape to take the brunt of the friction, sock on, and forward. Looking at them now, it seems to have worked, but I will wait a few days before passing judgement. I have been burned before...

The pictures are of Chanel and Jonas playing football, the surrounding area, and a fortune cookie I got with a very accurate message. Also, a very sleepy Chanel.

It's great to know that we're on the right way.

On the road again. And with a practically new phone! Due to the delay we've skipped the walk from Bremen to Köln, and will (re)start in Köln on the Rheinsteig. I've been told it should be very beautiful. So get ready for pictures of flowers, grass, trees and the Rhein river the next couple of days! We've hitchhiked from Denmark to Hamburg and then taken the train to Köln from there (because I got tired of waiting). Now we're staying at the apartment of some really cool couchsurfing hosts, who have an amazingly cute little dog who Chanel is constantly wanting to play with. He wants to play some of the time as well, luckily. The picture is from the train ride.

The first stage of the rheinsteig. It was dirt paths through beautiful scenery the entire day. And despite it being Easter, there weren't too many people on the roads. The only thing I hadn't anticipated was the constant change in elevation. Up one mountain, down into a valley, up another one, etc. All day. Forgive my ignorance but I thought we would be following the Rhein river, and rivers usually run pretty flat... Maybe it's a cultural thing. But at least I got a great workout out of it, and for the first time I have drained my two litre water bottle in one day. Chanel seemed to love the climbing as well, the little show-off. She would run up, look disapprovingly down at me (I walk really slowly uphill), wait a while, walk down a bit, and once I reached her, repeat the whole thing. It made me walk a little faster, and every time I reached the top I felt like I was going to die. Which is also how I decided on our resting place for tonight. It's in a little hut at the top of one of the mountains. I keep saying mountains. They're really only hills, but I'm from Denmark. In Denmark, our tallest "mountain" is lower than these hills. The pictures are of the area, and a selfie I took when we came across some church ruins. Yep, I use the word selfie now. Enjoy the sunset.

Second day on the Rheinsteig.

Again lots of mountains/hills. But I actually felt better than the day before, despite starting out with sore legs.

Also, so far, my new anti-blister system seems to be working. I slather the toes, arches, and heels of my feet in Vaseline, and then on with the hiking socks. Nothing more. I have a cousin who’s in the military, and he gave me this tip. I’m cautiously optimistic about this approach, praying it will last.

The pictures are: the moon of the first morning (enhanced), a super creepy old house we walked by, the trail, the view, Chanel, and myself.

In the second-lowest to the right Chanel is eating grass. She always does this. At first I thought it was because she had an upset stomach, but according to the internet, most dogs who eat grass just like the taste of it. She doesn’t throw up after eating it, and she also seems to look a while for the right grass to eat, smelling all the shrubs we walk past before deciding. She’s a little strange, but to be honest, this just makes her more lovable.

So lovable that I made her a little floral wreath. That’s the last picture. She didn’t seem to mind when I put it on her head, she just went back to sleep in the sun.

Today we crossed the Rhein.

Mostly because I was fed up with mountains (hills) and my legs were really sore. But also because I wanted to walk along the Rhein river instead of just forest. And it was beautiful.

We crossed the river with a small ferry that only cost €0.70. Pretty okay. Luckily it lasted less than a minute, because Chanel was shaking the whole way.

I decided to stop at a camp ground, despite not having walked as far as I had planned. The sun was hot, and we were both lazy. We had had a lot of breaks, and every time Chanel curled up in my lap and slept, not even bothering to inspect the area like she usually does.

So now I’m sitting in the sun in front of my tent, drinking ice cold beer that only cost €1.60. Chanel went to sleep as soon as the tent was set up (and we had bought beer), and now she doesn’t even lift her head when people walk by. She opens her eyes briefly, then goes back to sleep. I think she’s enjoying the privacy of the tent as much as I’m enjoying my beer.

Linz, a view, a church and a friend Chanel made at the campground. Him and his father were hiking the Rheinsteig as well, and while we were sitting at the table and talking, Chanel decided to jump off of my lap, and onto his. She stayed there the rest of the evening, even while I went to the toilet or the kiosk to buy beer. I always feel really proud of her when she trusts other people, and has the confidence to approach them.

Considering that it looks like the trail has been cut clean out of the rock, I’m going to insist that what I’ve been unsure of whether to call mountains or hills, are mountains.

Also, how did the rock end up looking like that? What kind of machine did this? I’ll have to remember to ask the Germans. I’m sure if I asked my parents they’d tell me that it’s a bird or lizard specific to the Rhein area that cuts the rock like that in order to lay its eggs in the cracks. They’ve always liked telling ludicrously bullshit stories when asked stupid or meaningless questions. I have to admit, I do the same sometimes.

