Rheinbach to Bad Münstereifel, 27 Km
Today’s stage was due to be 22Km but the Camino was once again diverted just outside Rheinbach to visit a chapel in the woods, adding two kilometres. However the real problem arose just before Bad Münstereifel when I had to descend from the plateau into town. There was a choice of three routes but no Camino sign. Over the next 30 minutes I took all three of them. The left turn was the Camino, as shown on the map but it disappeared into gorse on a steep slope. I returned and tried the straight ahead route which was clearly signed “Bad Münstereifel 2Km” but after the next sign showing 1.7Km the path ended at a hunter’s shed. The right hand path wasn’t signed but it was the route that I have on my iPhone and sure enough it led me down. Towards the bottom a few Camino signs appeared which I thought was rather cheeky.
Bad Münstereifel is a fine town. It means Eifel Monastery while Bad means Bath. It’s an official Kneipp Spa named after a 19th century priest who promoted natural remedies. You could spend several days here, particularly if you need retail therapy. What’s even more amazing is that the centre was wiped out by devastating floods in July 2021 but is now completely restored.
My hotel didn’t open until 3pm so I headed to the nearest restaurant, sweating profusely. I felt a bit awkward but the lovely waitress showed me to a table at the back, and anyway the place soon emptied. She said, “now you have the whole room to yourself!” I gave her a big tip.
What a fabulous walk today! A nice mixture of ancient woods with secret ponds and open fields of crops plus the occasional charming village of half timbered houses. I especially like the ones with a satellite dish.
Pilgrimage 
Ye olde satellite dishes from the days before wifi!
Aerial is best for live TV
let’s hope that the England team don’t have the same problems you did on their path to victory 👍😎
Let’s hope they do. They play without a clue which way to go but win every time!
Yes that’s true😎👍 Now like Germany we want Spain to beat the French, except France would be a better team for us to meet in the final as they can’t score goals either🍺
Kia ora, Tim. Fabulous looking countryside and towns/villages of half-timbered buildings always attract me because we don’t see that style in NZ – it says ‘Europe’ and I would love to be on a trail somewhere there. So you’ve not found food to upstage Curry Wurst!? I’m disappointed. Kia kaha.
Hi Vicky, the villages are nice and it’s good to see such a different style of architecture. I’m eating too much schnitzel which I find boring to eat and dull to photograph but it often hogs the whole menu