I spent six weeks in the beautiful Saurat valley at family Stoelker. To earn my stay in the comfy room and three scrumptious meals per day, they had different jobs for me. Deborah and Jon are from England and have been living in Bedeilhac for eight years. They bought a property that contained a "gîte" to rent out, a house to live in and some nice green land with loads of Acacia trees. It is situated at the north facing side of the astonishing (especially for climbers) mountain Calamès.
After ten months of traveling on the same island the time has come to enter the European mainland again. It feels a bit strange to leave the country that has been evolving to my new personal comfort zone. But at the same time it gives me a a feeling of actually being on the road again.
After three weeks in the very north of Scotland, Hanna and I decide to go on traveling individually. She booked a flight from Glasgow to Canada and I will make my way to Spain.
Departure. We're on our way since 18 May 2015 and we're going slowly, because Albi recently got rid of his wisdom teeth and the effect of meds is still persisting. It's good to walk through well-known realms at first. So we can test out things like baggage, length of the stages and our strength. The first evening already made clear: We have to shorten the daily distances. The backpacks are being re-packed and the baggage is sorted out.
Itzhoe, 36° celcius, stuffy air. A few hours ago a more comfortable breeze got around us in Denmark. Denmark – we've been there for about one month and the country left a great sensation.
Even if it wasn't that simple to pass the border. Never before we had to put out our thumbs that long. But finally Volker and his truck take us straight to the center of Aarhus (a place to return). We notice a strange undergrounding kindness and helpfulness („strange“ because being German always means to be a bit suspicious of such openness).
"If you let go a little you a will have a little peace; if you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace; if you let go completely you will have complete peace." (Ajahn Chah)
Somehow, Great Britain had become a kind of first big mark. So we stay in Lille, being in good spirits, raising our thumbs towards the sun. After one hour we change the position, a while later again, and again, and again...
The first place we visit in England turns out to be the only official desert of the country: Dungeness. This area looks like it has been taken place in a postapocalyptic zombie film. Besides, we are living right next to a gigantic nuclear power station in the former lighthouse keeper's house. On the first evening a very heavy thunderstorm leads to a blackout (despite the power station, haha). Now that's really something! Regina has chosen this fantastic surreal spot of land as her home. She's putting us up for a few days and introduces us to the English culture of cream tea and scones.
