Danube Trip - Well, We're Here #1

Lindach Church

We got here safely enough yesterday. This morning we collected our rental car (it's a yellow Opel Corsa - they must have been looking for someone daft enough to take this one for a while) and headed off for the Eggmuhl battlefield. The battlefield is bigger than I expected, and our guide (Georg) gave us a few inside tales of how things are not always as they are represented. Examples:

(1) The church tower at Lindach is famous because Napoleon is reputed to have climbed up there to see where the Austrians were. In fact, he can't have, because the tower has no proper windows and you can't see anything from that position.

(2) General Cervone was hit by a cannonball, and is buried beneath a monument by the road. In fact, he is buried where he fell, on farmland, but the farmer became so fed up with visitors trampling his crops that he arranged to get the monument shifted. Thus Cervone is buried on the battlefield, but nowhere near his monument.

(3) There are many little villages on the battlefield, and the fighting lasted over two days. Exactly which bit was the battle of Eggmuhl depends on which nation's version you read and which days you include.

Whatever, it was a fascinating and rewarding morning's trip, and we are deeply grateful to Georg for his knowledge and enthusiasm.

This afternoon we wandered around Regensburg old town, and were particularly impressed by an establishment called Dampfnudel Uli's, which specialises in traditional Bavarian steam dumplings, served with custard sauce. If this does not sound particularly interesting, I assure you this is only because you have never tried them...

Tomorrow we visit the Bavarian Army Museum at Ingolstadt, and the battlefield of Abensberg. Here's some pictures from today.

Georg Schindlbeck, in the uniform of a fusilier of the Bavarian I.R. No.5, Graf
 Preysing, gives an impressive display of how to fire two aimed shots a minute with
a flintlock musket

Lend him a Bavarian helmet and a French musket, and old Max Foy can still turn
his hand to soldiering. The car is official Napoleonic army issue.

In our exchange of international gifts, Georg was kind enough to give me a musket
ball, which was found on the battlefield. It's small size suggests that it was either
an officer's pistol ball or - more likely - a Bavarian sharpshooter's rifle ball.

My valiant colleague. Simon the Bookseller on the old bridge at Regensburg. The Danube
 is absolutely raging, and there is about 4 feet clear below the top of the river walk in
the background

Inside DampfNudel Uli's - lots of photos of celebrity guests

Uli - while he was showing me some of the photos of guests, he
was delighted that I told him that, quite correctly, he was more
famous than Ronald Reagan

Danube Trip - Napoleon was never this organised

And still I continue to be amazed.

Now that the first and the third days of our visit to Regensburg are nicely organized (Ingolstadt museum and Abensberg battlefield on Thursday, courtesy of the Director of the town museum, plus a guided tour of the historical sites – and hostelries – of Regensburg itself on the Saturday), I’ve been working on seeing if I could arrange some kind of guided visit to the battlefield at Eggmühl on the Friday.

This is not critical – I have a couple of good guidebooks to the field, and I understand it is laid out in such a way that a knowledgeable visitor can find his way around it. However, our success and good fortune thus far in finding people prepared to go to astonishing lengths to help with our mad trip encouraged me to see if I could just come up with someone prepared to take two total strangers – Anglophones at that – around our battlefield of choice on the single day we have available.

Bingo.

In fact, no credit is due to me at all. The gentleman recommended by the tourist board at Schierling turned out to be unavailable on the date we wanted (imagine – the chap must actually have a life), but he was good enough to email me and say that he had passed the message on, and someone would be in touch shortly. Sure enough, a couple of days ago I got a delightful note from Georg, who does battlefield tours of Eggmühl, asking would we prefer to start at 10:00 or 14:00. We have to meet him at the Gastätte Napoleon, in the centre of the village, and everything will be taken care of.

Georg, it seems, has been doing this for 20 years now, and he will be wearing the uniform of a fusilier of the regiment Graf Preysing. Yes – that’s right. For a brief instant, the imp of perversity whispered to me that I should email Georg and ask how we would recognize him, but some jokes do not translate well, so I thought better of it.

Georg, in uniform, with some French visitors

So Regensburg is organized. I have never come across such helpful people, nor such enthusiastic, humbling kindness. Just astonishing.

