Joanne's long walks: Via Romea Germanica Day 50: Landsberg am Lech

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?..

Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don't much care where.

The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go!

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

For the past three days or so, I have pretty much abandoned the actual route of the Via Romea Germanica. I use the gps track of the Jakobus Pilgerweg route as my basic guide, but vary the route as required to reach a place with accommodation, or make up for a mistake where I missed a turning. I haven't seen many (or any?) of the shell symbols that so commonly marked this route north of Augsburg, though I have occasionally seen a tattered and worn Via Romea Germanica sticker, so someone with authority (or at least stickers) must consider this way an acceptable variation on the Via Romea. As long as it gets me closer to Rome, it's fine with me! Other walkers have commented, or complained, that in these stages the official Via Romea Germanica route is entirely on paved roads, and this alternative course is the opposite, taking dirt roads and paths through the forest and the fields, following the course of the river Lech. It shouldn't be surprising that the Via Romea Germanica route goes along roads and through built-up areas, as it is based on a major trading and pilgrimage route; it is only natural that this route should have led to the construction of towns, then of roads, and of industries. While the route I am walking is on the quieter, greener side of the Lech.

Today's route was not entirely as planned. Upon leaving my hosts' house in Landsberg am Lech, I reached the main road and then - walked a few blocks in the wrong direction! I saw a few supermarkets and gas stations I hadn't seen the previous day, and then began to wonder, checked my map and turned around 😂.

On the way out of Landsberg I missed a turn-off I should have taken and carried on walking along the river when I should have gone a little way uphill to walk through the Wildpark, which judging by the name was probably nice. This meant that I had to take a detour away from my route and back to see the Teufelsküche - the "devil's kitchen": a pool of insanely bright blue water that accumulates behind a small dam on a stream just above the level of the river.

Back down by the river after this detour, I took my first break of the day on a bench, eating a banana and a pastry from the bakery in Landsberg. I was carrying a lot of food - in fact, food and water probably accounted for half the weight of my backpack, since I was wearing all my raingear - as there are not many shops or cafés on this side of the river, and those that do exist are closed on Mondays 🙄. Paradoxically, I couldn't wait to start eating all the food I had just stocked up on, to get rid of some of the weight!

I continued along the river, meeting only the occasional dog-walker or cyclist, as far as the twin villages of Pöring and Pitzling, where the gravel road left the river and climbed higher, into the forest.

I could hear the sound of children playing at the top of a hill nearby and soon passed this sign, which explained why! Germany has more than 1500 Waldkindergarten or forest kindergartens, where children aged three to six spend most or all of their days outdoors, no matter what the weather, playing with natural materials found in the woods rather than man-made toys. The concept was first introduced in Denmark in the 1950s, as an institution - though before that of course many children all over the world lived on farms and naturally grew up in similar circumstances - and was further developed in Sweden. Germany first introduced forest kindergartens in 1968, and since 1993 they have been officially recognised as a form of daycare, permitting a reduction of fees to make this form of childcare more affordable and universally accessible.

Emerging out of the woods and into the fields on the road towards Stadl, I decided not to follow the Jakobsweg route back down to the river, but to stay up high and walk along the farm tracks through the fields to my destination for the evening, a room in a holiday apartment in Reichling. Instead of going directly there I took a short detour to visit the Wallfahrtskirche or pilgrimage church in Vilgertshofen.

While I was in the church it began to rain, so I stopped and rested on a sheltered bench. Only one more hour to go! I messaged my hostess and struck off across the fields and through another wood once the rain had stopped.

My room at Ferienwohnung Heiland in Reichling is very comfortable, and comes with a fully equipped kitchen. The owner, Tina, also runs a laundry downstairs, but I put all my clothes through the washing machine at my Couchsurfing hosts' place last night so I don't require that service! I also cleaned and polished my boots, and managed to keep them remarkably clean today despite walking along forest paths and through a field of long grass right after a rain shower!