These boots were made for walking..

I felt like hanging up my boots after today's walk.  It was long (16 Km) and challenging due to the ascents and descents.  Several walkers who were afraid of heights were unable to make the descent due to exposed edges and came down by chairlift instead!! About 3 hours before the end of the walk we saw a sign that said Treis Karden 5km and if I had known what was in front of us I would have followed the sign.  There was a great deal of walking on the road; we arrived in Beilstein 10 minutes after the boat had left for Treis Karden which meant we had to wait another hour for a boat going up river to catch a train home.
You may have sensed a wee bit grumpiness on my part during this walking holiday which isn't like me at all, but I've had quite a bit of sciatic pain throughout the week.  Usually the walks take the form of perhaps 16Km walk with good ascent and descent, a drink in a café or bar at the end then straight back to the hotel for a hot shower and a rest before dinner.  This holiday was a new one for Ramblers that had a lifestyle element to it, hence the city walks and castles and museums.  Somehow J and I missed this description in the brochure and we wouldn't have signed up for that type of walking.  Having said that the company was great and the hotel and the weather and we'd not been to this part of Germany before so really appreciated the beautiful scenery, but we were never back in the hotel before 6.30 and dinner was at 7.30 so it felt as though there was no downtime at all.  Moan over.    
Extra blips.  Pauline relaxing after walking for 1.5 hours and a beautiful church in the village.  I didn't realize this part of Germany was very Catholic and there were a great many small chapels in the villages and in the countryside. Today's castle visit.