We have agreed that the Vienna leg of our trip will be rather less regimented, but we are working on a wish list of things we would like to see.

I’m getting nervous. Things are going too well – you know the feeling?

Hooptedoodle #88 - Back in Training

With the prospect of some serious walking in the Salzkammergut next month, and very much aware that I haven’t had much exercise since Hadrian’s Wall last Autumn (what with the flu and other distractions), I went up into the Pentland Hills yesterday with Nick.

Very pleasant day – marvellous views – but once again Scotland did its famous climate trick. Having been persuaded by the warm sunshine to leave my extra fleece in the car, I found the wind at the top of Carnethie so cold that I would have been very pleased to have taken it with me. Unusual naivety for us – I always work on the principle that it is easier to remove extra clothing and carry it than to put on clothing that you didn’t bring along.

Good walk – I’m a bit stiff this morning with the climbing – I’m sure that Carnethie gets steeper each year. In truth, some of the climbing does get harder, and much of this is down to the worsening erosion of the paths – the climb up Scald Law and down its Western side is pretty tricky now with all the scree and broken stone.  Especially since there are a great many sheep and lambs on the hills, I am amazed that it was possible to meet an unleashed rotweiler on a narrow ledge – is it just me, or are there a few dog owners who don’t seem to have much of a grip on reality?

Happiness, by the way, is finding a pork pie in your packed lunch when you are on top of a hill.

We think this one is Castlelaw - if you have exceptional eyesight you
may be able to make out the army rifle range targets, right of centre

Looking south-east from the lower slopes of Turnhouse Hill. The hills in
the distance are the Lammermuirs

Nick conquers the pile of rubble which used to be a cairn on top of Carnethie

Fearsome sight - Foy on campaign in Flaming June. In the background are
Scald Law and East Kip, and then, further away, we must be getting
into Lanarkshire

The walks in the Salzkammergut, we think, will be rather less demanding than some of the Alpine stuff we did in the Tyrol in the last two years, but one has to be ready. Part of the script for yesterday was to try out my new boots, but I had not yet got around to wearing them in the house first, so I used my old ones. Yes - we'll just have to go out again as soon as possible.

My planned September break this year will not involve anything as daunting as Hadrian's Wall - the intention is to make a serious assault on the coffee shops of Regensburg and Vienna. I'll need to get in some training for that, too, now I think of it.

In passing, I might mention that Nick and I were discussing yesterday whether Captain Scott and his chaps on their South Pole trip spent much time saying, "Gosh, what a fantastic view!", or even, "Ooh, it's freezing here".

Oh, my aching sides

Also in passing, I got a quick blood-pressure workout at the end of our walk when we got back to the car park at Flotterstone and I found this attached to my car. After the initial self-righteous panic, I quickly realised that it was a spoof, and contained some advice on how to avoid having your vehicle broken into when it is unattended, authored by some well-intentioned bunch of cretins known as the Penicuik Crime Prevention Panel. It certainly got my attention, but how hilarious is that for an idea? One way of preventing break-ins, of course, is to put a sniper in the trees to pick off any unauthorised person going within 3 feet of the car. 

My Bluff Is Called? – Feasibility Study

Monument at Eggmuhl

I believe I’ve mentioned here before that I have long nurtured a fantasy that one day I might take a little time to make a tour of Napoleon’s 1809 adventures along the Danube. Like all unlikely dreams, it has a built-in safety factor in that if I never get to do it, I’ll never find out that it was a really stupid idea.

The whole point of a trip like this (in theory) is that you do a lot of enjoyable reading, plan it all out and then spend fulfilling days in the sunshine, walking around clearly-signposted, well maintained battlefields, looking forward to the next bottle of halbtrocken and the odd hot chocolate. Oh – and cakes. Lots of cakes. The campaign is very compact – the early stages involved actions just about on consecutive days, so the distances to be covered are relatively small, and – exactly because it was such a fertile area – Napoleon had his army march right along the tourist magnet of the Danube itself. They would have had cakes every day, you bet.

Stadtplatz, Abensberg

When I mentioned it in the blog before, I got a very gratifying degree of supportive jostling – hey! just do it – all that. Excellent. This is what you need to keep your fantasies tickly and fresh. I can’t even claim to get any opposition at home – Mme La Comtesse thinks it’s a really good idea. Now that I have the time, and provided I don’t have to cash in the kids’ future to finance the deal, there’s no reason why not.

