Fell.
Another chunk of fortune fell my way! Nowhere to eat again: indeed I'd not seen a soul until just now in Gräfendhron (which sounds either Welsh or Elvish from Lord of the Ring?). Seeing a sign pointing to "Landhaus" I walked behind the church and on the left there were numerous Transit type minibuses outside what looked like a hostel. Looking in the window I could see a dining room and some people were milling about. I knocked on the window, but I was simply too far away, so I walked behind to where I assumed the kitchen was. One guy was coming out the door at that moment and I told him my predicament! He let me use their WC and gave me a cup of tea. Before I left another guy gave me a lot smoked dried 'rind' sausage(beef) and a holey cheese!
Then just now arriving in Berglicht I found a Kneipe which was open. With just enough coins for one Bitburger Stubbi(€1.70¢) I went in. At the bar a couple of guys asked if I was on the Jakobsweg and then gave me the remainder of their Würst! This is a day of Providence and the sun is shining: only 10kms to go until Fell as I follow the Römer Straße on the ridge, down over small stone bridges and back onto the ridge again.
After I'd, finally, found a cash machine in Fell - the first I'd seen in a while - I asked a lady where I might get a beer. This question led me to my bed for the night, but also the hangover i have this morning too! Again I had a church hall for my room, but this time I slept on a mattress!
The things I must do alone! Which includes the end of a very intense day!
The "town mother", as the guy in the wine bar/ restaurant (Zum Winzerkeller Silvanussaal Bürgerforum) called the lady who looks after the church and Pfarrheim, came and collected me to show me where I would sleep.
It was a mammoth day walking. I really only stopped for around twenty minutes in total. Eight and a half hours straight and I reached Fell just before 6 having left the Alte Schule B&B around nine. So once I'd stopped, having dropped my stuff in the church hall, I wanted to go back to the bar to "stare into the fire" - I was frazzled! But Clarissa, the town mother, who spoke not one word of English, decided she must be with me for the entire time! Eventually I couldn't take any more of her presence, as I was being slowly reduced to a pitiful heap on the floor. As I had no way of conveying my need to be alone I spoke to Harold, the guy who'd helped me originally, and asked him if he could politely tell her to leave me to myself just so I could wind down (with the fantastic wine he kept producing from the fridges)! It felt truly awful of me to ask her to go, but she hadn't just walked 37.5kms over three hills in 8.5 hours!
Clarissa was a warm lady and I am so grateful to her, and Harold too for the fantastic (schön) wine, but I feel disgusted I'd asked her to leave me alone! It's why I walk! No one could understand how I long to be silent, in a corner, content on my own!
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