I never in my life thought that people aged between 80 or 85 ould walk through the hills and meadows and paths passing through forests for nearly 15 kms daily continuously for five to six days. One should just understand the stress a person may have to undergo during that time. I always wanted to go for such walks and dreamt of it but I never got an opportunity. We, especially the people of developing world, think that when we go abroad, we should see big cities or important historical places and gain knowledge or assure ourselves that “ ya, I have seen the worldâ€.
I might have gone abroad for more than two dozen times and mainly to Germany since I have a friend for the last over 50 years there who likes traveling as much as I like. She always used to take me to various countries of the European Union and thus I saw almost the whole of Europe including the former Eastern European Countries. But my visit of this year was something unique and I felt that all the earlier visits were not as important as this visit. The name given to this blog speaks volumes about it.
This year ( 2012 ) my German friend Elke said that it would not be possible for her to come to India due to certain reasons but she said that still we could meet provided I visited Germany. She invited me to Germany and said that unlike earlier years, I could join her in a walking tour with her Wanderers Club known as “Schwarzwaldverein” stationed in Loerrach. She is a member of the club and I could come as her guest provided the club agreed to accept me. I think since she is an old member and very popular among others, they must have readily agreed to allow me to join them. In fact I wanted a break from my daily routine work and I accepted the invitation and agreed to join her.
I was informed that the trip would start on the 5th of May and end on 12th May . The Headquarters would be Sennhuette Hotel near Fladungen. All had to assemble at the above hotel a day in advance. Daily one would walk for 10 to 12 or 15 kms. with a break in the midway to eat whatever one carried in the back shack.. The walk would take at least 4.30 hrs to 5 hrs. depending on the speed and the path. I am writing all these details because it was a new experience for me.
Before narrating about the walk, I would like to say that the walk was voluntary and hence there was no compulsion, Hence it cannot be considered as a punishment. This was stressed to me when they felt I was grumbling or holding a serious face.
On the first day, when we assembled in the hotel in the evening, I was introduced to all. My first name is Balakrishna and at home I am called as Balu, which is a short form of the first name. All of them had heard about me since a long time because me and Elke have been friends for the last over 50 years. They were eager to see me. When she introduced me as Balu, one lady said “oh Balu “– and held her hands like a ferocious animal holding out it’s clause because she said Balu means ‘ a bear’. The name Balu has been made famous by the famous Author Rudyard Kipling in his book “ Jungle Bookâ€. Rudyard Kipling must have found the name amusing when he interacted with north Indian people as in Hindi language Baloo means bear. Indian bear has black skin but he gave the same name to the sloth bear he had created in his jungle book. In the west, people who have read the jungle book or cartoons books have become familiar with the word Balu as in all those books bear is called as Baloo. In fact she said that she had read in the ‘ Jungle book ‘ of Rudyard Kipling and in other cartoon books where the bear was called as Baloo.. This is besides the point. I know that I am not as ugly as a bear but a reasonably handsome man of advanced years, though I would prefer not to admit it.
On that day we went for short tour of Fladungen, a small town which is very close by. We went by bus there and had a guided tour of a Fort and other old buildings.
One should remember that I could neither speak nor understand German language and hence throughout the walking tour I was musing to myself by looking at the beautiful stunning scenarios and other attractions on the way. We started our walk the next day which I had thought would be for 5 to 6 kms. But it was for nearly 9 kms. I felt that I would go lame and that my knees would never bend again. I felt it was stressing. My nail of the toes had turned to blue. It was paining. The reason given was that I should have removed the nails properly. I was happy that we could reach our destination. Before returning to the Hotel, all the members wanted to visit Schwarzes Moor or in English it is known as Black Moor. It has nothing to do with African traders. However I did not go as my legs were dead tired and exhausted.
There are several routes already earmarked for walkers. They pass through mountains or meadows or by the side of agricultural fields or villages. One could see beautiful mountains stretching upto the horizon on a clear sunny day. Fortunately we had sunshine on almost all days. The weather used to be cool and pleasant. I hardly had to use any warm dresses.
By this walk, my skin turned to tan colour and the grey hair appeared white. On my return my friends said that my appearance has changed. While passing through meadows one could observe horses or cattle or sheep grazing there. The environment used to be very serene and beautiful. Wherever one sees, it was beautiful If I were a poet, I would have written a couple of poems on love and nature. Ideal place for relaxation. The paths used to be good and very rarely did we take paths leading down to the villages. We also saw ski rinks. The slopes are so nice, I think it is an ideal place for skiing. At a far distance one could see red coloured roofs clustered together thereby indicating they are living quarter
Thereafter I went for walks on the third day, fourth day and fifth day. Once, we went to Fulda, a big town of Rohn area. Rohn is a low lying mountainous area lying in the central part of Germany. Highest mountain is in Wasserkuppe which is an ideal place for gliding. There is a gliding club 
there.
Because of its geographical advantages, Rohn is popular as a walking area and one can see boards outside the hotels or Restaurants that they welcome walkers and their clubs. The town Fulda is built around a cathedral/abbey.
It appeared to me to be a catholic dominated town as one can see several churches, bishop’s house, seminary, cloister houses etc. connected with catholic religion.
One day instead of going with the group, me and my friend went separately to Fladungen to see the town and various places in the town. We wanted to see a museum where they have reconstructed a typical old village of Rhoen. One could get a picture of the village life of earlier period. On our return we went to see the Black Moor which I had missed on the previous day. It is a vast expanse of land covering an area of 60 hectares and has a thickness in the middle of 6.5 m peat. To be precise, it is a bog which means a wet spongy ground consisting of decomposed vegetation, which is formed into a peat. It was declared a national park on January 6, 1939. There is a planked viewing platform for visitors which goes around the moor. One can take a walk around the moor, and can discover the complex and unusual flora and fauna of central Germany. This is where plants like the Venus Flytrap are native. There are billboards which explain about the things the visitor can see. It is important that one should stay on the planked path, in order not to disturb nature and avoid being drowned because moor is like quick-sand and one might get drowned by sinking in it; It is said and shown in the billboards that the moor is one of Germany’s last refuges for the Cross (Black) Adder snake, a poisonous (but not deadly) snake, the will only bite if it feels threatened.
On the last evening, we had a get together in the Restaurant attached to the Hotel where we stayed for nearly a week. Then the group left the place by bus while me and Elke returned to her house at Ilvesheim by car.
I should mention here about the food which this Restaurant served. I am a strict vegetarian and I do not eat even eggs or fish. The Chef of the hotel who had worked in a cruise vessel earlier could prepare for me excellent vegetarian dishes which I wonder whether I could get in my own country. They were superb. This kept my spirits high. I never suffered for want of food.
As stated, the last day’s get together can be called as a valedictory party. It was all fun and singing of songs etc. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The entire group would sing to the accordion music played by one of the members. It was full of camaraderie. All the way the members would laugh on everything. The laughter and singing used to be very loud which agreed with the ambience. I thanked everyone profusely for the opportunity given to me. I thanked the team leader Uli who was a great organizer. I wondered how he could walk with such sever back pain he was undergoing.( Please excuse me for mentioning this) That reflected his interest in that hobby. Ya, let me repeat it that it was not a vacation which they were enjoying but a walk which is a hobby as one has hobbies like stamp collecting or football, or hockey etc. I can vouch that this walking tour will always remain in my mind as the best visit I ever had in Germany. The experience and it’s memory will linger on for a long long time to come. I will always cherish it.