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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 2: still trying to reach Saint-Mihiel

Image
Bains-les-Bains -> Mirecourt --> Poussay -> Nancy -> Frouard --> Marbache -> Rosieres-en-Haye (?) -> Appremont-la-Foret I had my first dream! Even though it wasn't a very nice one and I woke up during the night a few times, the morning started with a hope that today is the day when I finally reach Saint-Mihiel and finally start walking with that stupidly heavy bagpack (but, hey, I wanted to feel what these guys felt, right..? So walking with a 30+kg backpack is the way to do it, right..?). I hoped to reach Saint-Mihiel by afternoon (that's called "being overly optimistic". Or "having foolish hopes"). The day started nice. Cows and sunrise were the first things I saw after opening my tent. Despite the heavy dream, a perfect place to sleep indeed. I ate the second half of the can that I started yesterday before sleep (that was the drill), packed my things and went to the road. It was starting to get frustrating - how can I man
Read more

July 4: Verdun

Image
It seemed appropriate to do a post about Verdun on the 11th November. The Armistice day in contrast to the one of most bloodiest battles in history. And one of the longest, if not the longest. And it is also the place for the German and French reconciliation. Part 1: history and the sites Before going to the battle, lets visit some places, that should be of peace and reconciliation. One famous one-of-the-kind landmark in Verdun is the Saint-Amand sluice bridge. It does not look anything fancy but it is the genius engineering that is impressive (too bad this part is not seen). "SAINT-AMAND SLUICE BRIDGE. The sluice bridge in Saint-Amand is clever piece of military engineering which is part of a whole system designed to cause defensive flooding of the area upstream from Verdun. Based on a project designed by Vauban, work on the bridge began in 1680 under the control of a royal engineer named Peirault and was completed in 1685. The first trial floods were insti
Read more

July 25: a bunch of rabbits, new museum and the most important Canadian monument-battlefield

Image
(take two.)   Open letter in the light of Vimy Ridge Centennial: In the light of so many Known unto God, I don't feel that my name is important. I am a Lithuanian, however, I travelled here to Vimy from China - Vimy is just too important to miss. I was asked why I feel the need to go here on this day, especially since there is nothing that ties me to it and the travelling in many ways is quite costly. I could not find any rational reason: my family is not connected to any wars or Canada in any way. The only connection I have with this place is the one I established in the summer of 2015 when I decided to walk across the Western Front in an attempt to better understand war in general and also this war in particular as it is the crucial point that shaped our world as it is now. I arrived at Vimy in the evening. The sunlight was falling right at the gravestones; the sunrays stressed the devastated land, full of shell-holes and all I could see was again bloody mud and body par
Read more