Well....

Landburg Trausnitz, Landshut

Well, that’s true. The only argument against getting on with it is that I would then have to organise it and make a job of it. I might mess it up. It might be, as discussed, a stupid idea. There is a risk that my lovely fantasy might turn into a boring mud bath (like some parts of my recent Hadrian’s Wall pilgrimage), or that the battlefields are now underneath local authority housing estates, or a sewage works. I don’t know the area – the Tyrol and Rothenburg ob der Tauber are as near as I have been. Würzburg, maybe.

Next tightening of the screw is that a friend has expressed great enthusiasm for the project, and reckons we should go next September. Should we do Vienna as well? – maybe that would require a second week? – hmmm. At this point, the kids’ future is looking a bit more shaky.

So I promised I would have a look to see what would be involved, and how it would be, and what the costs might look like, and I would get back to him. I dug out Loraine Petre and the John Gill trilogy, and the trusty Elting & Esposito atlas – now you’re talking – and the AvD road maps, and I started taking serious notes. A return flight to Vienna from Edinburgh is a bit over £200 if you book it far enough ahead. Hire a car at the far end, and from Vienna it is around 250 miles to Abensberg, then short hops back towards Vienna will get you to Landshut, Eckmühl, Ratisbon (that’s Regensburg to you and me and the road signs), then a bit further to Aspern-Essling and Wagram. Small, family-run hotels – possibly a couple of centres would cover the whole area. Or maybe that’s too much for a week. The more I got into this, the more it seemed like an actual military campaign. Needs a lot more work. Where the blazes is Berthier when you need him?

I had a root around on the internet to see if anyone publishes battlefield guides for this campaign, or this area. So far I came up with very little. Maybe the local tourist organisations can provide more information. Now I come to think about it, I don’t even know how many of the battlefields would make a worthwhile visit. I’m quite happy to work away on this – my only misgiving is that at the moment it looks as though it might be a fair amount of work just to decide if it’s at all feasible.

Oh well, all right then

I could, of course, look for a commercially available organised tour – if there is one – these things tend to cluster around bicentenaries these days. The really big downside of such a tour (apart from the cost – I’m sure these are excellently done, but they are not cheap) is that I do not relish spending much time on a bus with a bunch of people who are like me. No, thank you. Also, I was once told a scary story about a trip someone did to the WW1 battlefields of Northern France, which was spoiled only by the fact that the organiser/owner/guide was a total pain in the neck, which caused problems after 5 days of continuous, unrelenting monologue. High risk, I think.

So I would definitely prefer the do-it-yourself approach, if I only had a few more clues to get me started. Please – anyone done this, been to this area, know of any books or sources, have any tips on how to go about it? Even insider info about the best cakes in town would be most welcome.

Hooptedoodle #65b - Hadrian's Wall - Days 3 to 6

Day 3 – Saturday – Banks to Twice Brewed Inn – 14 miles

After the ritual Full English breakfast (death by Cumberland Sausage) we set off in a beautiful morning. Early morning ground frost disappeared quickly, and we had almost perfect walking weather, though we still had to watch out for mud patches.

The track passes through many fields, mostly with a stile in the corner. For some reason (perverse humour?) the cattle like to congregate in the corners, so that an attractive green field will have areas of deep gloop in front of the stile where it has been trampled.

After Greenhead, the track swings round towards the first of the crags – a jaw-dropping sight, with just a small thrill of trepidation about how near the edge the track goes. In fact it is strenuous – more so than I expected, though not as severe as some of the Austrian walks or the Pentlands Hills hike I did recently. The trail goes up and down a series of steep cliff-top paths, with stone steps inserted to protect the trail and make the climbing safer. Having said which, I would hate to attempt these steps in the wet.

One of my colleagues was having problems with blisters, and our speed of walking slowed right down. At one point I was concerned that at our current rate we would not get off the hills before it became too dark for safety. However, after a pretty hard day we reached the Twice Brewed Inn, which served up its very fine eponymous beer and magnificent slow-roast pork belly with mashed spuds and black pudding (apologies to any vegans, especially teetotal vegans).

