Via Jacobi - Practice walk and Trust the signs

Today was a relatively easy day although it turns out I walked a little over 17 kms (without my backpack) in my practice walk out of Rorschach. I'm learning that route finding is "interesting" at times. The Way is shown using a symbol and is attached to everything imaginable I.e. fences, buildings, poles etc.

The trick is to stop and look carefully when you reach a fork in the road and...stop and backtrack to the last known spot when the Way disappears.

Tomorrow is a long first day...27 or 31 kms depending on which information I want to believe in so I will get an early start...it's in the low 30's for sure here today.

Three more Canadian lapel pins given today...lady at bank who helped me with my first cash withdrawal, owner of an eatery where I had my Pida and the very helpful young lady at the Tourist bureau who has answered my many questions since my arrival. In all cases I get a smile and spread a little Canadian cheer.

Cash withdrawal 

Had a bit of a scare here...first bank only accepted their brand...had never seen the international banking symbol...I thought oh oh. Second bank the lady came with me to the ATM (must look helpless or hapless) and helped me with my card. All was good and she left...then I got a "Technical error" message and the card spit out. 

Now really! To all my work friends developing friendly error messages think of something a little nicer like "card not accepted...sorry you will have to sleep out and/or beg for food tonight". Second card worked...so glad for following the advice to have at least two cards!

Lise, Jeanne, Claire - I followed your advice and went to the supermarket late in the day...Yes 50% off!

My favourite meal to date...PIDA - 10 Swiss francs - a steal!

A little Swiss ingenuity! Trap door in the lawn - no problem

Trust the signs

Over the next 100 days or so there are two key signs that I am going to have to trust without question to get me there.

Camino symbol pointing the way

Water is good to drink - must stay hydrated!

Future pilgrims

I highly recommend the Herberge in Rorschach...great location on the lake...cost reasonable by Swiss standards (49 Swiss francs for an individual room including breakfast), great manager in Volkmar, very clean with great facilities. A few pictures shown below...of course I left my swim suit at home to save weight!

50 meter pool - sorry 1 cm short therefore cannot be used for competitions!

Water slide included

Finally a great way to end the day with a Skype date with my best friend!

I will likely be off the grid for a few days as I am going to Sleep in Straw farms. Tomorrow promises to be interesting...I am to phone from the local church in Schwellbrunn as the farm is 4 kms off the track and I am going to be picked up (email communication to date using Google Translate app). They don't speak English and I don't speak German. Do I hear Canadian pins to the rescue?