My sister asked me to put more selfies on my blog, so here goes. The first picture is while hiking. I was almost at the top of a mountain I'd been walking up the previous twenty minutes. So I look quite sweaty. And just before anyone asks, I doubt there'll ever be a full-body picture of me in my hiking gear, especially all strapped up with my backpack on, because I look like a massive dork. Seriously. I would not want that on the internet. It's bad enough that the Germans, famous for wearing socks in sandals and tucking the waistline of their trousers up around their nipples, see me. Okay, I admit that's just a very Danish stereotype of German tourists. Most of the Germans I've seen have been fully capable of dressing like normal people. But since I've pretty much thought "lol, loser" every time I've seen another hiker, I guess it's just impossible to look good in hiking gear. The last four of the pictures are of Chanel and I having arrived at the campground. Chanel enjoys the sun without having to walk in it, while I enjoy my beer, and the chance to free my feet. If I look tired in the last photo, it's because I am.

Today's hike. A tough stretch with a lot of literal ups and downs. The first picture is of a view I enjoyed while listening to Manowar. I felt very metal, walking through the German forests with the Kings of Metal album blasting through my head. It also sped me up a bit, leaving me completely exhausted when I reached the top. The next two pictures are of a plant that always reminds me of dinosaurs. I don't know why, but every time I see it, that's what pops into my head. I have this memory of either reading or someone telling me that during the time that dinosaurs were alive, these plants also existed. And then I saw a lizard! I kept snapping pictures of it, while going steadily closer to it, afraid it might run away. When I finally got this close, I started getting worried it might pounce on me and that it might be poisonous. I know pretty much nothing about lizards (salamanders?) so as ridiculous as the fear felt, I still drew away and walked on. Then there are some pictures of the trail. Someone pointed out to me that the strange square rocks in a previous post might be caused by natural erosion. So I had to look up what goes into building trails. If you want to know more, just Google it. Basically, I couldn't find any information on a rock-carving machine, but in a lot of places the trail looks like a wedge cut out of the rock in order to form a level road. And then on some dirt roads, like in the picture, the rock seems smoothed down to the level of the dirt. I have no idea how old these roads are, so it could be natural in some places and man-made in others. Or both. But one thing I figured out was the use of the metal ditches dug into the trail. They're to lead the water away from the trail, so the trail doesn't become the next river. I admit, this seems fairly obvious, but I hadn't really given it much thought beside "strange." I honestly don't think very deeply while hiking. My mind seems to clog with the exhaustion. At one point I couldn't remember how to tie my shoelaces. I really had to stop and think about it for what felt like a full minute before I could recall what goes where. As in, how to tie a knot. It was a hot day. And the last is an uplifting photo of Chanel rolling in something that's most likely very gross.

Despite the boring weather, it's hard to beat the place where we're camping tonight on beauty. That's Chanel's football at the lower right corner. It's in a net I made so I could strap it to the backpack. It was the first kind of toy I saw her enjoy, and since then I've only seen her get excited over sticks being thrown and footballs. She will prefer someone else's ball over her own. I had to chase her around a big field once when she found some kids brand new football and of course proceeded to bite into it. She seemed to find the chase simply fantastic, so it took me a while to retrieve their ball. Then I put it up a tree, between three branches, where the kids would be able to see it, and went towards our own ball. When I came back, the ball had fallen out of the tree (I thought), and the whole thing repeated itself. This time, though, as soon as I had put the ball up the tree, thinking I had pushed it firmly in place, Chanel ran up the side of the tree, bopped it out with her nose, grabbed it and ran. I finally got it so far up the tree that she couldn't reach it, and even though I got her to play with our ball, she'd still sometimes return to the tree and look up at the new ball, trying to solve the riddle of how she could get at it. I took a couple of pictures of Chanel and the ball tree, but they were on the phone when it broke, and hadn't been uploaded to Dropbox. So you'll just have to imagine it :)

Goodbye, Rheinsteig. From here on, we will be following a Camino de Santiago path. Where we part is not officially the end of the Rheinsteig, but the last kms are going east and slightly north. The opposite direction of where I'm heading. So as much as I would love to see it through, especially because it seems to be going through wine country, we'll cross the Rhine tomorrow and head south on a more inland camino trail. It will eventually run along the Rhine again, but not for at least a hundred kilometres. The pictures are of the Rheinsteig, including a panoramic picture that I think turned out okay.

Chanel just farted so loudly that she scared herself. Here she is hiding behind my backpack from that terribly loud noice that was right behind her! I was laughing so much I almost cried, and the people at the campsite were staring over their breakfasts. I probably shouldn't have fed her four boiled eggs yesterday.

Today we're taking a rest day. Chanel has so far slept, occasionally getting up to eat some food from the friendly family we are staying with. I am doing exactly the same. We hadn't planned to have a rest day, but my whole body aches and my feet are in more pain than I have experienced yet. I am also incredibly tired. The blister remedy still works, though.

The kindness of strangers. Everyone loves Chanel. This particular gentleman was convinced that I didn't feed her enough, which meant he would use every opportunity to feed her some of the food and treats meant for his own cat. But to be fair, the cat didn't really look like it was going to starve to death any day soon. This is Chanel's favourite kind of attention. I wish the picture could show how fast her tail was wagging.

Chanel finds cardboard boxes irresistible. Unfortunately, I thought about taping her a little late, so the intensity of her attacks on the box isn't as strong as ten minutes before :)

Today, we crossed the Rhine and entered France.