Day 10. Bächlein to Meilschnitz 23.4 kms

We were up early and were one of the first to breakfast in this wellness hotel. After a good breakfast we set off and Alan navigated us some 7 kms back onto our original route. It was another lovely day and we never had to climb up a single hill all day. 

The route went mainly along the river Steinach. Now sometimes we Bears dispare of you humans, or is it just our BBF who has never grown up? He saw footprints on our path and remarked, "oh! Look. A man and his dog walked this way." And then he began to sing the silliest of songs!!

"One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow, one man and his dog went to mow a meadow. Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow, two men one man and his dog went to mow a meadow. Three men went to mow....." 

And so on all ten verses! We then found we could not get this ridiculous song out of our heads all day, but had to sing it again and again! Agh!!

At one stage a cyclist slowed and chatted to us then rode off again wishing us well.

We came to the memorial to the village of Liebau, only a small one of some 70 souls, that had received the warning that they were all to be evacuated and resettled as the village was now in the forbidden zone. So they all up sticks in the night and fled to Bavaria. The DDR then raised the village to the ground.

The route took us mainly on firm roads and through pretty little villages.

We came to one rastplatz were this sign warned of unexploded mines so stay on the paths!

Garden gnomes were in abundance. Well Germans did invent them.

We came up upon a small commercial area and as most villages have no shops or banks etc, Alan did a walk round and got a few bits.

We all now wanted to stop and have a big strawberry milkshake in this place, but our human said, "No!" We would end up with a tummy ache and we needed to get on! We were so upset we didn't talk to him for a bit!

We stopped here for a longer break and felt better after it. 

This sign again warned of unexploded mines!

But we stuck to the path and enjoyed the view and being alive on such a lovely day.

This was perhaps the steepest bit of the trail today.

Our room in the Gasthof is fine. In the evening Alan went for a meal. He sat in the beer garden. There was a "Stammtisch" of some ten old geezers all talking funny! When someone new came in they walked round and tapped their knuckles on all the tables where people sat befor joining whatever group they belonged to. Odd custom for they never looked Alan in the eye when they did so!

We wonder what new adventures await us tomorrow?

Day 9. Neukenroth to Bächlein 10.3 kms

In the night Alan noticed that his right knee had some fluid in it again! Not nice, but strangely the knee is less painful! Consequently we took it easy as we knew we did not have far to walk today.

We had to backtrack a bit to get back on the trail and once again in perfect sunshine.

Mind you we were not spared the up and down, but Alan went slow and we enjoyed the walk in the woods.

We came across a renovated border chapel.

The door was open so in Alan went to pray and sing. He left us outside on the benches there.

He lit a candle, made a donation then sat with us and chilled for a bit.

The route now took us on the road through a couple of villages before going back into the wood. 

These dwarfs and presumably their owner was a BVB Dortmund fan which we found odd being in Bavaria.

Then this sign reminded us we were in the border region.  

As did this stone and pillar.

Another border stone but from way back in time 1622.

It was not long now before we reached our hostel for the night a wellness hotel!

Our bed for the night and 

The view from our balcony. Life doesn't get better than this.

Day 8. Tettau to Neukenroth 21.4 kms

Breakfast was taken with the our hosts the Schütze couple and nice it was too. Then Herr Schütze walked the first kilometre with us so that we would not get lost! The way went over the old road that Luther and Goethe would have used! Makes the mind boggle a bit to think about that.

For us it was easygoing and Alan's knee was grateful.

The way eventually led to a road which we followed down into and along the Tettau valley.

It was another lovely day.

A squirrel joined us at this stop, but was a little too quick for Alan for all he managed to get was a picture of his tail as he took off!

Cyclists used the road but we were the only walkers.

In Heinershof we stopped at the Veitenhofmühle for a large shandy and a little Frischkäse sandwich. We were there at the same time as a group of elderly cyclists and one of the women noticed us bears. So Alan introduced us!

The other side of the village we found part of the wall had been left as a monument.

Then back on the convoy route it was up a steep hill to the top of the ridge.

This was the hardest part of the day.

Compensated by the view from the top. It was again fairly easy going now and generally downhill. At some stage Alan navigated us off the Green Ribbon route to get down into the town where we were staying. He had not been able to find accommodation where the route went so we had to go the other side of the hill.

Using Pocket Earth to good effect we easily found Gasthof Resi and have a comfortable if small room with wifi!

Day 7. Probstzella to Tettau 23.4 kms

TThe enforced late start, breakfast not till 08:00hrs, meant we could catch up with the blogs. Once we were out the village it was a steep climb out of the valley, but the views on yet another gorgeous day were worth the climb.

The Bauhaus where we had stayed the night.

We now spent some time casting for the right path as it was not clearly marked. We backtracked and couldn't see it, then trying again from a known place we finally found it.

We passed this spot twice and didn't see it!

Third time lucky, but we had wasted time which was annoying as much as walking more than you need to.

Once on the path it was easy to follow. And when we came out the other side again the views were great.

In the forest were some of the largest ant hills too.

Here we started to follow a fairytale path.

Though we never did find out what made the Devil mad enough to thrust his fingers into the oak leaves?

But we were able to play the xylophone 

and the dendophone.

At the top of the Ratzenberg which is 678 meters high, is a 26 meters lookout tower which we also went up.

Then at a rastplatz outside Lichtenhain we found Tom and his dog having a snooze. Tom is a young man who started walking in Bad Elster like us, and we have seen him a couple of times along the way.

Much later we found this base camp for scouts or young folks. Then it was on to the border convoy route again.

There were many places where they told the story of the shootings that had taken place and the young people that had died. One story that depressed us was of a group that were returning to the DDR laden with food and building materials! They were not fleeing at all! These stories depressed us and we always moved on a bit subdued.

Then we passed through the poet's wood where signs were placed of many German poets and authors, from Von Fallersleben, to Goethe and Kleist.

Only one woman was represented! Bettina von Arnim.

The highest point and it was all down hill from here to our room in the Wildberghof. 

It is also a Hay hotel and you can sleep in the barn, but we are not as you can see. Alan sent out for a meal and beer. Not cheep but as his knees have had enough a good idea.