Monthly Archives: November 2023

This post is about a 13km walk from Reinhausen to Göttingen. I drive a car to get my Covid and flu shots, then I walk through the cold. When I woke up I was in the guest room of Miriam’s house. I had found her and her family through Warmshowers, a hospitality network for bicycle […]

This post is about a 21km walk from Heilbad Heiligenstadt to Reinhausen. It has snowed and I am being interviewed on TV. It felt like a gift. After all of the beautiful whiteness in China, in Kazakhstan, in Uzbekistan, in Turkey, and in Bulgaria, and after that one magical April day in Iran, I was […]

This post is about a 13km walk from Fürstenhagen to Heilbad Heiligenstadt. I start walking late, and I learn the word “sleet”. I left the guesthouse after resting for a day, having an enormous amount of fried potatoes, drinking tea and talking to the owner, Sylvia. She made the place feel very comfortable, like a […]

This post is about an 18km walk from Hülfensberg to Fürstenhagen. I walk on a muddy path through the hills. The Franciscans had liturgy of the hours at seven in the morning. I was invited. No pressure, though. “You just do whatever you feel like,” they had told me at dinner. I showed up at […]

This post is about a 19km walk from Heldra to Hülfensberg. I wake up in a beautiful old guest house and get lost trying to find a monastery. I had decided to stay the night in a guesthouse that seemed relatively affordable. Little did I know it was an absolute fucking gem. the house A […]

This post is about a 17km walk from Ifta to Heldra. After a cold morning, I buy a wrench, and then I go to a warm place. A cold night. Or rather: a warm night in my thick winter sleeping bag, but an utterly cold morning. Putting on my clothes, brushing my teeth, having a […]

This post is about a 20km walk from Eisenach to Ifta. I look for signs of neo-nazism in Eisenach and end up on a goat farm. I spent two days in the city of Eisenach. Got a new spare wheel for the Caboose (the old one was beyond repair), did my laundry, looked for signs […]

This post is about a 14km walk from Unkeroda to Eisenach. I struggle with some fallen trees in a forest, and I visit the Wartburg. It felt good to put on my pants, fleece, jacket, wool hat, gloves, and shoes. All of them had been on the radiators all night, and they were nicely dry […]

This post is about a 13km walk from Marksuhl to Unkeroda. I stay at a spiritual commune, then an unknown voice saves me from the rain. The night before had been difficult. The Caboose and I were in a forest, it was raining, and it was dark, when her left wheel gave out. She made […]

This post is about a 21km walk from Vacha to Marksuhl. I cross the Bridge Of Unity and see a weird street sign. I stayed in Vacha for another day. The reason wasn’t just my laziness, I had a meeting. Not sure what’s going to come out of it, but maybe one day in the […]

This post is about a 16km walk from Geisa to Vacha. It’s my first walking day in former East Germany, and the rain does not stop. I had spent the night in a small and cheap guesthouse. There were two other guests in blue overalls who had arrived in their company van. My room had […]

This post is about a 20km walk from Hünfeld to Geisa. I cross the former inner German border and look at Point Alpha. Breakfast in the monastery was awesome. I ate, filled up my thermos flasks with hot water, then I put on my poncho and walked out of Hünfeld. the road to East Germany […]

This post is about an 18km walk from Fulda to Hünfeld. I wonder about shoes, walk next to a busy road, and end up in a monastery. Shoes had always been an important part of The Longest Way. Back in 2007, I had started out wearing hiking boots made of leather. They were durable but […]

This post is about a 14km walk from Kleinheiligkreuz to Fulda. I walk through a forest and slip on a downward slope. I woke up feeling heavy from dinner the night before. It had been a semi-fancy dinner with pumpkin soup, veggie dumplings, and slices of breaded apple with walnut ice cream for dessert. softheaded […]

This post is about an 8km walk from Blankenau to KleinHeiligkreuz. It’s my birthday, and I gorge myself after walking only very little. In the morning I had breakfast with Judith and Berthold, then I filled up my thermos flasks with hot water and got going. I had never told them it was my birthday. […]

This post is about a 20km walk from Dirlammen to Blankenau. I have some communication issues, and then I turn forty-two. In the morning Sabine and her husband were at work, but her parents Anita and Klaus were home. They gave me breakfast, and then we sat there for a while, enjoying tea and conversation. […]

This post is about a 14km walk from Ulrichstein to Dirlammen. Angie hosts me, I get lost in a forest, and then Sabine hosts me. This post is about a 14km walk from Ulrichstein to Dirlammen. Angie hosts me, I get lost in a forest, and then Sabine hosts me. One thing I like to […]

This post is about a 15km walk from Laubach to Ulrichstein. I take a self portrait with a horse and then I see a raccoon. I spent two nights in the communal kitchen of the camp ground, hanging out with the other campers, waiting out the rain. I also took a hot shower and did […]

This post is about a 20km walk from Lich to Laubach. I follow the Luther Pilgrims’ Way for a while, then I end up at a birthday party. I ended up staying in the town of Lich for two days. The hotel was cheap and comfortable, the beer was good (Licher Brewery was from here), […]

This post is about a 17km walk from Rockenberg to Lich. I walk past the gallows of Münzenberg and Amsburg Abbey. A group of trick-or-treating parents and kids had told me about a barbecue hut on a hilltop at the edge of their village. So I went there to spend the night in the shelter […]