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Photo 1: "Willy was glad to finally get away from the road..."

Photo 2: For about 13 kilometers the walk today was directly on the beach. My left foot was still hurting, but not so much on the softer sand compared to the road. I am looking forward to the day of rest tomorrow.

Photo 3: I decided to cut my walk short today and end the beach part in the town of Balbriggan instead of continuing to Skerries. This would have been another hour of walking on the road. I took a train then from Balbriggan to Dubin and walked another 8 kilometers to my destination. Altogether it was a bit more than 33 kilometers that I walked with a sore foot.

Photo 4: A warm summer Saturday evening in Dublin...

Photo 5: Alex saw me walk through her neighborhood with my backpack. She is a hiker and never sees people like me walking through Dublin like this. Her curiosity got the best of her. She asked me where I was heading and then why. Interesting was that her family was not very church oriented, but after her father did the Camino, he came back very open to the thought that God could be real. Then recently her younger brother had bought a Bible. Now Alex and I were having a God-talk... Seems like Jesus is knocking on the door. I prayed for Alex and her search to know truth. She promised that she would read the biography of Jesus. May God’s will be done in her life and in her family.

Photo 1: "Low Tide"
Today marks the One-Fourth-Milestone of Snail-Trail 4.0. I thank God for bringing me this far and helping me to overcome the setbacks that I have had - broken trekking sticks, broken water filter, and broken phone. By the end of the day I would be faced with another new challenge, a big blister on the bottom of my left foot. Today would be a very hard walk... literally, 41 kilometers almost completely on hard road surfaces, some of those roads would have a lot of traffic, and some roads would be without a sidewalk. In Scotland I did not have that much walking on roads. My feet apparently were not used to walking such long distances on hard surfaces.

Photo 2: Still there would be nice views here and there.

Photo 3: Walking through a village

Photo 4: An old rock bridge over the Dee River... I love these old bridges!

Photo 5: "David"
My host for the night was David, a young man from one of the churches that Patrick works with. He too was set free from drug abuse by God's saving grace and now senses a call to ministry. His younger brother, Phil, is also staying with David. We had a discipleship talk evening which lasted untill well after 11.00 pm, which was late for me on the Snail-Trail. It was a good encounter though. Phil took that definite step to follow Jesus. Then we talked about what it means to live in the empowering of the Holy Spirit and asked God to fill us with his Spirit. It was a good end to a "hard" walking day. I did, by the way, soak my feet in hot salty water at David's which did bring some relief.

Photo 1: As peaceful as this photo appears, that is not how the whole stage went today.

Photo 2: Many parts of the walk today were along side a road, sometime a very busy road. Not too far away from this point I had my first God-talk with a man named Peter. He was curious to know where I was going with such a big backpack. That question led to a conversation and then a prayer. Peter is like many people I met on the path who believe in something or someone out there, but cannot relate to the institution "Church". The challenge is getting to know the heatbeat of God without getting disillusioned through the heartbreak of human and church history.

Photo 3: Narrow Water Castle that protected the entry waterway to the town of Newry. After this point the inlet from the sea became very narrow, particularly during low tide.

Photo 4: Just before Newry I saw Jimmy sitting on a bench by himself. He was wearing a cap backwards on his head, so I could read what was on the front as I walked from behind him. Berlin, Germany was written on the hat. I stopped and asked him if he was from Germany or had been there. That was not the case, but it started a conversation that led to a God-talk and prayer, very similar to the encounter I had with Peter.

Photo 5: I was so happy to get to Dundalk after a 40 km + 809 altimeter walk through the sun and much of it on the road. I was starting to feel the formation of a blister on the bottom of my left foot. I would stay the night in Dundalk with friends and collegues of mine, Patrick and Michelle O'Loughlin. They were wonderful hosts. It is always such a blessing after a long, hard hike to not have to try to find a sleeping place and food to eat, and then to have a shower, a bed and fellowsip with people who are also walking with Jesus.

