Day 23 – 19.5 miles to Machtum

Last night it rained. Real rain. Hammering down from 1.00am to 5.00am, so not much sleep again.

I nodded off despite the dawn chorus, and needed the alarm to get me up at 5.30am.

Clear skies most of the day. A few cumulus built up in the afternoon, but didn’t amount to anything.

The walking was varied. Some forests, some open hills, some bits of road. The sack was heavy with all the extra water – wet sack, wet tent, damp sleeping bag, wet waterproofs from yesterday etc, but not too bad.

A couple of events today.

The River Sure met the Moselle. So now I am walking down the Moselle valley. I don’t know why having a river you’ve heard of makes any difference, but it does!

Photo if the ferry over the Moselle is a bit rubbish. It’s more symbolic.

Also saw my first vineyard. I think there will be many more to follow.

Saw this sculpture along the way. Guess Luxemburg does gave a sense of humour (it’s a cat stealing the fish)

At the end of the day, disaster was averted. I got to the town hoping to find a flat bit of ground to camp. Failing that the guidebook says there is a hotel. Failed on both counts: the only flat ground was on the verge of the main road, and there is no hotel (never has been – another epic fail by the guidebook).

Got some water, ready to head up the side of the valley to find a bit of vineyard flat enough to camp on. On the way out of town saw a house with a vineyard on the flat bit of the valley, before ascending. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I knocked on their door. “Well you can camp on it, but its a lot flatter in our back garden”. Result. Tonight I am camped on the edge if town in someone’s garden. As I was setting up camp they brought me out bottled water. A bottle of still and a bottle of sparkling. Really does restore you faith in human nature!

To finish, some poppies.

Now to bed. It is 8.15pm! Really need to catch-up on some ZZZs.