It was another lovely night in the tent. I was later to bed, having dined in the beautiful Hotel Landgasthof, in the village of Hochstetton outside Breisach, but stayed on for an extra hour or so to attend to blog responsibilities. Writing the blog is easy, but the loading of the photos takes ages.
Today was a shorter day in kilometers by intention. We started to climb the hills of the Black Forest. First of all though, once we had our staple breakfast of porridge with sultanas and milk coffee, we started the long ordeal of packing up. It started to rain. Although not heavy, it was enough to wet everything including the tent which had dried out overnight. We stopped out front of the Hotel for the obligatory photo, then rolled back into the village of Breisach for some sight-seeing before we headed for the hills of the Black Forest.
Breisach is just simply exquisite. The massive ‘Munster’ which is just plain huge in proportions to most other churches we have seen, sits atop a high cliff face overlooking the town. We marvel in awe at how mere men must have laboured for almost a century to somehow lift the large stones up so high, and carve them in order to build such a wonderful edifice to the glory of God. This is the third such ‘Munster’ we have seen so far, each bigger than the last one (there is yet one more later today, the biggest of all!).
We went to the tourist office, scored a detailed bike/road map of the region to Frieburg, wandered the central part of town below the Munster just admiring the centuries old, beautifully ornate buildings, and then needing to depart, we purchased a SIM for Julie’s iPhone. She can now relax having taken out the official SIM with risk of huge charges on her work account averted at last. She can now turn on the phone!
I walked up to see the Munster up close. It was a massive climb on the cobbled narrow street that wound its way up. I pushed the bike and was half way up, when Julie called from the bottom that she would stay below and keep looking. As I gasped my way to the top trying to heave the full weight of the fully loaded bike all the way, the thought occurred to me ‘why didn’t I leave it at the bottom with Julie?’. Anyway, we made it. The view was spectacular over the village, the Munster a huge acknowledgement of God’s might and greatness, and a credit to simple men so many centuries ago who built it without mechanization, without cranes to lift the tons of stone, and without computers to so meticulously plan the architectural wonder of it all.
It was tempting to ride down, but it took all my strength to hold the bike back while struggling to keep my feet on the wet cobblestones.
Today we said our final goodbyes to the magnificent Rhine River. It had been our constant companion since Day 1. We turned our backs as we headed towards to mountains of the Black Forest, and numerous more great rivers to come.
With only 26k to Frieburg, we rolled out of town and into the rural fields outside Breisach. It was about 11am. The bike path leaving town was nicely marked. We assumed it would be an easier day.
The countryside was stunning. We rode though fields of corn. The villages in the distance with their colourful houses and church spire stood out from a distance. We passed through numerous villages, each so stunning in beauty we were constantly stopping for photos. We had only gone some 15k to the village of Merdingen, when suddenly the Black Forest climb began in earnest. No more flat terrain, but it was a very serious climb for the first time on this trip. After a long, tough climb the bike path sign turned us off the road and into some steep, rolling vineyards. My instincts told me something was wrong, and after several wasted kilometers of uphill, we stopped to check the map.
We had climbed for nothing. If we had not have stopped, we would have been way off course. We back tracked, then climbed a lot more, following the road for a rare time. Once we crested, we cruised downhill for a long run into the village of Waltershofen, before being turned away from the road by the bikepath. We passed some glorious sites along the way, especially this little church in the middle of nowhere.
Today has been the first time since arriving in Germany that we have noticed the leaves of the forest are starting to fall. Autumn here in central Europe is apparently beautitful, at least that is what the locals continue to tell us. Today for the first time, we rode through occasional carpets of fallen leaves, which were sometimes hard to catch on camera while 'on the move'. You will also notice that a lot of our photos are taken while still riding the bike. This should not be tried at home, it should only be attempted by trained professionals!
Once through Umkirch, the poorly marked bike track took us somehow off course and we ended up basically lost with no signs to help us, nor could we relate the map to our current location. We were only 9k short of Frieburg, but losing precious time.
We followed some hunches, the compass, and the direction of traffic on roads nearby, and finally were confident we had made the outskirts of Frieburg, which turns out to be a very sizable city based around a University. We followed the river in to town, having been advised to look for the ‘Munster’. The closer we got, the more bikes we encountered. It reminded us of Oxford or Cambridge. By the time we got to the city centre, it seemed that hundreds if not thousands were commuting by bikes, very fast and confident.
We struggled at first to decipher our city map, but gradually found ourselves making the final run down a busy street to the Black Forest Backpackers Hostel. Everything is basic, even sheets are not supplied unless you ask for them! We have a large room, with great windows and breeze, and shared bathrooms.
We were in before 3pm, lingered over a great shower, and then wandered the inner city, the old city of Frieburg. It is a cultural paradise, a museum of centuries old architecture, teeming with life especially young people. The old city still has the city gates, and the central piece is the biggest Munster of all our travels so far. It is basically impossible to fully photograph.
We really enjoyed the walk. We made friends at the Tourist office, bought maps of the Neckar valley cycle routes from another shop, and dined on a very decent pizza while using the café wi-fi.
Tomorrow is our first ‘rest day’. We need it and have looked forward to it. Julie had her first ‘spill’ this morning leaving Breisach. Her bike slipped on entering a raised lip from the road to the bike path entrance, and she went down heavily, and didn’t bounce. Some lovely, caring young Germans really responded to her quickly and couldn’t have been more lovely. She is fine (nothing broken) but she will be solidly bruised down the leg. She managed to ride all day, but will value the sleep-in and the day off the bike.
We have also decided we would like to ‘train it’ through the Black Forest the following day, instead of the ride to Donaueschingan (the mouth of the Danube). We thought the train would take us further so we can see the top country, and still end up at Donaueschingen by end of day, ready to hit the Neckar the following day.
We hit solid hills today. We are in the hills of the Black Forest. We were just here chatting about the hills, and the words of the Psalmist “To the hills I lift my eyes, from whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord…..” (Psalm121). The Psalmist could see the idols that man had built among the distant hilltops, symbols of strength nevertheless that the distance hills were. The Psalmist knew, his strength is not from what man has made, but from the Lord Himself. That’s where our faith is also tonight, as we enjoy our beds at the BlackForest Backpacker Hostel.
Love from Frieburg, Kelvin & Julie
ps. We are very grateful to those who have left messages on the blog. We can't aways reply, but it means a lot to us.
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