Into the Schwarzwald (Black Forest)

Sat :  21^st June, 2014.  This morning brought an email from Emirates, advising us that our departure time from Heathrow at the end of next month has been changed.  Our flight, which we chose because of the shortish changeover time in Dubai, will leave 1hour 45 minutes earlier than originally scheduled, which means we will now have nearly 2hours extra to hang around in Dubai airport.  Needless to say, we are thrilled to bits about that!

We weren’t terribly impressed with the campsite we stayed in last night (#1583 in the ACSI Book) and when they asked for 3,50 euros to fill our water tank, on top of the camp fee of 15 euros, we told them they were dreaming and left, to fill up elsewhere.  From Contrexeville, we drove along the D3 to Epinal, paying a brief visit to the American War Cemetery,

then on to the N57 and N66 south east through gorgeous alpine country and following the Moselle River to St Maurice sur Moselle.  Here we booked into another ACSI campsite and are parked beside the Moselle, albeit only a stream at this point.  I think that half of the population of Holland is here!

Sun : 22^nd June, 2014.  A quiet, peaceful night followed by hot showers and once we’d packed up we were off to nearby Bussang, where we believed the source of the Moselle to be.  We didn’t find it but we must have been very close.

Then we enjoyed the drive through the Col de Bussang and down to Mulhouse, shortly afterwards crossing the Rhine into Germany.  After 15 minutes we spied an Imbiss (snack bar) so swooped in for a light lunch before continuing on to Freiburg where we had a choice of sites, unlike last year when we stopped here as there was a huge rock concert on and the place was packed.  We rode the bikes into town and wandered around for a while but found it very quiet compared with our previous visit, tram lines are being replaced so there were a few roads closed off, there was other construction work in progress and being Sunday afternoon, most shops were closed so no big crowds.  We rode along the cycle way by the river on the way back to camp and spent the rest of the day doing very little, in the shade as it was bordering on hot this afternoon!

Mon :  23^rd June, 2014.  Although we usually try to avoid returning to places we’ve previously visited, we decided we’d like to revisit the Schauinslandbahn Freiburg, a cable car ride which we took 5 years ago with Rob and Laurie.  It’s a twenty-minute ride each way with stunning views

and we treated ourselves to coffee and Black Forest Cake in the café/restaurant at the top of the mountain…yum!

We had a plan for the rest of the day, some of which eventuated, some didn’t.  The Black Forest Open Air Museum in Gutach was on the plan and we spent a couple of interesting hours there, wandering through the numerous historical buildings from various regions of the Black Forest (www.vogtsbauernhof.org ) which was well worth the visit.

By the time we’d finished our tour, it was time to drive to our overnight stop and we found ourselves going around in circles trying to find the most suitable…it was all a bit of fun and we even had to stop for a few cows at one place!

and backtracked a little but we’re now in an excellent reisemobilpark in Konigsfeld, where Mike cooked dinner on the barbecue. 

Now it’s raining and bedtime.

Tues : 24^th June, 2014.  Although we had rain all through the night, it was fine but still overcast this morning when we woke.  A little walk before breakfast and showers and we left the very comfortable reisemobilpark at about 9.30am for a drive-through the gorgeous Black Forest, stopping in Dunningen to buy a rotisserie chicken, travelling through several lovely villages until stopping again at Baiersbronn where we ate some of the chicken for lunch which was followed by a short walk into the town to a café where we partook of coffee and rhubarb/apple cake.  It must have been ruhetag (rest day) in Baiersbronn as most of the shops and businesses were closed.  The highlight of today was the drive through the spectacular Schwarzwald-Hochstrasse (Black Forest High Road).  Unfortunately the photos we took simply don’t do justice to the scenery which was absolutely breathtaking!

At one of the viewpoints, we met and chatted to a couple from Sydney.  Anne Marie and Geoff live in the St George area where Mike spent some of his youth, Anne Marie used to teach at his old high school and Geoff worked some years ago for St George County Council, where Mike was working at the time of our nuptials!  It’s a small world!

On to Gernsbach, near Baden Baden where we are spending the night by the River Murg.  After a very pleasant hour spent in a biergarten 5 minutes down the road, watching the swans on the river whilst sampling the beer, we called it a day.

Wed : 25^th June, 2014.  Before leaving Gernsbach this morning, we visited the lovely gardens and the old town, 

crossing the river and back again by bike, then up the steep hill behind the stellplatz with Boris to Eberstein Castle, built in 1272, which now houses a small, luxury hotel and has fantastic views down into the valley.

From there, our route took us through the outskirts of Baden Baden to the Iffezheim Barrage Dam on the Rhine River, a joint European project consisting of a sluice, power plant and weir.  This was our lunch stop while we watched a couple of cruise boats go through the large locks, a popular pastime.