Photo 1: I got up at 4:45 this morning so I could catch the early bus from Belfast to Newcastle to get back on schedule. The second hour of the hike was a very beautiful stretch along the Shimna River in the Tollymore Woods. Several old rock bridges crossed over the waterway. It did my soul good to be on the path again after sitting in the phone shop all day yesterday.

Photo 2: The path then led through some highlands. My hiking app would register 1422 altimeters for the day.

Photo 3: Ansolutely no one was on this part of the path.

Photo 4: As I was coming down from the highlands, I ran into Steven McDonald at a path crossing over a waterway. For the first time I tried out my water filter... and I did not get sick! Steve will also turn 70 this December and came to faith in Jesus when he was 15, just a year before me. We understood each other real well and prayed for each other.

A bit further down the path I met a young Irishman, Eugene. He shared with me that he was all messed up on drugs and realized that he was losing his life. He cried out to God one night for grace and mercy and woke up the next morning completely clean from drums. He has been that way ever since, now going on two years. I responded: "That's my Jesus! You call on him in the time of need, and he will be there to help you." I prayed for Eugene that God would continue his work of grace in his life.

Photo 5: The Youth with a Mission house in Rostrevor where I would stay the night. After a long hard hike through the mountains, this was a real haven of rest.

Photo 1: Willy and I on the bus to Belfast"
It did good to have the extra day of rest yesterday and not have to get started so early today. As I was leaving the place where I stayed the night, the owner of the house saw me with my backpack and asked where I was heading. I told her that I was a pilgrim walking from Scotland to Germany. She then asked whether I could pray a prayer of blessing for her and her family.This was the first time on this trip that I was asked to do this... and gladly did so.

I then took the bus from Downpatrick back to Belfast in the hope that my phone could quickly be fixed and I would be back on my way.

Photo 2: "My help in the time of need"
Things do not always go as we hope...
Approaching the shop, I saw two young men in their early twenties waking up from having slept on the street. I went to the shop, and Sanket greeted me with the good news that the display screen for my phone had arrived and he would need about an hour to fix it. So I went back out to the two on the street, talked and prayed with them and bought their breakfast, thus passing on the blessing from Stewart from Belfast.

When I got back to the Phone Shop, Sanket was not yet finished with my phone. In fact he would not finish it at all. He replaced the display, but it would go blank every time it was closed and opened. He tried recalbirating the sensors in both parts of the phone. This took hours... but it did not work. The phone would need to be sent to their main shop to be repaired. That would take at least one week. I suggested trading my defected phone for a refurbished Samsung Galexy S23 that they had for sale for the cost of the display screen that I had already paid for. Sanket called his boss and got the okay on the exchange. He then transferred all my data from the one phone to the next and got things working for me. He even shared his dinner with me and worked 90 minutes overtime without pay to get it all done. Between customers and repairs, we had some good talks and I was able to pray a prayer of blessing for him before I left. I had been at the shop for 8.5 hours!

I decided then to book a bed at the International Youth Hostel in Belfast. On my way there I stopped at a store to get things for breakfast. The security man at the door was a few years younger than I. He showed me where I could put my beg while I bought my things. He also said he could tell that I was "a righteous" man. His name is John Paul and is a follower of Jesus as well. When I told him what I was doing, he asked me to pray a prayer of blessing for him, which I gladly did. The day was ending as it had begun. To top it off, I had a wonderful God-talk with a 13 year old and his mother at the youth hostel. Things may not always go as we hope, but if God is in it, it will be good in the end.

Photo 3: The St. Patrick's Cathedral in Downpatrick

Photo 4: A perspective from the cemetary looking out over the Irish landscape

Photo 1: "Ephesians 2:14 on the Peace Wall"
This morning as I walked along the Peace Wall I came to this relief depicting the peace that come from the cross of Jesus Christ. Below the cross is an inscription from Ephesians 2:14...

"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..."

The artful depiction of this verse was a joint project from Christians from both sides of the wall. I was so happy to see this.

