Staying on the ‘scenic route’ we drove the 66kms north to
Augsburg. The mountain peaks flattened into long undulating plains which still
proved to have steep hairpin bends in places. Nervy still about Bertha’s
steering we veered off the A8 to visit a motorhome service garage for help.
Unfortunately, whilst the mechanic understood the problem he was not able to
deal with it and directed us to a Fiat dealership. After some fruitless
searching around an industrial estate we found the business, closed for the
last five years. We headed onwards and it was with some relief that we pulled
into a central car park aire at Kircheim-unter-Teck at 5pm, having driven
135kms.
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| Kircheim-unter-Teck from the autobahn |
Not having much energy we meandered into town and perched on a bench at a local’s bar run by punky middle-aged women sporting tattoos and improbable hair colours. Back in Bertha it was a frustrating evening trying to use our phones to internet research a route into and out of Stuttgart without falling foul of the ‘umwelt zone’, Germany’s environmental tax but also network of roads which are off limits to vehicles like ours. Pretty tired by now we battened up for the night as locals left the car park in droves.
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| A chilly night in Bavaria |
Next morning, woken early by a mechanical digger in the car park and not having found an immediate solution to the Stuttgart problem we headed back into the Black Forest, this time on its eastern side. We experienced momentary panic as we realised were indeed passing through the ‘umwelt zone’ around the town of Pforzheim. We fixed apologetic smiles and tried and to look inconspicuous to a passing police car.
A scruffy campsite at Bad Liebenzell proved to be a gem
as we got off the road and promptly hogged the washing and drying machines,
showers and wifi!
Bad Liebenzell is well connected by train so the next day
we took a free ride on our ‘guest card’ south to Horb-am-Neckar.
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| Through the Eastern side of the Black Forest |
It was good to
be back on a swift, clean German train but this time it felt oppressive
travelling through the dark forest.
Where on the west side the tracks ran through open
pastoral land and valleys alongside clear rivers, pretty villages and well
stocked and tended farms, here on the east the route was through steeply
forested escarpments which were home to heavy industry and down at heel-looking
towns. Everything seemed, well, dark and dank.
It was a close, muggy afternoon as we scaled, yet again,
more narrow streets and alleyways up to the centre of the old town. Slightly
disconcerted by graphic sculptures depicting Leda and a randy swan, and another
of presumably the Minotaur’s mother and her bullish lover, we found the
charming market square and painted Rathaus, depicting the good citizens of
Horb.
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| Decorated Horb Rathaus |
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| A closer look reveals Horb's heritage |
Spiralling back down the alleyways we passed gangs of
university students camped out in the many kebab and pizza bars housed in
mediaeval merchant shops. We joined them to share a kebab fresh out of the
bread oven of an elderly black-garbed Turkish lady. Germany has large settled
Turkish communities and consequently you are never too far from a cheap and
exceptionally good quality kebab!
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| The Black Forest on a plate |
As this was to be our last day in the Black Forest we
asked at the tourist office about the best gateau in town. Duly directed back
up the steep way to the Markt Platz a bemused café owner presented us with a
whole Black Forest Gateau, six inches high, 12 inches wide and covered in white
frothy cream.
Settling just for the one piece we finally tucked into our first,
and last, slice of the heavenly cake. A fitting way to end a return to the forest!
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| One final night in the Black Forest |
