After a good nights sleep, with at least 3 Couchon snoring through the night, we set off down towards the Meissnerhutte for an early apfelschoerle, passing our first really grumpy looking couple along the way. Now we followed forestry routes and met several happy cyclists as they toiled up and we strolled down the tracks. One couple were particularly friendly and stopped to chat for a short while. Of course they asked us what we were doing, were we a nudist group, where we protesting, etc. but seemed quite content when we explained that we were just out for a pleasant walk, with none of the hot and sticky clothes that they were so clearly covered in. They understood what we meant, but would rather not join, for the moment, thank you very much, as the bicycle seats might not be quite so forgiving without the padding… We tramped on in a southerly direction and, apart from a stupid decision of mine which had a suitably retribution-like ending when the fence I was climbing over collapsed and the barbed wire tore my leg, the rest of the walk went fairly smoothly until we stopped for a late lunch at St. Kathrein. The storm clouds gathered depth above the trees around us and after a good rest we set off under a dark sky. We had just reached Tienzens, in 3 different groups, when the heavens opened and Russ, Chris, Christian and I scuttled into a barn for cover, Konrad was still nowhere to be seen. We later found he had been waiting 100 m away next to a nearby church the whole time. The rain pummelled down, and we made ourselves comfortable in the dry and dusty field barn. We were nearly comfortable. After an hour or so, the rain eased and we headed for Steinach. Because it was still raining and quite cool, I put up my umbrella and the other 2 wore their rain jackets. I’ve walked naked in snow, and in the rain too, but it was just a bit cool for me at that time, Christian was the only one game enough to continue naked. When we got to Steinach the rain just got heavier and we were lucky to find a friendly Pizza restarateur who found us all a room for the night.