Then, across the Rhine and back into France, but only briefly as 15 minutes later we were back in Germany, travelling through beautiful wineries, farmlands and forest till we arrived in Dorrenbach, a beautiful little village where we had planned to stay for the night.  Unfortunately, the stellplatz was a steep climb behind the village, with stunning views

but no services and was a dustbowl, so we drove to nearby Bad Bergzabern where our home for tonight is in a winery overlooking the town.  We’ve walked down into yet another lovely old town

and patronised the railway station bar before climbing back up the hill to retire for the night.

Thurs : 26^th June, 2014.  We drove down to town this morning, parked Boris while we visited the chemist, who was such a lovely, friendly and helpful young woman we would have liked to take her home with us.  She lives in Dorrenbach and told us a little about the village, so we drove back there, stopped just outside as there is no parking in the tiny streets, and walked in.  Once again, we found that the village was closed, we seem to have a knack of visiting places on their ruhetag!  It’s still a lovely village though!

We spent the rest of the day meandering through the National Parks of Pfalzerwald and des Vosges du Nord on our way to Waldfischbach where we are spending the night.  On investigating the noise coming from the campsite bar, we found a crowd watching the World Cup game between Germany and USA on a big screen…Germany won 1-0 much to the delight of the predominantly German crowd.  The genial young man behind the bar spent last year in Australia, chiefly on the east coast from Byron Bay to Cairns and in Perth working in a window factory in Joondalup, loved being there, would have liked to stay longer but had only a 1 year working visa so was happy to reminisce with us about the places he’d visited.

Fri : 27^th June, 2014.  Today we drove the fast road to Saarburg and spend a couple of days there, chiefly for some R&R and to catch up on washing and a few little odd jobs, as well as a bit of bike riding.  We stopped at Mettlach on the way for a wander and a lunch break in a beer garden and are now parked by the Saar River which runs into the Moselle, have ridden to nearby Aldi for supplies, had some very heavy rain which resulted in us scampering indoors and are now thinking about an evening meal.  We’re looking forward to the next few days in this lovely region.

From the Loire towards Germany

Tues : 17^th June.  After leaving St Satur late this morning, we were enjoying a pretty, leisurely drive towards Auxerre along the D955, when, before we’d gone halfway, we chanced upon the Chantier de Guedelon.  On checking the dictionary, we found that ‘chantier’ in the French language means building site and intrigued, we pulled in to the very large car park where there were a dozen or more coaches, many, many cars and a few motorhomes, parked Boris and wandered over to the ticket office, paid 12 euros each to enter and discovered that Guedelon is a working construction site with a 70 strong team working with the hand tools of the 13^th century (with health and safety standards of the 21^st century) to build a medieval castle.  We spent a couple of hours wandering through the site, watching master craftsmen working to build the castle which it is estimated will take 25 years to complete. An experience well worth the 12 euros!  We took a few photos…

Further along the road we stopped at the lovely town of Toucy, having seen a conveniently located Boulangerie & Patisserie shop, where we bought bread and f.a.cream cakes for our lunch which we devoured by the lake nearby.

On arrival in Auxerre, we parked in the ‘aire’ overlooking the River Yonne and the town on the opposite side of the river, walked to the nearby supermarket for dinner supplies and settled in for a quiet night.

Wed. 18^th June,2014.  We rode the bikes across the bridge this morning to explore the town, but first rode a little way along the river to fill in some time as the tourist office didn’t open until 9.30a.m. and we needed a town map.  Having obtained said map, we walked up the hill and into the cathedral, and then did our ‘seniors’ stroll through the town, buying fruit at the market stalls,

coffee at a little café which seemed to be a pensioners’ ‘hang out’, and a quiche and f.a. cream cake each for lunch, which we took back to camp where we met new arrivals Mike and Sue and chatted with them before they went into the town. 

After lunch was consumed, we decided to ride along the river in the opposite direction from this morning’s ride and discovered a canal with three locks, watched a few boats go through the locks and spoke to an American couple from Washington DC who own a boat and cruise the canals and rivers in Europe for 4 or 5 months every year.  We had the cycle path almost to ourselves going out, as it was the French ‘lunch break’ but by the time we returned, it was beginning to become crowded though still enjoyable.

Later in the afternoon, we joined Sue & Mike for pre dinner drinks and chat, and followed dinner with a port and more chat.

Thurs: 19^th June, 2014.  I was awake early this morning with a little tummy trouble and couldn’t get back to sleep.  In sympathy, Mike walked with me in the fresh air, across the foot bridge to the town foreshore and back and when I later fell asleep for an hour or so, did all the packing up in readiness for departure.  Having exchanged addresses etc. with Sue & Mike and said our goodbyes, we left for the pleasant though uneventful drive to Marcenay, where we are camped by a lake in a quiet camp site.  It’s very peaceful and as we’re both a little worn out from the early morning wake up, an afternoon snooze was a bonus.

