It was sad going to bed for our final night in the Black Forest Backpacker Hostel, knowing that we would be leaving this very special place. The night was very comfortable in our single beds with rented sheets. The alarm was set for 6:45am, wanting to ensure we were not late for the train to Offenburg at 10:03am.
For dinner last night, we walked up the street to this old corner pub, the ‘Zur Brauerei Neumeyer. It was dingy lighting, great German atmosphere and a crowd gathering rapidly to watch a German soccer final. The waitress was shocked when we ordered ‘Ginger Ale’ and ‘Bitter Lemon’, but they were served nevertheless in large German ‘bier’ glasses. I ordered the famous pub ‘Schnitzel’, and Julie took the waitresses recommendation for the ‘chicken thing with the long neck’ (meaning turkey). Both were laden with ‘Pomme Frits’ (chips) and both were devoured with the appetite of two long haul cyclists.
We had breakfast of some kind of foreign muesli which was left behind on the ‘free shelf’ in the kitchen. We put our left over ‘milch’ there once we used it on our muesli. To our delight another cyclist came in and was using our ‘Alley Milch’ from the ‘free shelf’ for his cereal. Our stay at the Black Forest Hostel was superb. It is a very funky place, as these photos might show of our bedroom wallpaper.
We packed our bikes and joined the cycle throng through the streets of Freiburg en route to the railway station. It was after 9am by now. We are amazed at how fast and furious the cyclists are, passing us at break neck speed, even a young mother with a baby carriage who sped through a red light so confidently with baby in tow!
The station was something of an ordeal. Imagine Central station in Sydney – many platforms, with a tunnel but only stairs down and only stairs up to the platform. I managed to wheel both bikes down into the tunnel, but had to lift/carry them up a long flight of stairs to the platform. Anyway, we got there. It was actually a lovely experience to wait for the train, watching people coming and going.
The train arrived on time. We were catching two trains today. The first to Offenburg, to the north almost back to Kehl on the Rhine River. It was a 50 minute trip. The trains have a special carriage for bikes, even loaded bikes like ours, with small seats in the bike carriage. The train trip was great. Having arrived at Offenburg, another large station, we had only 6 minutes to make the connecting train to Donaueschingan, a village at the top of the Black Forest. A lovely train conductor saw us struggling off the train, and pointed us to the ‘bike lift’ off our platform, and explained we would have another ‘bike lift’ on platform 5 where our train had just arrived.
Sadly, mums with prams and elderly people with walkers also wanted the small lifts, so we missed our train by about 1-2 minutes. It was no worries – we waited an hour for the next one. The time passed pleasantly.
I (Kelvin) walked outside into the streets of Offenburg to buy coffee and a fantastic Offenburg version of a ‘strudel’ which was delicious. The photo shows the cute little café with the best coffee in the Black Forest.
The trip to Donaueschingan was simply enchanting. From our train windows in the bike carriage, it was something akin to the scenery from the film ‘Sound of Music’. We were rising up through the best of the Black Forest, village after village from the train was like wonderland. The high backdrop of the rising Black Forest woodlands were simply not possible to capture on camera, try as we did. It was just a magical experience, with so much to see that we didn’t know which side of the train to stay glued.
We were so delighted that we chose the train trip. To cycle this leg would have required more time than we had allowed, and we don’t think we would have seen anywhere near the beauty that we could see from the train for the 2 hours through and up to the top of the Black Forest.
Eventually we came to the mountaintop village of Donaueschingen. We chose to come here because this is where the great Danube (the ‘Donau’) river begins.
We wanted to stand at the incredible spring, around which a well has been constructed with the waters of the underground spring bubbling up and then coursing away, joining some other small streams before becoming the great Danube, heading away across Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and to the Black sea some 2840k away.
The spring is called the ‘Donauquelle’, and is just behind the beautiful Furstenberg Schlob, a small palace in the centre of this beautiful village at the top of the Black Forest. It is a well, at base of photo. The other photo is the reflection on the water surface.
We lingered at the ‘Donauquelle’, having been to the Information Centre and then sat beside the stream into which the spring flows to enjoy lunch in fine style.
We now had a map to show us the way to the Riedsee Camping ground a few kilometers outside of the village. The ride out there was wonderful. Leaving the village, we passed through some small streets, over a small river and then across vast open farmlands until we reached this most amazing ‘city’ of caravans, with a massive lake as the main feature.
The swans are very loving and friendly. This is an ideal setting to end our day of incredible sight seeing. The manager told us when we arrived to be prepared for 1 degree mornings! By end of the afternoon it has cooled down significantly with threat of rain, but the rain has held off. The altitude at the Donauquelle is just under 700 metres, so we should expect it to be really cool overnight.
Our tent is up for the night. It has dried out and inside is very cosy and actually warm. It has been a great day. Tomorrow we get back on the bikes and turn north through the Black Forest to link with the bikeway that follows the beautiful Neckar River, whose source is a few kilometers to the north which we will pass early morning. It will be another week or so before we link with the great Danube, on our journey to Austria and Vienna.
Today has been a wonder of both nature and of man. The Black Forest is stunning, but so are the houses, the beautiful bridges, the open farmlands and the occasional castle ruins, but we couldn’t help marvel at the majesty of God in His wonderful creation. The scriptures say it well “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all”. (1 Chronicles 29:11).
As we sleep tonight at the top of the Black Forest, we sleep in the knowledge that the God of all creation looks over us all. Until tomorrow, and with love from the Black Forest….Kelvin and Julie
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