These last 10 days turned out to be wet, not to say very wet and cold. Rain, rain and temperatures between 5 and 9 C. Only the very first days (when Ineke joined the walk and we hit the border for Aachen) were still nice, but when Marlies and Harrie (Inekes sister and brother in law) joined in it became terrible. But they managed perfectly, although it was not easy. Marlies turned out to be a hero. Aachen is of course a majestic city, the Aachener Dom is superb with its beautifully colored stained glass windows. I got a stamp for my pelgrim pass and dinner was nice at a warm terrace opposite the Dom. Walking in the rain is an experience. The problem is that you want to avoid the wetness from outside, but especially when you are crossing hilly terrain, which is of course the case in the Eifel, you are going to be very wet inside also. So if you see a glimpse of 'sun' (this is only a theoretical possibility, as you understand) you will take off evrything again and try to dry, and vice versa if it starts raining, but then you are mostly too late, because you want to avoid too many changes.

At night the women are trying to warm up by drinking -as a start- each ein Viertel of Rotwein, while we, as men, keep ourselves to the local beer, the Landbier. We are at the Brauhaus of Bad Munstereifel, a very nice and old city with its St. Michaels Gymnasium, built in 1647 by the Jesuits, and a very old Rathaus which is said to be one of the finest in the entire region. Although the weather is terrible, the walk is sill very nice. The Eifel area is an extremely nice combination of open valleys, woods, lakes, scenery villages, nice people, good food and the very beginning of the wine regions. I would very much recommend it if it were nice weather. I am still recommending it now; it is beautiful.

Later, when the family returned home and I am walking alone again, I am fully hitting the loneliness, the wetness, it has even got worse, I hear stories about snow, but because my glasses are wet, I don`t see anything, so I can`t verify it.

I have also another problem. Until now I was following the Europaeischer Fernwanderweg E8, and the guy who wrote the book ( I have to say this particular part of the route, between Nijmegen and Bad Godesberg) did a great job. His descriptions were always accurate, very nicely written and I am learning all kind of important words, like Fichtenhochwald. Now the next part of the route is written by other persons, which resulted in the fact that I am nearly back in Holland again. The situation is that I am walking twice as much but movement towards Rome has slowed down. Not that that is very important, I can still go to Santiago de Compostello, which still seems to follow this same track.

Today it was dry, and I saw the sun once. I was also passing 4 parallel high voltage main transmission lines, probably a very important grid line in Germany? (Is this true, friends?). Nevertheless, although it seemed slightly better, I was wearing my gloves some time because my fingers fell off. The boatman of the ferry said that nature was equalizing itself: after a very dry April month it would rain during May. I don't hope that this people's tale will be materialised.