Today’s my rest day, so before sunrise I strode out into the misty forest. Well, more of a limp than a stride, that chafing on my thigh hasn’t had a chance to heal. I think the wood is what the RAF base was named after but every British person knew it only as Boar Woods. I never did inquire why that name came about, although it’s probably linked to it being populated by wild boar. As the Germans hunt and eat them they’re both infrequent and shy, and indeed, in three years living nearby I recall only two occasions on which I saw them.

One was an ancient male boar, four foot tall at the shoulder, who let me close to within about 8 feet. He wasn’t going to concede his ground but I didn’t frighten him enough to attack either. We looked at each other a while and I moved on.

The other occasion it was a couple of mothers and their litters, crossing the path in front of me. And.. it’s baby boar time of the year again. So I figured I’d pop into the woods, see if I could get lucky.

Sort of. I did see a wild boar (so way above average spot rate) but it saw me too and legged it before I could take a photograph. What I did get a picture of is the fallow deer that I stalked to within about 30 feet. It saw me eventually so I have a picture of it looking back at me. Worryingly flirtatious, in a way. I saw a second later on, bounding across the path, but it didn’t stop for a photo. No baby boars though 🙁

This brings my wild creature tally for the trip to
– 1 roe deer
– 2 fallow deer
– 3 turtles
– a wild boar
– lots of flappy things with feathers

I’m not counting wild animals enclosed in zoos or tierparks. Weeze has a tierpark, free to wander around and on a day like this understandably full of kids. I couldn’t get near them though, they were being mobbed (and fed) by the German children. I went back later and photographed them, baby goats are like normal cute goats but cuter.

What was that? You want cute? [Channel Jack Nicholson] YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE CUTE [/JN]

I certainly couldn’t. They chased their mother around the pen and under a wooden walkway. Stood on it I could hear only grunts and oinks, so I moved around to see. Little porky bottoms wriggling happily as they fed, their mother leaning against a wall.

Although there was also human cutity par excellence at lunch. A small boy spotted the 8 foot slide and quietly, purposefully made his way over to it, dummy in mouth. At the foot of the steps he looked around carefully, saw me watching and gazed at me for a few seconds, assessing whether I was likely to stop his progress. Satisfied I wasn’t a threat, and that his parents weren’t watching, he began his ascent. Although its steps were the ideal size for his four year old brother he had to climb up to each one with his knee, then stand up to reach the next. This did not deter his triumphant rise, which reached around three times his own height before a panicking mother scurried over. She started pushing his bottom to speed him up and as he reached the top she scampered to the other side and caught him as he came down.

He sprinted (as much as someone that short in nappies can) back to the steps and began again.

Speaking of children, along with obligatory tierparks and eis cafe in every town, there’s also the communal ‘get wet’ fountain, usually outside the Rathaus or the Bahnhof. Just out of shot below (and explaining the wetness on the left) are the small male Germans joyfully soaking everything in sight (but mainly each other).

Just hearing Germans chatter is helping me with my language. That and them correcting me when I try to talk to them. Usually though they don’t bother; I say something in German and they respond in English. I’ve also had the joy of hearing a German go all Scottish for the first time in ages. When they want to disagree or change your mind they go ‘nay nay nay’, except they spell it ‘neh’. You hear it more than nein.

I had a couple of hours resting my knees after the 6km walk before breakfast, then nipped into town, parking by the tierpark. After around 140 photos of the animals there I strolled down to the station, stopping for the obligatory daily eis cafe treat.

I’ve been telling people for ages that Weeze railway station has bullet holes from the war. It may, but what I was really thinking of is the signal box next to it.

They’ve removed the war memorial so no pictures of any memorials today. I did find an information board that kind of suggests the signal box got off lightly. Weeze was at the Northern end of the Siegfried Line and the Germans got a bit anxious when it came to defending the fatherland.

There’s an apocryphal story that an airman was out after dark one night, illegally digging for souvenirs in the old fortifications. He was happily pulling artefacts out of the ground, putting them to one side to examine more closely in daylight, celebrating his good fortune. Dawn broke and showed him what he’d acquired: live munitions, including landmines. Word is he buried them again and an anonymous message later reached the German authorities that they may want to send bomb disposal down that way.

Finished my stroll around Weeze at around lunchtime so nipped off to get some lunch. My destination was a cafe that has something excellent.

We used to cycle down the river from Weeze just to ride across here; couldn’t afford drinks let alone food at the restaurant, unless it was a rare visit with the parents. Today I drove there with the top down, although lunch was just a burger, sat watching the people cross.

Then back to the hotel. I wasn’t kidding on the rest day thing. To be fair if the walking (another 11km today) hadn’t buggered my knees and left me bleeding where my jeans rub my thigh I’d probably have done more, but instead I sat down and enjoyed a film this afternoon. Browsing the selection on Amazon Prime I thought I’d pick one that articulates nicely why the events recapped in the past couple of days were so necessary. I’ve seen it before but Adrien Brody’s performance is always worth a watch.

Obviously I turned the volume up, just to be certain the neighbours could tell what I was watching 😉

Forgot to mention yesterday that the waitress brought me unbaded some schnapps following my dinner. I confirmed that was what it was and demonstrated great sadness in telling her, “I can’t. I’m driving.” The first two words caused a look of confusion and disdain; the second two an expression of complete understanding and a disappearing glass of schnapps the average street magician couldn’t have managed so succinctly. I couldn’t remember exactly the drink drive laws but one glass of schnapps would probably have kept me under the limit. However, the Germans take this sort of thing very seriously.

The day ended sat outside by the millpond, watching the coots fuss over their nest there, eating German bread and enjoying the sunset. I’ve known worse times in my life.

Since dinner isn’t terribly photogenic, a picture of breakfast instead.

See! I do eat fruit!

Today’s warscore is quick and simple: Operation Veritable was a painful but effective win for the allies, so Britain 3 Germany 1.

Today’s drive was very short:

Same hotel as last night. Look, it’s not _that_ posh. It’s not like the hairdryer has its own..

..chair. Oh.

The schloss has in its grounds a small hut by the river. It was only when I walked past it that I realised it’s a beekeeper’s hut. It was the six hives built into the wall 8 feet from me that gave it away. So I danced with the bees, in the evening light.