Cumbrian countryside

Birdoswald

What became a familiar view - the path runs straight ahead

Yet another milecastle

The history walks along with you

Medieval rip-off - Thirlwall Castle - "Excuse me, sir, I don't suppose

you would know anything about the whereabouts of a large quantity of

very old masonry?"

First glimpse of the crags after Greenhead

Up and down...

...and up again

One of my colleagues, feet badly blistered, delighted to reach the Twice

Brewed Inn as the sun sets behind him

Day 4 – Sunday – Twice Brewed Inn to Greencarts Farm (Humshaugh) – 15 miles

Another fantastic day’s walking. The Twice Brewed is a little off the hill trail, so we had to climb back up to the top of the crags, and then once again we had the switchback path and amazing views, along past the lake of Craig Lough, Housesteads fort, and eventually the path dropped down to run alongside the road. This was a rather boring section after the wonders of the earlier part of the day, and the weather began to deteriorate – wet and increasingly cold.

We arrived, tired and a bit grumpy, at Greencarts, to learn that there was an amber weather warning for the next two days. I had no idea what an amber warning signified, but it didn’t sound like good news.

Due mention must be made here of Mrs Maughan at Greencarts, who, since it was Sunday, produced roast gammon, complete with Yorkshire pudding, stuffing and home grown root vegetables. Raspberry sponge to follow – what a good job we were on a walking trip!

Turret on the crags

Craig Lough far below - complete with swans

The remains of an arch at Housesteads

And if you thought you were getting to walk on the actual Wall, forget it.

COH.II.SAG.HAM. would have found this funny, I think

The north wall of Housesteads from the barbarian side

Near Greencarts

Day 5 – Monday – Greencarts to Heddon-on-the-Wall – 18 miles

It turns out that an amber warning is definitely not what you are looking for on a walk like this. The wind was now in our faces, the temperature dropped and the rain was horizontal. The last two days of this walk are not very interesting anyway – there is very little actual wall to see, so it is mostly an act of faith. After you leave Chesters fort behind you, for all the visual evidence you might as well be walking the Great Wall of China at this stage.

We did give serious thought to getting a bus into Hexham and abandoning the full walk, but – though we were wet and cold and thoroughly miserable – we stuck with it and got through a hard slog. I am delighted to say that my gear stood up well to the test – my old Brasher boots were terrific, and my cheapo Regatta waterproof over-trousers were a life-saver.

We stayed at a ranch-style hostel on a farm, dried our kit and listened to news of serious flooding in Morpeth, plus forecasts of more of the same for the next day. At night it was hard to sleep for the wind roaring. It occurred to me that if someone had been employing me to do this trip I would have resigned at that moment.

I’m sorry there are no pictures of the last two days – it was just too wet to get my camera out.

Day 6 – Tuesday – Heddon-on-the-Wall to Wallsend – 14 miles

We were now sufficiently cynical to make some policy decisions.

First point to note is that we were tired and cold and keen to complete our walk from coast to coast with or without reference to Roman walls or anything else. Second point to note – which may justify our attitude a little – is that the official Hadrian’s Wall Path walk is a thing of compromise anyway. The site of the wall is known, and the original scheme was for a walk to follow it, but concerns about erosion, disagreements with individual farmers about access to their land and – more significantly – involvement of the National Trails people have fudged the routing of the eastern-most section of the walk. The HWP through Newcastle is now a scenic trek along the northern bank of the Tyne, which has nothing to do with Hadrian except that it ends at the site of Segedunum, the coastal fort at the end of the wall.

We decided to cut out the detour and walk straight through central Newcastle to Wallsend, which was probably a smart move.

Done it. Tired and cold, but unbloodied and in good shape.

Afterthoughts

Am I glad I did it? Definitely. Was it as I expected? More or less – some of the climbing was harder work than I thought it would be, and on some of the sections – especially in the bad weather – the tedium is a killer, but overall it is not nearly so arduous as the West Highland Way in Scotland. In the direction we did the walk – apart from the separate objective of crossing England on foot – days 1, 5 and 6 were not very stimulating.

I think I might revisit Hadrian some time in the future (if I’m spared....), but I would approach it differently – I would book a few nights at the Twice Brewed and do day walks over defined stages of the crags in the central section. That really is the very best of the wall, and an unforgettable experience.

