Total distance: 21.5km
Pace: 4.9km/h, then 4.8
Weather: ideal conditions in the morning, then too hot with approx. 28C after noon
As a summary, today was a beautiful day with some great encounters but very hot in the afternoon.
The walk today was great with a diverse scenery. Throughout the day, I met a few locals who were incredibly supportive by offering me to refill my water bottles, checking on me that I was ok in the heat, reminding me that I should drink enough and not walk too far 😊 But it was also interesting as I learned a few things about the region: men were standing with rifles next to wheat fields that were being harvested as they were waiting for wild boars to escape. Also, that there is a big conflict of interest between farmers and the industry about the soil which is fruitful for the crop but equally gives high quality gravel and therefore brings in a lot of money. Lastly, seeing the water levels of the flooding in 2013, 2006 and 2002 was quite shocking and made it much more real than seeing it in the news back then.
Mühlberg is a pleasant village but was completely deserted. The only way to get some food was in the supermarket. Any Cafés and restaurants were closed. I haven’t figured out yet if it’s due to summer break (which wouldn’t really make sense as it’s high season for tourism right now), if they went bust due to Corona or if for other reasons. Thankfully, the supermarket was there though as it otherwise would have been nuts and beer for me on a Saturday night.
Tomorrow, the weather should be even hotter than today, so I hope I can still manage quite well despite the 23km ahead of me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t another town with accommodation beforehand without cutting down too much on distance. So I will be chasing some spots of shade.
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