And Jake Makes 3

 

After catching the early morning train under the channel, which seems such a normal occurrence these days, we had a lovely drive through France watching the sun come up somewhere between Calais and Reims.

Sunrise photo from the car as we drive through daybreak.


The toll road really is a good way to get to the area of Alsace in France or the Black Forest in Germany. It is only a dual carriage way in many places but there is little traffic and the stop areas are less busy although not as commercialised as the major services on the toll free highways. In total it costs around €40 and providing you have a passenger the tolls are no problem in a right hand drive car.

We arrived in Seebach at around 2.30pm. It did not seem 4 weeks since we left. There was a little snow on the ground but nothing to cause any problems on the road.

 

 

As before we were made very welcome by David and Angela, enjoying a lovely cup of tea, as with many British visitors we brought a Red Cross parcel of Teabags as English tea is unavailable in most areas of Germany.

Pension Williams

 

Saturday 29th

The day dawned bright and clear so we decided to visit the town of Achern at the head of the valley. We found it to be a wonderful little town very interested in its tourists and most people were very helpful. We found an internet café and checked up on our emails and did a little shopping. We then had a very nice lunch sat outside the Café Zentrum watching the townsfolk go about their business. A little cool weather wise but still very pleasant and of course the obligatory Black Forest Gateaux made sure we were warm! We had a nice peaceful evening enjoying a swim and a bottle of Kapplerodecks delightful red wine.

Sunday 30th

As the weather seemed to be holding we decided to venture further afield and headed for Baden Baden. This is a very old town with some great architecture and many health spas and healing centers.

 

The old Bath House in Baden Baden

 

You can soak in heated outdoor pools or visit many trendy spa hotels which have now opened. It is a very opulent town and we notice properties for sale which were well into the millions of euros. We enjoyed a walk around the town, pleasant on a Sunday as the majority of shops close on Sundays so you only get the tourists

The quiet town centre

The many cafes were open so we enjoyed a coffee and a glass of Cava, which seems to be the way they do things. Very civilised!

We drove back via the famous 500 road - Schwarzwaldstrasse- which is claimed to be one of the most picturesque roads in Germany. It is highly favoured by motorcyclists for its winding route although many come to grief failing to appreciate how fast the road is. We saw the remnants of one bike being recovered with no sign of the rider who we assumed was on the way to hospital, dead or alive we were unsure. There are some wonderful views to be seen.

 

One favourite place with the Germans seems to be Lake Mummlesee but we decided not to stop as Sunday is not a good day as this is everyone’s day off and so they are out in their hundreds.

That night we visited the lovely Meggie and Martin at the Kaminstub’n restaurant. The food here is superb but then again so are the hosts. We were made very welcome and they were glad to see us back so soon. The salads are so tasty, this is just a small one so you can imagine what the large is like.

 

We followed this with Filet steaks and I have to say they were the best I have ever tasted. These are cooked in the centre of the dining area and when they came they were at least an inch thick, no fat and cooked to perfection they just melted in the mouth.

 

March 31st

Another visit to Achern on our last day in the Achertal valley seemed in order. It really is a lovely town with everything to offer and we must return and explore this area better. The valley is well known for its fruit and wines and schnapps made from this fruit. The blossom is just beginning to emerge so it will be nice to come back in a few weeks and see at its best.

April 1st

Off to a new area today. Alpirsbach. We stayed in this town 5 years ago for Christmas and vowed we would return so here we go. We have rented an apartment for 5 weeks to use as a base whilst we explore the Black Forest and maybe even Switzerland and Northern Italy. Depends on the weather really. It is a large apartment, probably too large for us and John was disappointed to find that it did not have a washing machine. Strange in an apartment so big. Still it gives us chance to unpack and be in one place for a few weeks so not too bad. It is right at the top of a hill overlooking the main part of town including the Kloisters and the Famous Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu brewery.

 

 

 

We have been in Alpirsbach for 2 weeks now. The weather has been pretty awful to say the least, even our host Linde apologised because it has been so bad.

 

We have had:-

 

Fog (or low cloud)

 

Snow

 

Rain

 

And more rain - rolling in up the valley

 

Still we have had some better days and have been exploring the area around us. We went back to 2 of the places we visited 5 years ago on our christmas visit. One of these was Hornberg where there is a famous cuckoo clock shop. John was determined to go back and marvel at the wonderful clocks but he did resist the temptation to buy everything in the shop. This is a large outdoor clock, fully working, built by the owner and on display just outside the shop.

 

We also returned to Triberg and had lunch in the same restaurant that we ate in on our previous visit. They are so pleasant and the food is good. Even Jake had a complimentary bowl of water!

