Tuesday 3 July - Falkau and Schluchsee

Where's Bertie? He's at a Stellplatz at Schluchsee, where the parking charge is €10 per 24 hours. Water and electricity are available at an extra charge (waste is free). Exact location: 47.81506, 8.18102.
Weather: Glorious start, soon clouding over, followed by rumbles of thunder, then periods of rain.

Just behind where Bertie was parked last night was a stand of trees, except many of them were no longer standing, having been blown over in some recent storm. Today was the day that those blow-downs were to be processed, by two men with chainsaws and one man in a tree-trunk-moving machine. They started work at 6am. There was a small amount of grumbling in Bertie; we hadn't wanted to be awake that early.

I'll blame the interruption of my slumber on why I felt so sluggish on my morning run, although that may also have been explained by how much of it was uphill (something I hadn't appreciated until I started descending).

A walk came after breakfast, following signposts for a circuit taking in the local waterfall. When we reached it, it was somewhat underwhelming:

The walkway down to the viewpoint was damaged and the bridge over to the continuation of the circuit was completely missing, so we returned the way we had come. A good choice, as it was also the shortest way back to Bertie, where we arrived two minutes before the rain. The thunder had started rumbling as we stepped out the door to set off, so we were lucky indeed to dodge getting wet.

It was another short hop from Falkau to the town of Schluchsee, where we popped Bertie into some free parking that sits immediately next to the pay-parking and the motorhome Stellplatz. We weren't prepared to commit to the fee for the Stellplatz until we had established that there was somewhere in the town showing the England match tonight, and we weren't going to walk into town until the rain had abated.

Schluchsee (Lake Schluch) after which the town is named

The weather eventually obliged. A football-showing venue was found (an Irish bar). Thus, Bertie is now in the official parking area and our fee has been paid.


The back of a floral peacock...


...and floral walking boots.

Monday 2 July - Feldberg and Falkau

Where's Bertie? He's in a car park in the village of Falkau (exact location: 47.86789, 8.12555).
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine for much of the day, clouding over this afternoon.

Getting up this morning, after a very quiet night in our car park (excepting the car with 18 doors, all of which needed slamming, that parked next to us just after lights out), I suggested that we should have breakfast at our destination, as it was only a few kilometres away.

It would have been a good idea if things had gone to plan! However, we got to our first car park, for the Todtnau waterfalls, to find that there is a €2 per head charge to walk the short path up the falls, and whilst this was more reasonable than the €5 per head at Triberg last week, my reasons for not paying for viewing waterfalls still stand.

Breakfast was deferred again, whilst we drove 15km along the road to the car park for Feldberg, the highest hill in this region (1493m). I expected to have to pay €5 to park there, but we arrived to find that the charge was now €12, which exceeds what I am willing to pay in order to walk up a hill.

Harrumphing (and hungry) we drove back down the access road, and spotted the free car park across the road. Finally breakfast, then (eventually) a walk up our hill.

There is the option of paying €10 to catch the gondola up the main ascent, which also includes a visit to the Black Forest Ham Museum*, and its viewing tower (although the viewing deck is currently closed due to construction work). We walked - in Mick's case at quite a lick (possibly because I was carrying the pack today), with me toiling sweatily in his wake. We may have been up at 1400m, but it was still remarkably warm.




The number of people milling around the monument at the top of the gondola, and walking along the ridge to the summit, was surprising, even for a sunny Monday. I hate to think how busy it would have been up there over the weekend.

Our pause on the top was long enough to take in the views and take a selfie (as evidenced above), but neither of us was ready for lunch. Thus the flask of coffee and box of sandwiches that I'd carried up got carried back down again. Laziness prevailed - we did take a different route down, but didn't opt for the 12km circuit for which I had downloaded a gpx file.

Having managed to go an almost unprecedented (when on the road) length of time without a supermarket shop, a visit to Lidl came after lunch. There I managed to muster enough German to explain that I had been overcharged, but struggled to convey that Mick had followed me back into the shop with the trolley and was now the wrong side of the checkouts. A whole queue of waiting customers was abandoned by the cashier whilst the barrier of one of the closed tills was opened to facilitate Mick's escape. Ooops.

In a day of short-hops, another few kilometres along the road brought us to this parking area, at some parkland, with forest trails behind us. I'll likely go and investigate some of those in the morning.


^{(*A museum. Of ham. On top of a big hill. At a ski resort. Struck us as an odd choice of location!)}

Sunday 1 July - Above Todtnauberg

Where's Bertie? He's in a car park above the village of Todtnauberg (exact location:47.85940, 7.93933).
Weather: Some cloud, but mainly sunny and warm.

Last night was too hot with too much noise, not just at the full Stellplatz, but around the town in general. As a result, it was a hard task to drag myself out of bed at 6.30 this morning, but I was soon glad I had: most of my 7-mile run was undertaken before the sun got high enough to heat things up. Moreover, it was still quiet out, with just a few handfuls of other runners and a few dog walkers. As I ran along, with the river on my right, I was treated to the sight, in the field to my left, of a buzzard, a heron and a stork.

Clear blue skies, but the sun is still low

By mid-morning we were gone from Freiberg, with Bertie hauling us slowly around the hairpin bends and over the mountain pass that lies to the SE of the town. Confusion reigned with some diversion signs as we approached our destination, but we found our way around the roadworks on our second attempt, and fortuitously found a level spot free in the otherwise busy car park.

Dozens of people came and went as we had elevenses, then lunch, after which we decided to find out why this is such a popular location for a Sunday stroll.

In our experience to date, you never need to take a sit-mat on a walk in Germany. There will always be some seating available, sometimes in the form of a picnic spot, complete with a shelter.

If it hadn't been obvious from the map, it was apparent almost as soon as we set off that this is a cross-country skiing area. There's quite a bit of 'up' in that 'cross' too, as we ascended some distance up to the top of a hill that may or may not be called Stübenvasen.

Passed on the way: an enormous tree trunk on which sun loungers have been built, complete with stairs to get up to those on the thick end of the trunk.

Not a bad view in front of which to sunbathe!

The summit of our hill was a rounded hump of a meadow and quite unremarkable, although a short side-trail did take us to views. I think this is Feldberg, the
highest hill in the region:


Completing a circuit, the final approach back to Bertie was unshaded and hot, however, it wasn't as unbearable as we knew it would have been in Freiberg today. When we left the town it was already 27 degrees out; when we arrived in this car park (which sits at 1140m) it was only 25 degrees. About an hour or so ago, the sun went behind a stand of trees that sits off to one side of the car park and it's already down to 23 outside (27 inside), which is cooler than it was at any point last night.

I've already tested the sleeping potential of the car park, having got the bed down and caught up on some Zzzzs after our walk this afternoon. Hopefully it will be quiet tonight, after the walkers and footballers (there's a football pitch sitting atop a mound to one side of the car park - it looks such an unlikely place for a pitch, but it's currently in use) have all left.

Saturday 30 June - Freiburg

Where's Bertie He's still at the commercial Stellplatz in Freiburg.
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot.

It was a late night last night, because it was too hot to close the windows and go to bed any earlier. I did get up briefly at 5.20 this morning, when daylight woke me, but having closed the roof windows and their blinds, the next thing I knew I was being woken by Mick getting out of bed.

"What time is it?" I asked him sleepily.
"7.44" he replied.

I shot out of bed like a scalded cat and impressed myself by, within the space of 20 minutes, getting dressed, packing a bag full of laundry (and remembering the detergent), making a flask, and getting out the door in the direction of a laundrette. Yes, it is only 4 days since we were last in a laundrette, but we were hampered on that occasion by it only having small machines and by not having enough coins for more than one wash. Today, at a third of the price of four days ago, I got everything else washed, giving us a few more weeks before we next need to go through this rigmarole. (Why the early start? Because it's Saturday, and laundrettes aren't usually open on Sundays, which makes Saturdays even busier. As it went, this laundrette was huge, with 32 machines, so there's probably never a need to queue.)

The rest of the day has been fairly quiet. We strolled back into town...

...and had a bit of a wander, although the main purpose was to find some wurst for lunch. We achieved that from stalls in the market outside of the cathedral. Mick had himself a Bratwurst and for me it was a tofu Currywurst, which was surprisingly nice. That was followed up with some wholly unnececssary extra calories:


Returning to Bertie via an enjoyable pause at some street entertainment in the form of a female choir...

...and via the Old Synagogue water feature...

The sign that explains the history says that this is a memorial and should be treated with respect. I'm not sure this is what the planners had in mind.

...the rest of the day has been spent chasing shade around Bertie. I also nipped out this evening for emergency supplies of ice cream.

It's currently 9.10pm and 32 degrees inside Bertie. I was after an early night tonight, but really need that temperature to come down a bit!

Friday 29 June - Freiburg

Where's Bertie? He's still at the commercial Stellplatz in Freiburg.
Weather: Sunny intervals; very warm and muggy.

As planned, we walked back into town last night for the England match, and managed to find ourselves what must have been the worst bar in town. We chose to sit outside on the pavement because:
1) it was unbearably warm inside; and
2) smoking was permitted inside this establishment.
There were 16 chairs outside, of which we occupied two, and various other people came and went around us. All of those people must have been chain smokers and at times it was difficult to believe that we were outside. It was most unpleasant and we came away with our clothes smelling like they used to after a night in a pub in the UK before the smoking ban came in.