Last little moan – the signposting on the walk is generally good, but from time to time there are no clues which way to go, and some of the pointers are inaccurate, which is not helpful if the conditions are difficult. Compared with my recent experience of the excellent signposting of walkways in the Tyrol, I think the HWP could do rather better in this respect.

However – mustn’t grumble. I met a lot of interesting people and was grateful for a lot of hospitality and kindness, and I had an excellent time.

The museum at Segedunum, on a much sunnier day. We couldn't find the place at first, failing to realise that the large building that looks like a modern colliery was what we were looking for. I had hoped to see the big cranes at Swan Hunter's shipyard, but sadly they have been
sent to China.

Hooptedoodle #65a - Hadrian's Wall - Days 1 & 2

First glimpse of actual Roman wall, between Walton and Banks

Day 1 – Thursday – Bowness-on-Solway to Stanwick (Carlisle) – 12 miles

No pictures today. Incessant rain and deep mud (I sank almost to my knees in a harmless looking field – Cumbrian mud is special) made this day rather heavy going – not helped by the fact that we made an ill-judged detour of about 3 miles to get a distant view of a monument to Edward I on the marshes – he died there, of dysentery. No visible trace of Roman walls thus far – at one point we travelled along an interestingly straight road which we thought might well follow the line of the wall, but in fact it was built on an old railway! A few herons on the tidal flats of the Solway, but mostly the day was a bit grim.

Bright spots in the evening were an excellent Indian meal in a Tandoori restaurant in Carlisle, catching part of a rare Liverpool FC win on TV in the pub and – best of all – heroic efforts by our host at the B&B to help us clean and dry our boots and wash some very dirty clothes. Most kind and much appreciated.

Day 2 – Friday – Stanwick to Banks (near Walton) – 14 miles

Much better day – little or no rain, but still a lot of slow progress through muddy areas. We got our first sighting of a recognisable piece of wall near the end of the day. This is a very rural area – villages well spaced out, and most of the pubs have shut down, apparently. The recession is here.

Despite the lack of authentic wall thus far, there is an abundance of rectangular blocks of dressed stone in the dry-stone dykes and the barns, and it’s pretty obvious where it came from…

Because refreshment sites are thin on the ground, there are a number of honesty bars along the way offering cold drinks and snacks – something I’ve not seen on other walking trails. Tomorrow we should get into the sections where the wall is much more continuous – with luck the mud should be better, though there will be more climbing to do. Beautiful countryside - as we climbed up towards Banks, there were fine views to the South West to Skiddaw and the Lake District.

Main problem to date - the mud seems almost bottomless at times

Hadrian's personal honesty bar service - a classy touch - a

Coke or a Mars bar from the Emperor's personal stocks

Hooptedoodle #65 - Hadrian's Wall - Intro

On Wednesday I'm heading off to meet up with a couple of well-seasoned hikers, and we shall do the Hadrian's Wall Walk - the whole thing - West-to-East (i.e. in the "wrong" direction). Our starting point is Bowness-on-Solway, and we'll set off on Thursday morning. We have 6 days' walking, with overnight stops in the vicinity of Carlisle, Walton, Steel Rigg, Chollerford, Heddon-on-the-Wall and Wallsend. On paper it looks reasonable - but there again, on paper you don't have flies, mud and old legs to contend with!

The Wall ends at Wallsend (the Romans probably felt that the name made it an obvious place to stop), and then we'll head into Newcastle to get our various transports home. I am comparatively local, being based in South East Scotland, but my colleagues will be coming up from London and Dorset respectively. I have explained to them that they will not find ATM's or Starbuck's or branches of Waitrose on the Wall, and I think they understand.

The pictures here are not mine - just stuff I liked and borrowed to get myself in the mood. These are all views of the more remote part, between Greenhead and Chollerford. I intend to record some thoughts and some pictures on the way - how closely this will correspond to live reporting will depend on a few things - weather, fatigue, wi-fi availability in the overnight stops and (possibly) beer. However it works out, you should hear more of this trip. If my netbook or my brain should malfunction, I may write up the whole thing when I get back.

Or perhaps we might just spend the whole week in the Twice-Brewed Inn, and I'll make up some kind of a cover story.