8th of August, 2021.
I see another hitchhiker across the street where I am, but going in the opposite direction, to Lyon. We greet each other and then walk towards to talk. I don’t remember his name, but he is a nice young guy. When I am saying good bye, I have a feeling of yelling at him – I hope you get a lift before me. He said: “The same to you!”. About 5 minutes later, a very nice Muslin man picks me up. My friend was still standing in the road. But hopefully not for long.
This Muslin guy is super cool and I like him immediately. We talk about many things, including the issues he is having with his daughter. At this point my plan was to be going to Colmar. He is crossing to Germany, towards his home in Frankfurt. Looking at the map it seems better for him if we crossed through Strasbourg, so because it is also quite later already, I decide to skip Colmar and go straight to Strasbourg. My travel through France it got much shorter and I have seen much less places than I expected.
Strasbourg is a nice old town. Cute and small but full of beautiful old buildings. The Cathedral is as special as it can be. Unfortunately there are quite a lot of tourists and the the cathedral is also closed for visits… but open for services? I guess my backpack wouldn’t allow me to pretend that I am a very religious local.
I walk a bit more around and I try to take more photographs but for some reason I am not much in the mood. Then I try to buy some food but I am also not in the mood. Plus I cannot fin any supermarkets once I leave the centre. When I finally get to one, is a Arabic shop and I don’t find anything I really want to eat. Even the pop corn I buy it is too salty and I can eat only a little bit.
I ask to use the wi-fi in a nice hotel and the manager is super kind. I get some directions for camping. When I get in there… Oh, Loki! It is impossible to camp. The forest is too thick and full of turns, so I cannot even try to cross it hoping I will find a glade. Near the road the vegetation is too thin and I would be easily discovered. So I walk across this park mostly for cycling, in a actual path, but soon enough I see some people and I decide it is too risky. I walk all the way back to my starting point and I am loosing hope when I decide to follow the road. After a 24h car washing I meet with the railway and I decide that I will find a spot behind it. And I do. It is slightly facing the road but there are no houses or shops here. It is flat and in between bushes. “What about the train, Lei?” Well, I haven’t heard anything in the last hour or even more, so I am assuming that if this line is still being used, it is not all the time, all day long.
I hear nothing all night and I sleep pretty well. In the morning, when I am leaving my camping place, I hear the train. Did I hang my head and cry? No. Sorry, my beloved Cash.
It is super early and super cold. People seem grumpy and upset in their cars. How come so many people are unhappy? Is it only because is only morning or are they always like that? In anyway, is there a time to be happy? It takes quite a while until to a nice old man, who cannot speak English, to pick me u and drive me to the first town after the border. Germany here I come!