About half way back to Bertie we passed a much nicer looking bar, complete with big-screen TV, but I'm sure last night's game will remain all the more memorable for the awful surroundings in which we watched it (as always by 'we' I mean Mick watched and I looked up occasionally from my sock knitting).


Sitting atop the arches of the bridge is a popular pastime

Today, after I'd explored a section of the local river at a trot, leaving Mick in bed, we took ourselves off for a proper look around the town - or as good a look as we could manage having forgotten to take with us the town guide given to us by the owner of the Stellplatz.


The Minster is currently undergoing extensive restoration and we approached from what is currently its least flattering angle.

The church square was fair bustling

I don't appear to have taken any passable snaps of any of the streets of the old town, but cobbles, tram lines and streams running along the edges all featured, together with some attractive buildings ... and, of course, a few 1960s monstrosities.


Looking to one of the town gates

Good door!

It was approaching noon by the time we paused for coffee - or in my case tea, because I haven't yet perfected the German phrase "Do you have decaf coffee?". If I'd just perused the drinks menu a bit better, I would have found it there, but instead I had a cup of tea that went straight into second place in my list of 'worst cups of tea I've ever had'.


Looked good. Tasted awful.

Not long after we stopped for lunch, which was a far better choice:

Two thalis in an Indian restaurant.

Our return route to Bertie brought us past the university (surprisingly busy until I remembered that no matter what my mind would like me to believe, it is not the weekend) and past the 'old Synagogue'. The latter was destroyed in 1938 and now takes the form of a water feature laid out in the shape of the old building's foundations.


It's flat around here, thus there are a lot of bicycles in this town. This was one of many bicycle parking areas.


Just up the road from where we're staying. Presumably just a parish church, but quite striking.

^{(Today's random aside: As I approached the Stellplatz at the end of my run this morning, I could see Mick standing outside at the edge of the road, wearing his pyjamas. This struck me as odd and I could only rationalise it on the basis that he must have fallen back to sleep, then woken thinking that I'd been gone far too long and in his panic had dashed out to look for me. I got to within a couple of paces before I realised that this man had the same build and posture as Mick, with the same hair, and the same pyjamas, but it was not, in fact, Mick. I located him a few minutes later still in bed.)}

Thursday 28 June - Gütenbach and Freiburg

Where's Bertie? He's at a commercial Stellplatz in Freiburg, where a small pitch, without electricity, costs €9 (medium without electricity = €10; big with electricity = €11; we went for the cheap option). Exact location: 47.9993, 7.82648.
Weather: sunny start, gradually clouding over, but warm.

Last night, at around 6pm, six lads appeared and started playing football on the all-weather mini-pitch next to which Bertie was parked. I was veritably impressed that they played vigorously (albeit latterly showing a slight slowing down) for 2.5 hours until their curfew called them home. It made me wonder: if that pitch didn't exist, would they have all been sitting in their individual bedrooms playing on their PlayStations or equivalent? Is the installation of a little facility like this a stroke of genius by the local council, keeping the kids both fit and out of mischief?

Bertie, and a football mini-pitch

Our exercise this morning started bright and early, helped by the local church having a policy of no one being allowed a lie-in beyond 7am (as Mick said at the end of the chimes: is it really 128 o'clock?).

Balzer Hergot was the first key sight of our 10km outing. I gathered the history simply from the pictures on this information panel:

In or before 1936 someone put a statue of Jesus here. Then the tree gradually ate it. Then in 1986 modifications were made to the tree so that it became framed instead.

Today it looks like this:


A hippy-looking chap was, by appearances, meditating, indulging in some yoga and smoking something herbal in front of it when we were there.

The second key sight of the outing came after we had dropped down, down and down some more into a gorgeous valley...


... when we climbed all the way back up via a wooded gorge.

This snap doesn't do it justice. The stream was a delight.

It was still morning when we left Gütenbach, initially intending to head for the town of Waldkirch, to decide whether to stay there or to continue on to Freiburg, with today's main consideration being to find somewhere for Mick to watch the football tonight (i.e. a nice quiet parking area out in the sticks would not have been a popular choice!).

In the event, Waldkirch didn't get a look in, due to a road closure, so here we are in Freiburg, where we have checked into the Stellplatz for two nights.

We won't go for a proper look around until tomorrow, although we did get a taster this afternoon when we went in search of possible locations for tonight's football.

For that recce, I was wearing these, which I'd finished about five minutes earlier:

They're just a pair of socks, but I'm very taken with the yarn. This pair used less than half of the ball, so I'll be casting on another pair tonight whilst the football's on - socks are such a handily portable project!

Wednesday 27 June - Schönwald and Gütenbach

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...