A bit of a plod as I leave the Deutsch Republic until I reach the flat open plains (if stereotypes are to believed) of the Netherlands. Already I’ve seen a lot of people using bikes. I know this number will increase exponentially the moment I cross the border. Again I will start with the thank [...]

read more from this topic.....

For those of you checking the 1000 Mile Walk Blog – specifically those who check it via a feed reader – please can you head there manually and resubscribe? I’ve shifted it to a new “home” and the feed address has changed. Sorry, but I couldn’t do anything about that. It’s just how WordPress works [...]

read more from this topic.....

That title’s for Dawn A short trudge up the road got me to Essen where I was to stay with Jörn and his girlfriend, Birte. They turned out to be great company and we spent far too many hours talking when I could have been touristing! Still, the weather wasn’t that great so no big [...]

read more from this topic.....

Things get very industrial in this part of Germany and I bypassed a huge chemical plant on my way up to Dusseldorf as I strolled up the banks of the Rhine. Handy things, cycle paths. When I said I was going to Dusseldorf, people in Cologne asked why I was bothering. There’s a bit of [...]

read more from this topic.....

Bonn is a fairly small city at the bottom of the big trail of places running down the Rhine Valley. This doesn’t mean you should miss it as the people are wonderful and it does have some good sights. Oh, and Beethoven was born here though he hated the place by all accounts. When I [...]

read more from this topic.....

Take your pick – Germans use both to refer to this city which is the capital of this region. It’s also home to a magnificent cathedral which has recently had a new window installed… which is awful. A mess of randomly coloured pixels with no reason, design or anything. Just dots. Pretty, colourful, but utter [...]

read more from this topic.....

Given that my first was barely three months ago, this was still quite new territory. Last time I entered by bus and left by plane. This visit was to be somewhat more pedestrian. My first overnight stop was in a small town called Roetgen which lies on the border. There are no signs telling you [...]

read more from this topic.....

I worked out that this is my fifth visit to Belgium, making it my most-visited country in the world outside of the UK. This, however, was my first trip entirely on foot and also my first to the north-eastern part of the country. The first couple of days didn’t really show me much change from [...]

read more from this topic.....

I only had a day or two in Luxembourg, but as I was walking through it I saw more than most people probably will on a visit! It’s possible to drive from one end to the other in a little over two hours (legally), whereas walking does take slightly longer. Unfortunately I was unable to [...]

read more from this topic.....

OK, Metz isn’t an alcopop any more but it used to be. In the UK anyway. It tasted of flat lemonade and I think it had vodka in. Anyway, this is not that Metz. This one is much older and still here, and a good thing too as it’s another place well worth a day [...]

read more from this topic.....