Photo 2: Davy is 74 years old. He has a cross tattooed on his forehead which caught my attention... and Davy has been living on the streets on Belfast for 18 years. Walking as a pilgrim, I can somewhat relate to being homeless, particularly when you are looking for a dry place to eat your lunch when it is raining. Even though I carry a credit card and cash with me, every day is a quest for survival that asks the questions: Will I make it through this day? Where will I find food and water sources? Where will I find a sleeping space at the end of a day? Davy told me he was a follower of Jesus, said that as a kid he would walk a few milies to go to Sunday School. I told him about Stewart, how God helped him move from the streets to his own home. I prayed with Davy... and bought his lunch.

Photo 3: "Wrong way?"
What a day! I got off to a good start and needed to cover 40 kilometers to Downpatrick where St. Patrick's grave is. After about 5 kilometers on the outskirts of Belfast, the display on my flip cell phone fizzled out on me... no GPS, no map, no WhatsApp, no email, no telephone, no camera... nothing. In pressing the phone buttons trying to jerk the screen back to life, my phone somehow made a screenshot of the screen that no longer was working. This documents the moment of disaster. What do I do? I could not take another step towards Downpatrick. I said: "Jesus, you have a solution for this," and decided to take a bus back to Belfast. At the bus stop I saw a young man from India and asked him if he might know of a place where I could get my phone fixed in Belfast. "It just so happened" that his friend worked at a phone repair shop, and he took me there. A new display screen was ordered, would come the next day. Since I already had a room booked and payed for in Downpatrick, I decided to take the bus there, visit St. Patrick's grave and have an extra day of rest after the walk through Scotland.

Photo 4: "Alfie"
On my way to St. Patrick's grave, I saw 5 twelve year olds sitting on a park bench and enjoying the sun that had not been seen so much the last days. We started to talk. I shared my story of how God started to get my attention when I was their age and then prayed for them. Particularly Alfie seemed interested in what I had to say. He gave me a ribbon with a metal claps from his sports club and asked me to through it in a river near my home in Germany. I told him that I did not want to throw things in the river, but would carry the ribbon with me to Germany and post a picture of it on this Blog once I got to the Isar River near my home on my last stage of the Snail-Trail. You cannot really see it so well in this pucture, but ribbon is hanging down from Alfie's left hand. Had I walked the distance today to Downpatrick, I would not have met Alfie and his friends.

Photo 5: The story of St. Patrick fasinates me. Born around 385–387, he was kidnapped by pirates at age 16 and enslaved for six years in the Irish wilderness, where he developed a profound devotion to prayer. Following his escape back to Britain, he had a dream in which the Irish people begged him to return and walk among them once more. He returned to Ireland as a bishop to spread Christianity, famously using the Irish shamrock to teach the concept of the Holy Trinity. The working of the Holy Spirit was evident in his life and ministry. This stone marks Patrick’s final resting place. If you enlarge the photo, you can see that his name is still partially legibel on the stone. I sat there in the late afternoon and prayed that what God started in Ireland in the days of St. Patrick, he would awaken and continue today.

Video: "Because He Lives..."
Sunday morning at Belfast Living Hope Church... it was a wonderful time together with followers of Jesus in Blefast. I had the honor of speaking in the early morning service and sharing a few life principles taken from the pilgrim path.

Photo 1: Pastor Matt Davis is actually from England, but has been serving at Living Hope Church Belfast for 25 years, having been on staff since September 2001. In 2016, he transitioned into the role of Lead Pastor.

Photo 2: I spent the afternoon together with Stewart. We had lunch together and then went on a search for a new water filter that I would certainly be needing in the days ahead. Stewart insisted on paying for everything and suggested I pass on the blessing to others I might meet somewhere on the path. What was remarkable about this, is that not so long ago Stewart had been living on the streets of Belfast for about eight years. Through Jesus and the God connection Stewart was able to make a new start in life. He is working, has a place to live and drives his own car. He also goes into the city to talk with homeless people, to share the hope he has found in Jesus.

