June 27 - trying to reach the Zero kilometre of the Front

21:51 French time

As I watch the sunset, I think about today. 

There is no way it's possible to do 35 km/day with that backpack and this heat. It's day 1 and my shoulders hurts like I would have chronic pain. I'm happy though that my knees aren't speaking yet - the splints are doing their job well plus the warm weather is helping too (although it's not helping with anything else).
First day of "Peace Walk". I tried to reach the Southest German bunker. Didn't go without adventures. I took a train from Basel to Bonfol (the last train stop of Swiss trains). Turned on my GPS and started walking towards Pfetterhouse - a very small village in France that was important during the war since it was near the front. It had railway and trains were very common (the last train went in somewhere between 1960 and 1970 if I remember correctly). Of course, it's my fault for not knowing about the Zero km trail. Walking across the forest with a GPS that has no maps of the forest and orienting only by looking at the distance to the destination definitely a strategy with many flaws.

Rest time

And having an tendency to cut corners does not help too. I tried to walk on forest roads, but when I saw that the point is only 500 meters away in 'that' direction, I just went for it. Through all the thick grasses right up to my waist and, some reaching my chest. I couldn't see where I was putting my foot. I encountered bushes of blackberries and raspberry. And there was some other spiky plant (as a person who had some training in botany, I am ashamed to say that I have no idea what it was). They all left their marks on my arms and I was very happy to be wearing pants. After a 150 meters the walk started to get even worse. All I could see was thick bushes and tall grasses.

What a contrast: these guys were taken to here. Some of them weren't very pleased with that. While I am trying to get here voluntarily. And it seems that the environment itself doesn't want me to get to the place where everything started (in a way...). I apologized to all the trees and bushes when I was trying to get them out of my way. "That's something that needs to be done." - I added. However, the surroundings didn't change - it was still a jungle. So I turned around and started to walk back to the road. It was getting dark. I had no certain idea where I was going - I just tried to keep up the direction towards the road but everything looked new (on the other hand, I'm awful at remembering landmarks). I found a clearing and decided to camp there - I just had enough. However, after few minutes of rest and finding some of the animal activity, I continued. I ended up on the road and walked outside the forest - I just wanted a nice place for my tent and some rest. My plan to sleep at the bunker won't be realized, but I still need to sleep. While walking out of forest, I encountered old railway bridge that was built in the First World War and now is a part of "Zero kilometre trail" (French leaflet: http://www.juratourisme.ch/download/pied_sentier_km0.pdf). However, I was too focused on going out the forest and I didn't pay enough attention to this trail, which could have saved me at least 1 day. Just outside I found some nice grass. Few moments later a man came and offered me to place my tent somewhere more discreet and not right on the side-way of a road. I walked few meters to the direction he offered. Through the trees I could see water (or at least that's what I thought). But no visible path towards it again. I walked by the road looking for a better place to cross the forest to the water. I found some more friendly no-path place and started to walk towards the water like the Terminator towards Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie. The water was an artificial fishing pond with cows grazing right next to it - perfect. I decided to put my tent in the corner close to the cows (they reminded me of home). They seemed very interested in me - observed my every move. Just when I settled in, the beautiful sunset began. I opened one can of food, took some water out of the pond and started to have my dinner. The water was green and opaque. My first night. Definitely not as I planned but nice nevertheless. I was still quite optimistic about tracking the no man's land and pushing myself to do 35km/day - I said I will return in 20 days, and I already spend some time in Basel, so I must actually do more than 35km/day to catch up... Tipperarry now somehow seemed closer than Niewupoort to me.