Joanne's long walks: Via Romea Germanica Day 40: Bortenberg

Denke immer daran, dass es nur eine wichtige Zeit gibt. Heute, hier, jetzt!

(Always remember that there is only one important time. Today, here, now!)

- Leo Tolstoy, quoted on the wall at the Walkmühle in Feuchtwangen

Setting out from the guesthouse in Bortenberg, I followed a country road that passed under the Autobahn and continued through a series of small villages, each of which had erected a maypole in the centre of town. For those not familiar with this tradition, a maypole is a long, slender pole or young tree trunk which is put up to celebrate the coming of spring in Germany and Germanic-influenced parts of Europe.

Maypole in Vehlberg

Maypole in Hellenbach, made stripy by stripping some of the bark

Maypole in Hintenbreitenthann

It is not clear how this tradition originated, but it probably has roots in pre-Christian Germanic paganism. Some have suggested the maypole might represent the world axis, or hark back to the days when trees were held sacred; in any case, it is a reminder that the season of growth and light is back, as it is erected in time for the May 1st holiday, for Pentecost or, in some places, for mid-summer.

In Bavaria, the Maibaum is erected several weeks before 1 May. It is often painted in the Bavarian colors of white and blue, and decorated with emblems representing local crafts and industries, as in the last example shown above.

The maypoles may reflect the coming of summer - but the weather sure didn't, this morning! As I left Vorderbreitenthan, it began to rain. I was already wearing my raingear; I covered my backpack and took the quicker route to the next town, Feuchtwangen, following the cycling path beside the main road. I put on my headphones and walked in the rain listening to a playlist that included "Walking on Sunshine" and "Follow the Sun" 😄.

Walking to the pace of the music, four kilometres went by quickly, and soon I was in a café/Konditorei in Feuchtwangen drying off and drinking hot chocolate. What a change from yesterday's wam weather, requiring a refreshing Apfelschorle! But it soon stopped raining, and I went out to explore the town.

Feuchtwangen

The town of Feuchtwangen (population 12,000) was established some time between 1150 and 1178 with the help of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, in the Sulzach valley, in a landscape referred to as the Schichtstufenland, or the Swabian-Franconian Escarpment Land, characterised by quick changes from deep hollows carved out by streams to wooded mountain ranges. Which means, in practical terms, that there are a lot of hills to go up and down!

Feuchtwangen Marktplatz

Near the market square stand two churches, side by side: the 13th-century church that was originally part of the Benedictine monastery, now the Lutheran Stifstkirche, and the 14th-century parish church, the Johanneskirche.

The bigger of the two churches had a stamp for my pilgrim credential, and the tourist office had another. Having collected these, I headed out of town and passed by another historic spot: the Feuchtwangen Walkmühle. Originally a grain mill, it was part of the Röschenhof, or “courtyard in the reeds”, a defensive courtyard and freely owned farm supplying the royal soldiers which dated back to the Carolingian period, around the year 800. Mentioned in a document dated 1327 under the name "Ruttgers Mohl", it was later converted into a fulling mill in which the water wheels were used as a drive: a special mechanism converted its rotational movement into an up and down pounding motion which served to clean cloth or leather, to felt wool, and to compact woven cloth. The fulling mill ceased operation in 1950; the massive building with its half-hipped roof from 1819 now serves as a restaurant and guesthouse.

The next attraction on the trail was a garden featuring creative landscaping incorporating recycled bathroom fixtures 😄. After that the trail went into the forest, at first on a paved road, then on a dirt road and, for a short stretch, on a wet but manageable forest path.

I emerged from the forest onto a road and it started raining again! I put my poncho back on and walked to the next village, Hellenbach, where I stopped in a bus shelter to wait for the rain to subside. I was so comfortable, leaning on my backpack against the wall, that the sound of the rain almost lulled me to sleep!

The rain slowed down and stopped, and I walked the final two kilometres into Dinkelsbühl. Arriving was a celebration, because it was in the tourist information office in Dinkelsbühl, in December, that I first came up with the idea of walking the Via Romea Germanica! I was in the town with a group of friends from the English-speaking hiking group, visiting the Christmas markets of Bavaria. While waiting for a few members of the group who wanted to tour the little local museum, the rest of us, cold and tired - travelling in winter is always so exhausting - sat in the armchairs in the tourist office, keeping warm. I spotted a brochure about the Via Romea Germanica, with the symbol I had been seeing in a number of the villages we visited... and here I am!

The Rothenburg Gate in Dinkelsbühl in December...

...with friends...

and in May!

... but this time, I walked here!!

Dinkelsbühl

Though quite dinky, with a current population of only 12,000, Dinkelsbühl was fortified by the Emperor Henry V, granted the same city rights as Ulm in 1305, and raised to the status of free imperial city in 1351. During the Reformation, Dinkelsbühl was notable for being one of only a few cities to have a joint Catholic–Protestant government and administrative system, with an "equality office" (Gleichberechtigung in German) and a precise and equal distribution of civic offices between Catholics and Protestants, though around 1534 the majority of the population of Dinkelsbühl became Protestant.

My first stop in the city was - you guessed it - the cathedral, which I had seen in December with its intricate Christmas crèche scene reproducing a part of the town. There was even a pilgrim in it!

This was of course gone now, as were the Christmas market and the giant letters spelling out DINKELSBÜHL.

But it was amazing to be back at the cathedral which I had visited less than six months earlier... and to have walked here, in 40 days, from the north of Germany!

The idea of walking to Rome from here is equally exciting! But I won't be doing it just yet: four more days, and then I take the train back to Italy for the summer. This walk will continue later in the year!