Frid.  20^th June, 2014.  It was a beautiful clear morning and on our walk along the lake, we watched three small fishing boats out on the water and the abundance of bird life flying in and out…very calming. 

We took our time packing up for the 156km drive to Contrexeville where we are camped for the night on the outskirts of the busy town, but apart from the hum of  traffic in the distance, another quiet park.

Since leaving Auxerre yesterday morning, we have travelled through some lovely farming country, stopping only occasionally for a break, and taken very few photos.

Tomorrow we will head for the source of the Moselle River.

Last Days on the Loire

Fri :  13^th June, 2014.  Our plan to make a nostalgic visit to Chambord Castle this morning was thwarted by a ‘Game Fair’ being held in the grounds.  It was a short drive to the castle but before we’d arrived, we became stuck in a traffic jam…we could just see a bit of the castle through a gap in the trees as we waited our turn at the roundabout, we could also see a number of marquees in front of the castle, a long line of traffic on our right and a longer line on our left, neither of which was moving past a crawl, so we reluctantly made the decision to give it a miss, and on reaching the roundabout, pushed our way through the traffic and exited left.  A pity, as we’d have liked to make a comparison between now and ‘then’…Chambord was the only castle we visited in 1969, mainly because by flashing our Youth Hostel cards in lieu of student cards, we were permitted to enter free of charge and as we were then on a very tight budget, free was good!  At that time, there were very few visitors, a little different from today which looked to be a nightmare in the making and best avoided!

Our next port of call was Beaugency, only 18kms or so along the road and across the river.  Boris was happy to stay in the shade of the trees down by the river while we went exploring in the town.  Mike found a lady barber and so bought a badly needed haircut, I found a bicycle shop and bought a new f.a. seat for my bike, we both had coffee in the sunshine while watching the passers-by pass by and wandered around happily enjoying this lovely old town.

The lunch stop today was 8kms along the road at Meung-Sur-Loire where we parked in the shade of a big old tree and afterwards walked to the town square, into the lovely old church and back to Boris.

On to Chateauneuf-sur-Loire where we rode the bikes through the town for a look-see, after which we found a bar near the bridge

and enjoyed a nice, cold beer.  The French couple at the next table seemed to us to be an ill matched pair…she was grey haired, wearing a t-shirt and cut-offs, a typical grandmother type…he was also grey-haired but with a pony tail, many tattoos, some of which could be seen through the rips in his jeans, and with stud and ring piercings just about everywhere imaginable.  They were both very nice, friendly people which goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover!

The last stop for today was at Sully-sur-Loire but there was no room for us at the ‘aire’ so we drove back 1.5kms to the campsite we’d noticed on the way in and booked in there.  In the morning, we will ride the bikes into the town to see the castle and have a look around.

Sat: 14^th June, 2014.  It was quite busy in Sully this morning but by 12.30pm, all was quiet, most of the shops had shut, the locals had done whatever shopping they needed to do and had gone home, leaving mostly tourists wandering around and there weren’t many of us about.  The castle is impressive

 

though we didn’t go inside, we really are all chateaud out after all the visits we’ve made this week but we enjoyed the town, so much we went back this arvo for a return visit as well as a ride along the river. 

It’s been a lovely, relaxing day.

Sun : 15^th June, 2014.  The first visit today after leaving Sully was to Briare, a pretty little town situated on the confluence of the Loire, the Canal Lateral a la Loire and the Briare Canal, in former times a major inland waterway crossroads.  We rode through the town, along the canal and across the canal bridge, nearly being blown into the water by the very strong wind, had a snack lunch near the marina and set off for Sancerre. 

The road doesn’t closely follow the Loire, so no river views as we went along, but it was a lovely drive and on arrival at the campsite at nearby St Satur, we spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in the shade.

Mon : 16^th June, 2014.  We eagerly began the ride to Sancerre this morning but abandoned the idea shortly after leaving camp, realising how far up a steep hill we would have to pedal and decided to return to camp and allow Boris to do the hard work for us.  This he did with little trouble and we found a nice shady parking place for him to rest while we went exploring.  Sancerre’s a lovely old town, very quiet today…at least after 12 noon when most businesses close until 2 or 3pm but we enjoyed our stroll around and the magnificent views from the Fiefs’ Tower which dates from the end of the 14^th century and is the last surviving remnant of the feudal Chateau de Sancerre.  It was worth climbing the 195 steps as the tower affords wonderful views of the whole region from 40 metres above the square below.

 We stopped in St Satur on the way back to camp and walked across the impressive viaduct there.  It seems to be used only by local traffic but as the Tourist Office is open on Thursdays and Saturdays only, we could find no information about the structure, we could only take photos!

Today is our last day in the Loire Valley as tomorrow we’ll start heading north east to see what we can find in other regions.