 

 

The architecture here is very different and they use a lot of wood carving and beautiful paintings to decorate the buildings.

 

 

One new village we visited was called Zell. A very nice little place with many little streets to explore. We wondered why it was so quiet when we walked through the main street but discovered that in these parts the shops close from 12.15 to 14.30 for lunch - I can see that catching on in the UK!!!

 

 

An interesting item is the fools fountain. Apparently the fools are characters portrayed from traditional pre-lent carnivals held in this area mainly in a town called Rottweil (yes where the dogs originate from). The carnival is called Fastnet as in fasting and is supposed to be quite a spectical.

 

 

The one thing that has kept us enthralled is the abundant wildlife in the area. Just from our balcony we have seen many birds and also a Red squirrel in the trees by us which really confused us at first because they are much darker here almost black. At first sight we thought it was a pole cat until it came into full view.

 

We have numerous Chaffinches, a Jay, Blackbirds, Crows, various members of the tit family, a Nuthatch to name a few.

 

Hows this for a close up of a Chaffinch

 

 

We are also very lucky to have a pair of Black Redstarts which are very rare in the UK but regular visitors to our terrace.

 

The male

 

The female

 

We are also really priviledged to have Eagles in the Valley. We have seen them a few times from a distance but I have failed to get a picture yet only this very blurred one. I will keep trying though.

 

 

 

 

The weather promised to be better today so we ventured out a little further. One place I (Angela) wanted to see was Lake Titisee down in the south of the Black Forest. It looked lovely in all the brochures so I persuaded John it was a good idea. What I failed to realise was that to get to it we had to go via the highest part of the region and the higher we got the more snow had fallen. Thankfully the roads as usual had been cleared and it was nice to see the area looking so clean as the snow had only fallen the previous day. The highest we went was around 1100m above sea level. We could even see the summit of The Feldberg which is the highest mountain in The Black Forest at 1494m. The lake is a little lower (846m) so there was less snow.

 

Lake Titisee

 

It is the largest natural lake and as such is very touristy, lots of tourist shops and cafes surround areas of the lake but it is a very nice place for a day out and on a warm day I imagine the various boat trips that run are a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so. There seems to be a wide variety of craft but this was one that John thought was nice, sort of fake galleon style.

 

 

 

 

Finally a really warm day. Not wanting to waste it we chose to visit Lake Constance down on the border between Germany, Switzerland and Austria. From our experience of the day - well worth it.

 

 

The lake itself is very large, it would take more than a day to see it all so we just stayed in the area around Constance (Konstanz in German). We drove through the city which is beautiful. It has some wonderful architecture, a lot of students - it is a university town, but a very good road system so it is easy to get to where you are going. We decided to head out of town and find a place for lunch. We finally stopped in a small village called Wallhausen at a very nice restaurant right by the lake.

 

Strandbad-Wallhausen Restaurant

 

If you are ever in this area this is well worth a visit. The menu is very varied, the food is superb, the chef/owner speaks good english and is happy to translate the menu for you. We had a wonderful meal, Jake recommends the German meatballs! Afterwards you can take a pleasant walk, have a round of crazy golf or be more energetic and hire a bicycle or canoe.

 

We just decide on the walk!

 

 

The lake shore

 

 

Following our trip to Slovakia we stopped of at Pension Williams again for a few days. It was lovely to see Seebach in good weather and to see all the fruit out in the valley waiting to be harvested.

 

 

We promised ourselves that we would visit the locks on the Rhine this time. This is the border between Germany and France and is only about 10 miles from the hotel. The road actually crosses the top of the locks so you can either park in Germany and walk over to France or drive into France to Gambsheim and view them from there. We went into France as the parking there includes the tourist information office There is a very nice restaurant there called Le Rhinkaechele.The food here is excellent and the owner, Gilles, is very pleasant. Angela was very adventurous and had what was basically Black Pudding Shepherds pie, very tasty. We had an unexpected visitor who took a liking to John.

 

A Great Green Bush Cricket (about 3 inches long)

 

The locks are fascinating. There is a height differential between the water north of the locks and that to the south. There are 2 locks each with a massive lock gate which is lowered when the lock is to be filled.

 

In this photo both gates are in the up position.

 

And here the right hand gate has been lowered.

 

The barges that travel through are huge - one that we watched had the length written on the side and was 135meters long. Note the cars on the back which we believe belong to the crew.

 

 

Jake was fascinated

 

The weather was beautiful so we couldn't resist visiting the lovely ice cream parlours of Achern.

 

Jake has his tongue at the ready

 

I am sure we will be back again.