Lyrics “One Foot Before the Other” – Frank Turner, 2011
We had a wonderful, sunny, warm late autumn day here, so of course I went off on my “pilgrimage” along a German section of the “Camino / Way of St. James” again. There will be links to the previous posts a the end of this post.
Part 3: Lengerich (Stadtfeldmark) – Greven – Schmedhausen
(~ 16 km)
Saturday, 26 October 2024
All in all I walked about 20 km yesterday, including 1.8 km to the starting point of this section (first to the bus stop, then from the bus stop to the spot where I left the trail last time). Then there also were 2.3 km planned detour to a fast-food place at service station near the motorway, because I’ll do those long hikes in a more relaxed state of mind when I know I can use a toilet half-way through. TMI? I don’t care. It might be purely psychological, but I’m willing to do a detour for my state of mind.
This time I did actually drive up to the region of this section, because to get back home in the evening I did not want to rely on an hourly bus (50 minutes to the train station) and another 60 minutes on a train and then still a drive home for some time. I might do that as well for the next few sections, because I just found out that there will be rail replacement buses on a part of the rail route till the end of the year.
As mentioned above the weather was lovely. Unlike the first and also the second time I – finally – managed to be less “in my head” (daydreaming, ruminating, worrying) on this third outing. A few days earlier I had listened to a 10% happier podcast from earlier this year. On this one Dan Harris talked to two psychology professors – Dr. Zindel Segal and Prof. Norman Farb about their book and their newly developed mental health technique of “Sense Foraging”. I’m not yet 100% on board with their overall idea, that focusing on what you experience through your senses helps you with overwhelm and anxiety and such and I’m also not sure if it really is different from mediation in general. They discussed that aspect on the podcast and I admit I still don’t know. I still ordered their book “Better in Every Sense” though (Because, of course, I did). Anyway, focusing on
- the sound of my feet on the ground or the leaves I was crushing under my soles
- the sound of various birds in the trees or vehicles passing by on the distant street
- the twinge in my back or the sun on my face
- the colours of the leaves and flowers or the trees’ bark
did in fact help me to be more in the moment and be less lost in thought in my head. Helped me much more than any other sort of “just be” / mediation technique I tried to apply on the first two walks.
I know, I know this sound like super-duper new-age hippie shit. But it is, what it is. What can I say?
I didn’t run into or talked to a lot of people and I was fine with that. The few encounters I had were quite lovely though. One was with another hiking couple – on a different route – who had lost their way. They were using their phone (maps / navigation) to try and find the right route again, but the phone in typical Sat-Nav voice only ever gave them useless directions, like it so often does. We had a laugh about it, when I passed them but unfortunately I couldn’t really help them as I only had my route on the map on my phone. They were still in a good mood though, when walked on.
The 2nd lovely encounter was at a private home “in the woods”, where the owners had put out a “Walkers / Pilgrims Table” with free water / hot water in a thermos / tea bags / instant coffee / cups and glasses and a sign inviting everyone to take a rest. They had a tiny donation box and also a guest book in a box; the top weighed down with a rock and a Camino scallop. Such a kind idea. Too bad I had just 5 minutes early sat down on a bench to drink some water and eat some of my provisions. I did leave a note in the guest book though.
Just as I was about to head off again, one of the owners stepped out of the house and we had a bit of a chat about this wonderful idea and they enquired about where I was from and my plans on the Way and all. Turned out at some point they had done a similar thing – doing the Way in sections – and it was all in all just a lovely experience. The kindness of strangers and all that.
Here now a few more photos from the day. You should be able to see them in a higher resolution if you click on them. [It obviously only took me a couple of years to find out about the customization options of the simple gallery function on WordPress.]
After about 18 km of walking (14 on the actual Way) I reached the Dortmund-Ems Canal – a waterway, I’ll be crossing to and fro a few times for the next 40 km.
As much as I in general enjoy the even and straight path along a canal, by that point I was a bit knackered and seeing the final bridge I needed to cross in the distance – ostensibly still far away – was a tiny bit discouraging. But I got there in the end and just 5 minutes later had reached my car. And I’m already planning my next outing. What can I say? I enjoy this quite a lot: the exercise and the chance to turn off my mind for a while. Not quite the contemplation (yet) one would expect on a pilgrimage, but close enough.
Part 02: Natrup-Hagen to Lengerich, ~ 13 km, 13 October 2024
Part 01: Osnabrück to Natrup-Hagen, ~ 17 km, 15 September 2024
