Day 15 – Barsinghausen

Published by Marcel Bootsman on Jun 2, 2019

The morning

Waking up in Petershagen was not different to any other day. Except for checking my right leg. I still felt a little pain, but that was fine to handle during today’s walk.

Annabelle and Marco made a great breakfast with fresh bread, fruit, a boiled egg and grilled bacon. After breakfast I packed my bag, loaded about 3 liters of water and sport-drinks and got ready to go.

The walk

Barsinghausen was the goal today. I planned this route and the total distance was 36km. That changed a bit, I walked 40,5 to get there. This happened because I took a different route than the one that was planned. I decided I had to walk though towns in stead of along a busy road with no houses / businesses, all because of the problems I had the day before, and to be able to get help if needed.

I started the walk and I needed to cross a bridge over the Weser, a small river. No problems here, on to the next bridge, across the Schleusenkanal Petershagen. Except, thas was closed. I met a cyclist there and he told me there was detour. No problem, my body still felt good, and on I went. Through towns like Lahde, a forest named Schaumburger Wald, Meerbeck and after about 19km I arrived in Stadthagen. I was hungry and decided to have lunch at Gaststätte Bruns. It was about to close for the afternoon so I quickly ordered a salad and sat inside. After a few bites, I saw a familiar car show up on the parking lot. My mom and dad came to visit me, and they had booked a hotel for a few nights in Hannover. That was so cool, and really motivated me more to finish today’s stage.

Twitter screenshot with a picture of me and my parents

I continued my walk, and pretty soon I came at a point where I could not go further. Google Maps, set to walking mode, told me to walk on the B65 a road where cars were allowed to drive 100km/h, but there was a sign that said no pedestrians and bikes were allowed.

I downloaded the maps for the OpenStreetMap Android app of this region, and luckily there was and alternative. There was a cycling path next to the B65, and I could follow that.

Crossing towns like Kobbensen, Beckedorf and Bad Nenndorf brought me to the Deister hills. A tough climb, but I managed to get to the top, and arrive at the Deister Alm, were I had a big alcohol-free beer.

The weather

Today was a hot day. Sunny and with temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius I had to look after my body. I applied sunscreen multiple times, drank a lot of water (almost 6 liters). I refilled my water bottle when I could, so that I would not run out of water. Furthermore the weather was not too hot for a hike. It all felt good.

The pickup

At around 7:30pm I was picked up at the Deister Alm By Saskia. She lived in this area when we arranged my sleep over, but moved to Hannover in the months after that. So she proposed to pick me up in Barsinghausen, so I could sleep and eat at her place. The next morning she’ll bring me back to Barsinghausen, so I can walk to Hannover and not cheat by completing a piece of the route to Berlin by car.

I had a quick shower and we walked to a nice restaurant. That was going to be closing soon. Actually the kitchen was closed already. We asked if we could eat, and that was OK. We had some great conversations and arrived at home around 11pm. Then it really was time for bed and rest/recover.

Here are some pictures of the day: