Where's Bertie? He's at a Stellplatz in Gütenbach (exact location: 48.04776, 8.14138)
Weather: Mainly gloriously sunny and warm, but with some cloud in the middle of the day.
The decision was made last night that we would get up early this morning and backtrack to Schiltach, a village 35km north of where we were, and apparently one of the prettiest villages in the region, being stuffed full of half-timbered houses and cobbled streets. Half an hour later, we put a bit more thought into the matter and decided that, based on our experience of medieval villages in France and Spain, there was too much of a danger that we would get there, find it attractive, walk around for half an hour and feel like we'd seen everything there is to see. We definitely would have stopped by for a look had we been passing, but concluded it wouldn't be worth a 70km out-and-back detour. Instead, we got up later, had a relaxed start to the day and drove the 15 minutes along the road to Schönwald.
Easily finding somewhere to park Bertie there, off we headed to visit Stöckwaldturm (1070m), upon which sits a 19th century look-out tower - and a restaurant, although that was of less interest to us.
It was a lovely walk up there, largely through startlingly green meadows, dotted with picture-postcard chalet-style houses. The buildings captivated us as much as the green rolling meadows, with bits of forest dotted everywhere (as you might expect in the Black Forest).
Such greenness!
It was the neatness of the garden and the design of the flower display that caught our eyes at this property
It wasn't until this house that we realised that the roof tiles that looked like slate were actually wooden shingles.
The light wasn't right for it to show up, but the roof of this tiny chapel had recently been re-shingled. The yellow will soon mellow to silver-grey.
A final section on forest tracks took us to the summit and the tower:
My snap didn't work, due to the position of the sun, so here's a photo of the postcard we were given upon payment of our €1 entrance fee for the tower.
One hundred and twenty four steps took us to the top of the tower, and the views were superb:
It wasn't just the view that occupied us as we stood looking over the railing: Mick set me some maths problems, so we stood there working out how long an object dropped from the top would take to reach the ground, and based on that the speed that one would be travelling at the point of impact, if one was to fall (for the avoidance of doubt, for my sister's benefit, falling was not a possibility - there was a solid railing coming up to chest height).
Maths problems completed, a longer route back to Schönbach was taken, such that we completed a circuit of 7.9 miles.
Even though the day was marching on well into the afternoon by the time we got back to Bertie, we didn't pause for lunch, but headed straight off to our night-stop (which also happens to be the start point for tomorrow's intended walk). It was only another 20 minutes or so down the road, and it seemed the easier option to just head there, whereafter stuff that we got out of cupboards in making lunch wouldn't have to be immediately stowed again.
Although earlier I had professed an intention not to do anything active for the rest of the day, we did take a stroll down the road to check out the location for the start of tomorrow's walk. Then, approaching tea-time, I couldn't resist just a little joggette, so set off up the road, past a watermill then on a track up an attractive valley. 'Up' was the unmissable theme of the first half of the outing, which turned into an out-and-back when I was scared off by some big, loudly-barking dogs just before the half way point in my intended circuit. Such was the steepness that whilst my average speed was unremarkable, I achieved my fastest ever mile on the way back down.
By the time I was back, teatime was upon us, then blogging time and suddenly the whole evening has slipped away without me tackling the unravelling of the toe of my latest knitted sock, so that I can add in the extra couple of rows that the foot section needs. Maybe tomorrow...
Weather: Mainly gloriously sunny and warm, but with some cloud in the middle of the day.
The decision was made last night that we would get up early this morning and backtrack to Schiltach, a village 35km north of where we were, and apparently one of the prettiest villages in the region, being stuffed full of half-timbered houses and cobbled streets. Half an hour later, we put a bit more thought into the matter and decided that, based on our experience of medieval villages in France and Spain, there was too much of a danger that we would get there, find it attractive, walk around for half an hour and feel like we'd seen everything there is to see. We definitely would have stopped by for a look had we been passing, but concluded it wouldn't be worth a 70km out-and-back detour. Instead, we got up later, had a relaxed start to the day and drove the 15 minutes along the road to Schönwald.
Easily finding somewhere to park Bertie there, off we headed to visit Stöckwaldturm (1070m), upon which sits a 19th century look-out tower - and a restaurant, although that was of less interest to us.
It was a lovely walk up there, largely through startlingly green meadows, dotted with picture-postcard chalet-style houses. The buildings captivated us as much as the green rolling meadows, with bits of forest dotted everywhere (as you might expect in the Black Forest).
Such greenness!
It was the neatness of the garden and the design of the flower display that caught our eyes at this property
It wasn't until this house that we realised that the roof tiles that looked like slate were actually wooden shingles.
The light wasn't right for it to show up, but the roof of this tiny chapel had recently been re-shingled. The yellow will soon mellow to silver-grey.
A final section on forest tracks took us to the summit and the tower:
My snap didn't work, due to the position of the sun, so here's a photo of the postcard we were given upon payment of our €1 entrance fee for the tower.
One hundred and twenty four steps took us to the top of the tower, and the views were superb:
It wasn't just the view that occupied us as we stood looking over the railing: Mick set me some maths problems, so we stood there working out how long an object dropped from the top would take to reach the ground, and based on that the speed that one would be travelling at the point of impact, if one was to fall (for the avoidance of doubt, for my sister's benefit, falling was not a possibility - there was a solid railing coming up to chest height).
Maths problems completed, a longer route back to Schönbach was taken, such that we completed a circuit of 7.9 miles.
Even though the day was marching on well into the afternoon by the time we got back to Bertie, we didn't pause for lunch, but headed straight off to our night-stop (which also happens to be the start point for tomorrow's intended walk). It was only another 20 minutes or so down the road, and it seemed the easier option to just head there, whereafter stuff that we got out of cupboards in making lunch wouldn't have to be immediately stowed again.
Although earlier I had professed an intention not to do anything active for the rest of the day, we did take a stroll down the road to check out the location for the start of tomorrow's walk. Then, approaching tea-time, I couldn't resist just a little joggette, so set off up the road, past a watermill then on a track up an attractive valley. 'Up' was the unmissable theme of the first half of the outing, which turned into an out-and-back when I was scared off by some big, loudly-barking dogs just before the half way point in my intended circuit. Such was the steepness that whilst my average speed was unremarkable, I achieved my fastest ever mile on the way back down.
By the time I was back, teatime was upon us, then blogging time and suddenly the whole evening has slipped away without me tackling the unravelling of the toe of my latest knitted sock, so that I can add in the extra couple of rows that the foot section needs. Maybe tomorrow...
You may be near our route next Wednesday, when we go from Neuwiller to Fussen, or perhaps you'll be a little to the east of us...
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the sock!
We certainly won't be east of Füssen by next Wednesday. At the moment, I have no idea where we will be, but it will likely be somewhere near the Swiss border, and I can say with some certainty that it will be east of Freiburg.
DeleteNever mind. We'll wave towards the west then.
DeleteHopefully Mick's calf is improving? (The muscle, that is - not the one he tried to eat)