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New Year’s Eve is still a few days away, so may we be the first to wish you a happy and prosperous new year! There are plenty of walking events and untold kilometers of trails awaiting us in 2013. Keep the fliers coming and we will provide you with walking opportunities for your weekends.There are some interesting walks in the last weekend of 2012. One of our favorite holiday walks is the Marche des Crèches in Gemmenich, Belgium, on Saturday. We enjoyed this walk a couple of years ago as the route took us past numerous homes with Nativity scenes in their yards. We have two very nice walks to do on Sunday. First is the annual Oliebollenwandeltocht in Simpelveld, Netherlands. Oliebollen are a seasonal Dutch pastry which, if you eat them, are said to bring you good luck in the new year. These tangerine-sized balls of fried dough can be plain or with raisins and are served warm with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. This walk will have oliebollen and Glühwein at the start and controls. What a great combination to fight off the cold in late December!Second is a walk in Tongeren, Belgium. We had a very nice time last year in spite of the cool drizzle. With luck, the Tongeren antique flea market will be open and we can look for a year-end bargain after the walk.In Germany, the last event in the Bad Dürkheim guided walking series for 2012 will be Saturday at 11 a.m. Meet in front of the big wooden wine barrel to walk either 5 or 10 kilometers.Sunday night there will be a 5-kilometer torch walk in Wolferstadt, Germany, starting between 5 and 7 p.m. You can walk the regular 5- and 11-km trails during the day if you can’t stay for the evening. This event is for IVV credit only.

On New Year’s Day, there will be a walk in Nieder-Wiesen, about halfway between Kaiserslautern and Wiesbaden. Start between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the community center in Nieder-Wiesen. Meanwhile, here’s our after-action report on the Bastogne Historical walk: Plenty of rain Friday turned the snow in Bastogne, Belgium, into slush and mud for the Saturday walk. A little more rain during the walk made it a bit muddier and slushier and we were pretty wet by the time we finished the 13-kilometer trail, but we still enjoyed the walk. We saw a lot of reinactors, including a group of about eight who came from Italy to participate. We spoke to quite a few of the reenactors to thank them for their efforts to keep the history of the battle alive. One of them was an American armor officer from Germany who was portraying a regimental surgeon at an aid station at the Rolle Chateau. Many were Belgian civilians with a passion for history. A couple of them said they do this in honor of the men who liberated their country during the war. With Christmas less than two weeks away, they could have been doing a lot of other things, but still they made the effort to spend the weekend in the rain and mud honoring American soldiers. Our hats are off to these dedicated history lovers.Seeing old friends always makes the weekend special. Tom Larscheid and his wife Carol were there again this year. They brought along WWII veteran, and the only surviving original organizer of this walk, Maurice Spirandeau. Maurice’s health is faltering a bit, but he was able to walk most of the 7-kilometer trail. We had a nice dinner with them Saturday night.We met a new walking friend Saturday morning while she was looking for the start hall. Reyhan Dickinson, a teacher at Bitburg, was driving near the church in Bastogne and pulled over to ask for directions. We ended up walking with her and enjoying a nice lunch in town afterwards. We look forward to meeting up with her again for walks in the Eifel region.If you enjoy these historical walks, mark your calendar for March 24, 2013, for the Dead Man’s Ridge Walk in Champs, Belgium. This event honors the men of the 17th Airborne Division.We will end the year by sending a million thanks to all the people who have sent us fliers this year. Please keep the fliers, after-action reports, suggestions, and assorted other messages coming! We enjoy reading your messages and appreciate your comments. Special thanks to “Pat” Patterson for sending us a 2013 international walks book.A happy new year to all!Email volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO AE 09752. This column was prepared to be printed in Stars and Stripes on Dec. 27, 2012.

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