Photo 3: "Belfast Peace Wall"
The church put me up in a room in a town house for the weekend that was right across from the Belfast Peace Wall. After a few nights in the tent and some of those with rain, it was nice to have a roof over the head and a kitchen to use for the two nights.
The Belfast Peace Walls are a series of separation barriers built in 1969 during "The Troubles" to divide predominantly Catholic/Irish nationalist and Protestant/British unionist neighborhoods. Today, over 20 miles of these walls and fences still stand, reaching up to 26 feet tall.

Photo 4: "Cupar Way"
Located in West Belfast, this is the city's longest and tallest section (about 800 meters long, reaching 8 meters high) and features dense layers of political murals, street art, and visitor messages. My room was directly across from the Cupar Way.

Photo 5: "Belfast Living Hope Church"
I was intriged by the Peace Wall and thought that often men will build walls to keep peace, kind of like the barbed wire fences I had seen in so many places to keep the peace between the sheep and the wolves. Then I thought of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians, how God removed the walls of separation through Jesus Christ to make peace between us and God and between Jewish and non Jewish believers. This is a true and living hope. When I walk through Belfast tomorrow and from North Ireland to the Republic of Ireland in this coming week, I will be praying for this healing of the land and peace from heaven.

Video: "Marching Band in Belfast"
This was the first time ever that I was greeted with a marching band when I arrived at a country that I would walk through...
The first Sunday in July in Northern Ireland is Drumcree Sunday and sets off the beginning of a number of parades and celebrations leading up to July 12th, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, a pivotal conflict in which the Protestant King William III defeated the deposed Catholic King James II. Its significance lies in securing the English Crown for William, establishing Protestant dominance in Ireland, and preventing James's attempt to reclaim the throne.

Photo 1: "Willy made it through Scotland... and found a pilgrim's shell on the beach."
The logo for the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela in Spain is that of a shell. Centuries ago after surving the long and difficult pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, pilgrims would continue on to Cape Finisterre on the coast which was the then known "end of the world". It was said that the Apostel James went this far in obediance to the commision of Jesus to take the gospel message to the ends of the world. Once pilgrims reached Cape Finisterre, they would search for a shell on the beach to take back home as proof that they had made journey.

Photo 2: "Family time on the Snail-Trail"
While waiting to board the ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast, I was able to make a WhatsApp family group call, always a nice moment in the journey.

Photo 3: Willy was so excited to take the ferry from Scotland to Ireland. It reminded him of former years when he would swim by the side of his mother through the ocean waters...

Photo 4: "Patrick at St. Patrick's"
As I was walking out of the port towards Belfast, Patrick pulled over with his car and asked if he could give me a lift into the city. He was the first person from North Ireland that I met, his name was Patrick, he wore a somewhat green shirt and took me to St. Patrick's Church in Belfast! We had a good talk in the car and at the church. He listened to me sing my pilgrim song in the church. I explained that it was an ancient form of spiritual worship and that St. Patrick, being the spirit filled and anointed man of God that he was, most likely prayed and sang in this way as well.

5. Today was July 4th, Independence Day in the United States, this year marking the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. I was quite surprised to see this wall mural commemorating the event and showing the Irish connection to American politics.

Photo 1: "Cow blockade"
The old gospel song says it this way: "Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire..." Today I had to get through the cows. When the lead cow took a step towards me, I sang my pilgrim song, looked down and showed it that I was submissive. A second mother cow then used her head to protectively nudge the younger ones aside, giving me access to the exit gate...

Photo 2: My last high path in Scotland

Photo 3: Tomorrow I will be on a ferry like this to Belfast, North Ireland.

Photo 4: On the top of the hill overlooking the coast was a World War II fortification and gunnery now peacefully occupied... by cows!

Photo 5: This is were I took my lunch break before going down the hill. I would then walk 2.5 hours in the rain and mostly on a busy road to the Port City of Stranraer. There was supposed to be a foot path along the coast that was once a railroad track, but it had become a junge with an overgrowth of thorns, brush and weeds. My foot journey through Scotland has come to an end... 495 kilometers. Thank you Jesus for bringing me through to this milestone.