Day 51 – Kenzenhütte to Füssen

Daily Distance – 22km
Daily Ascent – 750m
Daily Descent – 1250m
Total Distance – 826km
Distance Remaining – 193km

The winding roots of this walk reach as far back as 2018, when I met some europeans in New Zealand. Prior to this, I had not given a great deal of thought to exploring Europe, preferring more distant destinations and certainly wouldn’t have considered living in a non English speaking country. I get the impression that living on a physically connected landmass makes the idea of exploring, and even living in, other countries seem more normal than for those of us born on an island. Meeting people of different nationalities and learning about their homelands definitely expanded my horizons and led indirectly to my living on Germany. While it is true that during this trip I have not spoken as much German as I had hoped, it has only rarely been necessary to switch to English when dealing with people, which is a huge confidence boost. I am also choosing to consider three different people thinking I am Dutch as a sign of improvement, although it could just be the low linguistic expectations Europeans have for native English speakers. Either that or I have somehow picked up a peculiarly Dutch accent when speaking German. Who knows?

Additional notes from today:

• Butterflies love me. This is a peculiarity that has persisted for several weeks now. The first oddity is actually that butterflies here seem to swarm, rather than fluttering around singly as I would expect. Outside of that, they do love to land on my gear and self. One even landed on my shoe earlier, which apart from confirming that butterflies don’t have noses, is clearly an expression of approval. My theory is that I smell sweetly, like a flower, so they become confused.
• Neuschwanstein Castle is hugely overrated and something of a tourist abomination. Thronged with people, up close it actually looks rather tacky and almost as of it was built for a movie. Maybe it’s better inside, I was hot and tired upon arrival, so escaped as quickly as possible, but my initial impression is that it’s something best admired from afar. Especially given how close and much nicer the far less famous Linderhof castle is, which was also built for the same king.
• I am thinking of investing in a Jane Austen style parasol. A hat is all well and good, but shade makes such a big difference to how hot it feels. Especially on those non-technical sections like following a cycle path into Füssen for an hour this afternoon in the afternoon sun. (Not so) secretly hating the cyclists as they glided by as I slowly trudged along the baking tarmac, stopping only to apply tape to my blistered feet.