Kohlfahrt - girl

It's a while since we actually were in Germany but I'm not sure I'll ever forget the weekend B, C and I joined a bunch of crazy (good crazy) Germans to run around the countryside is severely minus temperatures.

C has tended to take part in kolhfart without me for a variety of reasons but this year I was determined to clear my diary for those pesky little cabbages. For back up (and a ride to the airport!) I persuaded B to join us.

However, the ride to the airport was a severe misjudgment and malfunction. Traffic was atrocious leaving London and a c*ck up between C, B and Tom Tom (I take no blame at all!) meant an extra thirty miles of driving when time most certainly wasn't on our side. We were all convinced we would miss the flight but thanks to some expert speeding from B, some expert speeding from a random hotelier and some expert running from  us all, we made it to the plane with approximately no seconds to spare.

Wonderful K and S picked us up at the other end with the, now fully expected, beer box and we headed off down snowy lanes to K and A's home in Worpswede where the other fahrters were already assembled. The night began with large quantities of wine, moved on to food, vodka and a little smokey smokey before we all, eventually, passed out at 4am.

After an enormous breakfast on Saturday we wrapped up in every item of clothing we had and set out on the kohlfahrt. Minus 15 was the coldest but minus ten didn't feel much warmer. Everyone donned the fundamentals of kohlfahrt: shot glass on a string and pretzel on a string; everyone admired the wheelbarrow FULL of beer, schnapps, sausages and sweets and, after the first of many jagermeister shots, we set off.

Games, shots, walking, shots, walking, shots, shots, shots, games - you get the picture. After about three hours of walking/drinking and one wee stop (not fun in that weather), we upped our pace and headed to the finale destination - a great big restaurant/beer hall - for supper and partying. Supper followed tradition - sausage and cabbage, the music followed tradition - pure german cheese and the drinking was as drinking was.

Around 1am everyone was kicked out and we headed once more down icy paths to get home - this time considerably warmer as the drink fire warmed us all from the inside. The party continued back home but I seem to remember some sleeping time between snacks and breakfast on Sunday. Despite being convinced we'd never warm up again, on Sunday we headed out again for a couple of long, sober, walks.

Always a pleasure to spend time with C's friends in Germany and certainly a pleasure to have B with us.

As far as weekends go, it couldn't have been more fun, although next time we'll take the train!