It was a good day today, but was difficult towards the end. This was to be my first German couchsurfing experience and I was tiered when I reached Beeskow. No breakfast didn’t help I suppose. I found may way to Tauche easily enough, but still didn’t have an address, so I called and asked for an SMS with the address, which I duly received. From Beeskow on it always seemed to be another 3km, then another 3km, then another.

It was a bit out of Tauche but when I arrived at the address, I was greeted with a street full of barking dogs some masquerading as ponies and a rundown shack playing the role of my destination address, for added colour and authenticity there was a goat tied up outside – I jest ye not. I headed to a neighbour and asked if I had the address was correct, Yes! they said. So calling again on my mobile, I told my hosts I was there, they looked outside but could not see me!

Correct address wrong town, well approximately. Wolfsdorf is a satellite town of Tauche which is an annex of Beeskow which isn’t exactly a metro-pole. It unquestionably fulfils all criteria required by my brother in laws definition of a BF town.

Luckily there was a shortcut across the fields which I took. Unluckily no-one bothered to tell me what I should do at the junction in the fields. Being such a heavily used thoroughfare there was a wide selection of wildlife to ask which way. The rabbit didn’t know, neither did the flies that had mistaken me for a shite. The cows replied to my moo but Ive no idea what that meant. There were no sheep, many an Aberdonian would find this a tragic circumstance, but I dont understand them anyway. The Sheep I mean.

I decided to head up the hill, sods law is best dealt with head on I find. I passed the bench with the wonderful view, through all the trees laden with various fruit which in my flagging state were just a nuisance beneath my wheels. Cresting the hill, knee deep in quince, apple, pears and flies I saw that indeed Wolfsdorf was this way and in short order arrived at the address and man, was the welcome worth it.

I was later to discover, repeatedly, that Herbert had taken the family to Scotland not long after the wall. The wall or its fall is a reference that is ever present in conversation in the east, or former DDR.

They had a wonderful experience, arriving with a postcard map of Scotland that had effectively no detail in an East German car that the police who stopped to ask them why they were stationary on the hard shoulder didn’t recognise. The police then gave them a road atlas of the UK to help improve their holiday experience. How thankful I am to this police officer. Im certain I would have had a good experience without his generosity but it added a certain flavour.

Herberts daughter Juliana and her husband Marco hosted me in their home. Where I immediately had a shower and then in Herbert and Gisela’s house we all ate together, which was fabulous. Dinner was fun, stories and tales traded over a tower of pot roasted Rabbit, a field of floury potatoes (literally) and Spreewald of Gherkins.

The next morning while I was still recovering from dinner the night before, we had breakfast together and then went for a walk, to the church and for a short circuit of the area. At the Church I was introduced to a new berry that grows on a tree, pictures below.

Herbert was eager for me to stay and it was very tempting, but I decided I was leaving and managed to resist his attempts at getting me to stay “at least to lunch”. My stomach had already sent up a flag of truce after dinner and breakfast and I got off easily, I suspect with two kilograms of apples, half a rabbit from the night before, home grown tomatoes, some buttered bread and the of-course Gisela’s home pickled gherkins.