More of this Feature • Getting There • Day 1 • Day 2-3 • Day 4-5 • Day 6 • Day 7 • Photos

Related Resources • Christina's '97 Review • Gary's Ireland Walk • Gary's Luxembourg Review • Gary's Viborg 2-Day Walk Review

From Other Guides • Europe for Visitors

Elsewhere on the Web • Hærvejsvandring

Day Six. This is the clincher. Nobody quits Day Seven. Marchers who get through Day Six are assured success. My feet had swelled to the point they had no definition, that is the tendons and features were hidden by the swelling. Days Three through Six averaged 45 kilometers a day. I stopped once again at every rest stop and was attended by the truly professional skills of the Sanatet. And I realized without AnneMarie "pulling" me along I would have quit a couple of days back.

Spirits among the marchers were getting higher and noisier. More beer was being consumed as they pre-celebrated their success. My spirits were also rising. I could sense the end of the endeavor.

We were back on the old highway, paved these days. Encouragement from my marching colleagues was more pronounced. The weather continued to tease us, raining then clearing completely, raining again. I worried about my feet and changed my socks and applied Vaseline mid-day. I stopped plodding and worked on a pronounced step and gait. I began to work on my own encouragement . AnneMarie and I started talking about everything we could think of to take my mind off the pain. AnneMarie was hurting. It didn't show as much as with me. She was a tough gal. She would even take care of my camera and let me get ahead and jog to catch up, or jog ahead and get a picture of my approaching.

Along the route the last few days I met a Belgian military technician, someone who is a civilian but wears a uniform (we have the same profession in the National Guard) and it turned out he worked at the military camp between Poelkapelle and Diksmude where they detonate the shells the farmers find in their fields, even after 83 years. We talked several times on his work and it amazed me that the people of Belgium, in the vicinity of Flanders still deal with World War One. And along the route we took a few days back I was told just off the road in the woods there was a memorial to an RAF bomber crew that crashed in the same vicinity. Wherever you went, even in this remote area, there were gentle reminders of what the Danes endured. I spoke with many of them regarding their experiences. Keep in mind the average age of these marchers is about 50. Quite a few are in their 60's and even their 70's. And then remembered and with a certain care and gentility I started conversations and learned what history books fail to bring forth with the exception of the best writers, which is the human element.

End of Day Six and Thorning. The residents of Thorning take pride in being the benchmark point. As I said, nobody quits from here, and in a certain sense the struggle is over. Day Seven is only 25 kilometers. I agree only now with Dick Wright. "A walk in the park". The evening is celebrated with a dancing and an overall relief that we got it in the bag. I sat with my Anglo-Danish walking family, and we talked of marches to come and those we were on and the adventures we had., as always, the people we have met.

Oh, the woman I mentioned earlier who was walking despite the disability. She was there too. You go, girl!

Next page > Day 7 > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Photos

Photos copyright 2001 Gary Nelson