Finding Places to stay I: cloisters

Pilgrim who use "classical" routes can rely on infrastructure dedicated to them, such as pilgrim's hostels, and in the cities, towns and villages, hotels, B&Bs and the like are prepared for them.

For us, it was a different matter. I know one man who walked from his home near Würzburg all the way to Rome, always along the roads, and looked for places to stay every afternoon. It was difficult enough for him alone. For a family of four, this seemed too risky for me. After all, with our Sonny being only 9 years old when we began, and Daughty 11, we couldn't bring bedrolls and tent, because they could only carry their clothes and nightthings. Anyway, pitching up a tent just anywhere is not allowed in most of continental Europe.

So we used the information in maps and internet to find places to stay overnight. I had to adapt the route a few times, because not all small towns have inns with beds anymore. In the lush hills of the Allgäu, many farms offer guest appartments, but they generally don't rent them for just one night, and we preferred accomodations where dinner and breakfast could be had, so we needed to carry less provisions.

Valuable clues came from the maps, e.g., they showed where cloisters were. Two of them were still active, and as they often make a living these days by providing rooms and accomodation for timeouts or conferences, I mailed them to ask if they could accomodate us. Both were welcoming us. We had good encounters with the nuns living there and the other guests, like two young patres who were preparing a summer camp for youths.

In Bonlanden, we arrived late and drenched because it had been raining most of the day. We were first fed with their organic produce - a simple yet delicious meal - and then led over to what normally is the guest house for visiting priests. It's an Art Nouveau building still with its original furniture (not as ornate as in a secular builing, but beautifully crafted nonetheless) and modern kitchen and sanitation carefully fitted in. We were overwhelmed by that VIP treatment. The nect morning, we followed the sisters through their refectory and into the Church for Sunday Mass.