Donauwörth to Kloster Holzen, 15Km
That should have said Harburg to Kloster Holzen, 27Km but I felt slightly rough this morning so I took the train to Donauwörth. It was a shame to miss the first 12Km of the walk because it was the final section in the Jura.
Donauwörth (see photo above) is a beautiful town on the banks of my old friend, the Danube but here it’s a younger and livelier river than the giant I followed in Austria. You can probably guess that I found a cafe for a cappuccino and an apricot Danish and that restored my strength.
My original plan was to spend the night in Donauwörth but none of the hotels had a vacancy. I enquired in the tourist office why there was no accommodation. “Blame Airbus”, they said. They have a factory nearby and a lot of people fly in from France for their meetings on a Tuesday and they block all the hotels for the night. I wonder why they don’t sleep on the plane like we do.
Once I crossed the Danube, I had a nice walk on flat farmland but without shade from the sun or relief from the continuing high temperatures. Even the church was locked. I saw lots of cyclists but no walkers.
I’m staying in the Kloster Holzen tonight. It was founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1150 but gradually transformed into a nunnery and a shelter for people with mental or physical disabilities. More recently, the Kloster opened a hotel with conference facilities which allows the foundation to continue its charitable activities. For example, it recently donated 120 beds to a nearby refugee shelter, so I’m on a new bed tonight. Despite its prime location on Jakobsweg, there are no pilgrims. Nor can I see any engineers poring over airplane plans. But I got a nice stamp for my credential.
Pilgrimage 
A night in the nunnery. Isn’t there a film about that? Hope your energy returns ASAP!
A veritable box set of Nunspoiltation films, the genre probably defined by Walerian Borowczyk with his “Behind Convent Walls”, best watched without the subtitles
I do hope you feel fully recovered soon. Brave of you to continue. Please correct me (and I may get egg on my face) but the Jura????? You seem to be a very long way from the Jura? Or is this a German Jura of which I am ignorant?
Dear Mary, how I miss our daily communications! There is no egg on your face and as you rightly say, the Jura mountain range occurs in France and Switzerland. I should have been more precise. I was referring to the German Jura called the Table Jura or Plateau Jura (German: Tafeljura; French: le Jura tabulaire) which is the northeastern extension of the main Jura Mountains and stands in opposition to the folded Jura (Faltenjura) of the Jura range proper. The Table Jura stretches across the Swiss cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Aargau and Schaffhausen into southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria). It includes the Randen, Baar, the Swabian Jura and the Franconian Jura. So please consider all references to the Jura as the Franconian Jura and, later, the Swabian Jura. Please forgive me
I knew I’d get egg on my face! But I have learned something (well, quite a lot), so thank you. I always enjoy your blog, and your sense of humour. I’ll email you sometime to communicate less publicly – and not display my ignorance to the world. xxx
Absolutely stunning Tim. What a place! I hope you feel better soon.
Thanks. Actually, for sitting out the Covid, this is far from unpleasant
Kia ora, Tim having Covid hasn’t diminished your talent for great writing. I’m curious about what your credencial looks like so can you please include a photo. Take it easy. Kia pai, kia kaha
I will today.
Good to hear that you’re looking after yourself and slowly recovering from the dreaded Covid. The countryside looks beautiful, hope that helps to lift your spirits in the absence of fellow pilgrims!
It certainly does. I’ve wanted to walk in Germany for some time
Glad to read even you are willing to take advantage of other transport options.
A few minutes on a train (or bus) can turn those ‘struggle days’ into something more manageable…& enjoyable…& make a world of difference to the overall experience.
And I had you pegged as a bit of a purist… 😉😇☺️ Sempre avanti dear Tim!
I would always prefer to walk and I would definitely prefer not to have caught the Covid and I would prefer the Airbus people hadn’t blocked me booked all the hotels but there we are. The train worked well even though the English language option no longer works on the ticket machines: Brexit!