Sunday 28th Titisee
This morning we crossed the river Rhine at Rheinfelden and
left Switzerland for Germany. We spent the morning driving through the Black
forest. We pulled off the road for a coffee and were joined by a man with two
daughters in their car and caravan. Unfortunately after their break they were
unable to get their vehicle to start. We offered help, but lack of language and
mechanical skills meant we left them in the company of a German motorcyclist to
sort out their problems. I hope they were able to sort something out as there
was very little shade at that stop. Just before we arrived in Titisee Mike
spied a Lidl so we stocked up on some food knowing we would soon have
electricity to boost the fridge. We then found a wooded campsite which was
right on the edge of the lake and we set up camp. I had seen in the German
newspapers that Germany was experiencing its highest temperatures this century
reaching 39C. It was obviously too much
and that afternoon the weather broke with a massive storm which put paid to any
ideas of having a BBQ. The rain continued to fall throughout the night and was
still raining when we awoke. We were
very glad to be in Buster and not a tent.
Monday 29th Freiburg
The rain continued to fall heavily all day. The campsite was
rapidly deteriorating into a very soggy mess. We decided to leave so Jacqui
went to pay. This took over half an hour mainly due to the very elderly man who
was doing the accounts. Maybe he owned the site but they really needed a more
efficient person on the front desk as the queue in the rain was steadily
growing and people’s tempers were shortening.
On the way out we checked the campsite next door in case we returned here with Millie. It looked better organised but it did not have lakeside access. First we drove into Titisee. It looked worth exploring in more detail when we had Millie; a large outdoor pool, an aquapark and some interesting shopping streets but not today as it was too wet. We continued for 30Km reaching Freiburg at lunchtime. We stopped in a side road and heated up some tomato soup that Jacqui had made yesterday. We had this with german granary bread and cheese. We then put on our waterproofs and walking boots – we had mistakenly thrown out our wellies as we thought we would no longer need these – and set off. Friboug is a university city and this always seems to increase the liveliness of a place. Its main sight is a 13th centrury gothic cathedral (Munster) built in a reddish purple stone.
It also contained some lovely stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings. The town is also famous for its ‘bachle’ tiny medieval canals that run down the middle of the streets. Today with the rain there were mini torrents in each.
On the way out we checked the campsite next door in case we returned here with Millie. It looked better organised but it did not have lakeside access. First we drove into Titisee. It looked worth exploring in more detail when we had Millie; a large outdoor pool, an aquapark and some interesting shopping streets but not today as it was too wet. We continued for 30Km reaching Freiburg at lunchtime. We stopped in a side road and heated up some tomato soup that Jacqui had made yesterday. We had this with german granary bread and cheese. We then put on our waterproofs and walking boots – we had mistakenly thrown out our wellies as we thought we would no longer need these – and set off. Friboug is a university city and this always seems to increase the liveliness of a place. Its main sight is a 13th centrury gothic cathedral (Munster) built in a reddish purple stone.
It also contained some lovely stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings. The town is also famous for its ‘bachle’ tiny medieval canals that run down the middle of the streets. Today with the rain there were mini torrents in each.
There were some other attractive buildings to view but it
was incredibly wet and so we headed back to the van after a short walk round. We
drove to McDonalds to spend an hour catching up on e mails, post redirection
etc and then headed back to the B500 –the Hohe Schwarzwaldstrasse.
Unfortunately the low cloud affected some of the views and we decided to pull
of the road around 6.30pm hoping that this scenic route would be better
tomorrow.
Tuesday 30th July Black Forest tour
We had our breakfast in the very pretty surroundings in our
picnic area on top of a hill on the B500.
A couple of vehicles and bikes pulled in to take photos but otherwise we
were left undisturbed. We even managed to get our awning out to dry it off.
Once ready we set off for Triberg, a small town where three
mountains meet. It also contains Germany’s highest waterfall. We stopped here
first on our way into Triberg and went for a short walk but then decided it
would be a good place to come with Millie in a few days time. We managed to
find somewhere to park and then set off for our real destination- Café Schafer
the home of the original recipe for Black Forest gateau. We walked past the tourist shops selling
wooden goods and visited the ‘house of 1000 clocks’. The café was at the far
end of town but it was worth the walk.
From Triberg we continued north, through lovely countryside
until we reached the pretty town of Schiltach. Here there was dedicated parking
on the riverside for motorhomes where the two rivers the Kinzig and the
Schiltach meet. It was a lovely spot and we took our lunch to a sunny bench by
the river.
We then wandered through the attractive town that was full of colourful half timbered buildings and even included an apothecary’s museum. Jacqui had a quick chat with the curator and then back to the van for the next leg.
We then wandered through the attractive town that was full of colourful half timbered buildings and even included an apothecary’s museum. Jacqui had a quick chat with the curator and then back to the van for the next leg.
We were now heading towards Kehl which is where the Burstner
repair centre lies. We wanted to check everything was in order for the planned
repair date of the 5th August. We arrived at 4.30pm only to find
that they shut at 4pm. However they opened at 7am and there was facilities for
us to park overnight free of charge. That evening we drove into Kehl to find a
McD to send some e mails and then we walked through the town and along the Rhine
where we could see Strasbourg, France on the other side of the river.
The first part of the morning was spent with Burstner going
through the list of repairs. It was good that we had come a few days earlier as
they only had the one window replacement on their worksheet. We then drove to a
camping centre at Offenburg to pick up some toilet chemicals – an essential purchase!
After this stop we headed for Baden Baden. It was more
difficult to park in this town with lots of ‘no motorhome’ parking signs. We
found a leafy street that looked the equivalent of Harley Street and paid to
park for an hour. This gave us time for a quick walk around the town.
It was very attractive but we found it rather sedate. We had a pleasant walk down Lichtertaler Allee , which had a shallow stream and some lovely trees including some large weeping beeches. We picked up some bratwurst and brotchen for lunch, which was very tasty, and then continued up to see the Roman Baths which we could only see through the window as they were closed. We were now running out of time so we headed back to the van through the main market squares.
It was very attractive but we found it rather sedate. We had a pleasant walk down Lichtertaler Allee , which had a shallow stream and some lovely trees including some large weeping beeches. We picked up some bratwurst and brotchen for lunch, which was very tasty, and then continued up to see the Roman Baths which we could only see through the window as they were closed. We were now running out of time so we headed back to the van through the main market squares.
Our next stop was Hofen an der Enz. This was a small Black Forest town and our
only interest here was the fact that Caroline (Mike’s sister) had worked here
in the Hotel Oschen in 1978. Although this was many years ago it was still
owned by the same family. It was now a short drive to Sindelfingen on the
outskirts of Stuttgart. Our main reason for being here was that we would have
an easy journey tomorrow in picking Millie up from the airport. We spent the
evening doing a small shop (fridge problems again), skyping Millie and catching
up on e mails and then back to our car park spot for an early night.
No comments:
Post a Comment