Top of Germany

It struck me that some of you might like to know how my trip up to the Zugspitze summit was, or even whether I made it at all. Well, I did. But I can't think of any amusing way to describe it. The satisfaction lies entirely in the achievement of having done it. A bit like giving birth. Not at all pleasant, and you often feel like giving up, except you can't, as it is a non-reversable situation. While it is true that with mountains, you can always turn round and go back the way you came, the fact that it would mean another 6 hours on your feet is a real deterrent. (Maybe I am being melodramatic - after all, it wouldn't be the first time.) Anyway, the weirdest thing about it all was, on finally arriving at the top, we were suddenly plunged into a whirl of tourists. The air was pervaded by swirling smoke from sausage stands and cigarettes. Before I even got time to draw breath, a row of chubby ladies asked me to take their photo 'to mark the occasion'.  I was too tired to ask what the occasion was, and to be honest, I didn't really care. We sat shivering on a bench and ate our battered sandwiches. (By battered I mean bumped about, not deep-fried, although it would actually have been feasible to get the sausage seller to throw them in his pot of spitting fat.) After 10 minutes we made our way to the cable car. For once, I was unaffected by the sensation of hanging hundreds of feet above a sheer rock face.  Even Titus' last words the night before "I hope the cable doesn't snap when you're sitting inside Mummy" didn't bother me. We swayed gently down to the bottom, had a coffee and went home. And there, a herd of cows was slowly making its way along the road, plopping out green pats here and there, and the jolly farmer was busy spreading some more muck on the field. As always with Bovinia, on returning there you get the feeling that it is a microcosm, the people within it totally disconnected from the outside world and brighter, more scintillating experiences than queueing for bread or watching the recycling lorry reversing out of the car park.