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Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we hope you have a volksmarch in mind for Mom. You are in luck because there are some good walks to choose from this weekend. So, treat Mom to breakfast in bed (and clean up afterward), load her and the rest of the family in the car and head out for a walk. You can spend quality time together, get some exercise and see a bit of Europe that you might not otherwise see.After the walk, you can enjoy some traditional German bratwurst or other food that is always served at a volksmarch.

Last fall, walkers Tim and Luchi Lynch wrote us about a great walk in Monreal, Germany. After reading their description, we have really wanted to do this walk, which takes place this weekend. Naturally, it lands on a weekend with other very nice walks to choose from. The Lynches said Monreal is a beautiful town with a lot of timber-framed houses. It sounds like a visit there would be like a trip back in history.

The walk starts at the sports field between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. both days. The routes are 5, 10 and 20 kilometers. The event provides IVV credit, but the real prize will be seeing this beautiful village.

Sunday’s event at Camp Elsenborn, Belgium, should be good. We went a couple years ago and really enjoyed the walk. The camp was having an open house and there were booths and exhibits set up for walkers and other visitors to enjoy. We also visited the camp’s Truschbaum Museum, which featured several Battle of the Bulge displays. The walking route took us past a few of the gunnery ranges on this Belgian army base. This year the routes are 6, 12 and 20 kilometers and open at 7 a.m. Camp Elsenborn is a short drive south of the quaint village of Monschau, Germany.

Closer to us is the 26th Annual Aspergeswandeltocht in St. Odiliënberg, Netherlands, this Sunday. The W.V. Roerdal ’87 is a club that always puts on a well-organized event, and St. Odiliënberg is one of our favorite places to walk. Doors open at 7 a.m. and the routes range from 6 to 42 kilometers. The start is at Den Zwarten Berg, where they always have a small but nice lunch menu.

The good folks from the Wanderfreunde Wiesbachtal Kriegsfeld sent us an email reminding us about their walk this weekend. The start hall is at the Turn- und Festhalle in Kriegsfeld and the doors open at 7 a.m. both days. Trails are 5, 10 and 20 kilometers, and the prize is a B-medal priced at 3 euros. Located about 50 kilometers north of Kaiserslautern, Kriegsfield is fairly convenient for walkers in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.Walkers in the Grafenwöhr and Vilseck communities will find the volksmarch in Pressath very convenient. The walk starts between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday. Sunday’s start time is from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. However, you might want to think twice about waking Mom at 6 a.m. on Mother’s Day. Aiming for a start between 10 and 11 a.m. is a better plan. The prize for this event is a terra cotta wind chime.If the weather cooperates, we hope to combine at least one walk this weekend with a backyard barbeque and some relaxing time for Lorraine. We hope you find just the right balance of activity and relaxation for Mom this Mother’s Day.

Email volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO AE 09752.

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