Nel cammin del mezzo di nostra vita

[Duque de Bragança]

Enjoy the Pompidou museum in Metz! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Pompidou-Metz

[merithyn]

So, it is done. I had very nearly given up three days ago, but I made it to Metz.
Roughly 330 km in 8 days, it's the hardest thing I've ever done.
I'll write up some more later, but first: sleep.

That's fantastic! Well done!

Where did you start from?

[mongers]

So, it is done. I had very nearly given up three days ago, but I made it to Metz.
Roughly 330 km in 8 days, it's the hardest thing I've ever done.
I'll write up some more later, but first: sleep.

Mal that's some going there, definite Roman legionnaire territory, did you also build a new camp each night? 

[Maladict]

Thanks guys 

Other than still falling asleep around 9 pm every day, I've recovered quite well.

I see I've done a lot of post-walk bitching in this thread, but looking back it has mostly been pretty epic. Apart from putting a wasp into my mouth and licking it, that is, I could definitely have done without that 

I'm still unsure what the best way to tackle this kind of distance is. An additional rest day (e.g. in Trier 5/8 days in) would have helped my muscles recover but not my feet, not enough at least. And it may have created a hurdle to get started again, breaking the rhythm. Spreading the distance out over an additional day would equally have helped the muscles but probably not the joints. I'll probably try that nonetheless next year, maybe 35 km a day tops.
Of course, putting in 15-20km a day over two weeks would likely be a walk in the park, but I don't have the time and I do want it to be something of a challenge.

Some highlights then:
- starting off from Charlemagne's tomb in Aachen's magnificent Palatine chapel
- in the rainy and foggy woods south of Aachen, seeing an intact section of the Siegfried Line emerge from the mist. Very eerie.
- the High Fens in Wallonia, a vast moorland at Belgium's highest elevation. Some sections have raised walkways but, it being Belgium, some are broken. Instead of turning back and finding a different route I opted to take my chances on the couple of necessary steps on ground level and promptly sank into the swamp up to my knees. Good times.
- several sunrises over misty valleys
- the Our valley, endless miles of idyllic streams, woods and meadows withouth a human to be seen
- running into a large group of boar at dawn
- Reinhardstein and Falkenstein castles, Vianden and its restored castle
- the sandstone crags and caves around Echternach
- first glimpse of Trier from high above, identifying the Roman monuments and realizing how absolutely massive the city was and how imposing the structures must have been to the locals, crossing the Roman bridge over the Mosel and reading Ausonius' Mosella at night.
- the Celtic-Roman-medieval refuge and stronghold at Kastel-Staadt
- the spectacular Saarschleife at Orscholz
- another well-preserved section of the Siegfried line near Borg, never used as resistance was futile by that point
- Schengen (yes, I am a europhile)
- first sight of the France border sign
- ending the tour at glorious Metz cathedral

[Maladict]

Nothing to do but endlessly tweak part 2 of the trek.

I hoped to be able to go in June, but August-September is probably more realistic.
One more year of putting up with shorter days and killer wasps.

There's a whole lot of emptiness on this route, especially the first half. The second half through the Vosges should be more interesting.

[Maladict]

I'll be returning to Metz on Sunday, it will be a nice toasty 30 degrees C.
Nine days of walking through Lorraine, across the Vosges, through the vineyards and half-timbered villages of Alsace, and finally across the Rhine to Freiburg.