Goats and tapas

 

In a bid to escape the mozzies and have a cool night, we experimented with having the window wide open, wearing full length t-shirts and leggings and foregoing the duvet. It more or less worked except that that they found my hands. Honestly!

That apart, our Hirschhorn stay was lovely, and breakfast was good - 2nd place so far for me, 1st for Joff. Don’t make out like you’re surprised we rank the meals!

We enjoyed the walk today more than day 3. We started with the usual ascent into the hills, with a brief stop to inspect the castle, with its pair of resident goats, presumably on grass cutting duty.

The climb today was a more dignified affair, being a longer, more forgiving gradient. There was a bit more variety along the way too, with the woodland being rather more mixed and with a few more openings allowing a view into the valley or a glimpse of the blue above from an open glade.

Eberbach is another example of a riverside medieval town, and we are once more staying in the heart of it. In the oldest surviving bath house in Germany, in fact; a beautiful timbered building. We’re right up in the pointy bit of the roof. Technical term for you there.

A new tradition was begun yesterday - an ice cream as we enter the town. Yesterday I had a scoop each of mango and lemon. Today it was raspberry and pistachio. Yes, you’re right, one scoop probably would be sufficient, but only half the joy.

Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived so we dumped our packs at reception and pootled off on tired feet for an explore of the old town, and a café pit stop. 

Once 3 o’clock struck we were able to dump everything in our room and walk for 15 mins or so over the other side of the river to the pool. Another lovely outdoor space, with the water at a very refreshing temperature. Just divine.

A couple of very pleasant hours was spent there, in and out of the 50m pool, and watching the kids fling themselves off the diving platform with gay abandon.

We ate at the hotel this evening, starting with a drink in the cool of the evening shade. We haven’t really mentioned the beer or wine yet. We’ve most been sampling the Pils or Weißbeer (wheat beer). The lovely dry white wine I’ve been enjoying is Grauburgender.  We tried a red from Heidelberg, but it wasn’t great.

Tonight for our meal we had “tapas”. In Grazelema, southern Spain, the tapas were so large we had to pull over a second table to make space for the food. Here, when the menu said garlic prawns, we got 1 prawn. Hey ho, it just meant we had space for pud, which was delicious.

And so day 4 of the walking has come to an end. It’s flippin’ hot in our pointy room, and tomorrow is our longest, toughest day. Wish us luck.

Em x