Jack, Angelo and Barbara (Angelo's owner)Photo from HarzKurier
I got back on Friday after a great holiday with Jack and, of course, Angelo. It wasn't possible to update the blog at the time so I'll do a summary now and post the diary afterwards.
First, the weather We were not too hopeful but in fact it was good throughout apart from some rain after the first week. We were very lucky.
Then, Angelo Neither of us knew a thing about donkeys apart from riding them at the seaside (and the one that bit Gael in Blackpool) but with Jack's pre-walk training and Barbara's support we had very little difficulty. The first couple of days Angelo refused cute wooden bridges, pretty (and very small) babbling brooks, narrow drainage runnels across paths and, above all, steps. However, after Barbara had shown us how to cajole him we had no further problems although we gave steps a miss. Another thing we learnt about was donkey braying. It's extremely loud and ends in a few snorts which have an unfortunately damp effect on the surrounding area but you only get caught in a donkey snot shower once I can assure you. It gave rise to lots of terrible Jack jokes along the lines of 'snot fair'. Angelo also had a tendency to tread on feet if you were not careful and many the time did the mountains ring to the sound of Jack's howls. I was OK as the boots I got for NZ have very strong toe-caps.
And then, the people I spoke to more people in that fortnight than in the past year. Everyone loves a donkey and many had read about us in the local paper and stopped to admire and pet Angelo. Kisses on the nose he took as his due. Most evenings saw him regally ignoring a fan club although he would condescend to notice if anyone had an apple or carrot. It helped a lot, of course, that Jack speaks such good German. I was able to chip in occasionally but tended to only get the gist of anything which, combined with my usual hearing mistakes could lead to a bit of confusion and blank looks. Everyone was very nice and chatty, interested in what we were doing and enormously helpful. All the places we stayed in whether B&B or small hotel were helpful and welcoming although the Germans don't seem to read in bed any more than the French do so bedside lights were mostly useless.
Finally, the route Jack had worked hard to figure out a circular route from Wulften, booking into local B&Bs, small hotels and suchlike which were happy to have a donkey in their garden. Only one tourist information person began to crack up ringing a hotel and asking for 'two single rooms and a meadow'. We used roads, side-roads, bicycle paths, footpaths and so-called marked paths across country. The last gave us a few problems as maps and way-marking didn't always seem to coincide or be very clear. Angelo was surprisingly happy in traffic although I was a touch terrified at first as I was the idiot who had to walk in front, into on-coming traffic, holding a very bright flag. It is not something I am used to and although Angelo didn't blink when large trucks hurtled past I certainly did. Fortunately most roads were very quiet and there was often a verge we could use.
All in all we had lots of fun and were so glad that we tried our Walk with a Donkey.
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