Last week we were rock climbing and visiting friends in the south half of Germany’s Black Forest, Schwarzwald Süd…
On Monday Laetitia had some work to finish off for a deadline back in the UK, so after she’d done that boring stuff we took a ride out to Triberg to do some “touristing”. There were so many cuckoo clocks in Triberg! Ingenuous things though, cuckoos, water wheels, dancing children, wood chopping men, tunes, and of course they tell the time too!
Our third day dawn very wet, as forecast. But we had a plan, we were in an amazing forest full of mushrooms! And thanks to the skills of master mushroom hunter Peri, burgeoning hunter Bob, and beginner Pete we (well mostly Bob actually) found a massive haul of Ceps, Parasols, etc. Fried up with butter, a little garlic, and few herbs they were awesome on toast for the next few mornings of breakfast! 😀
The afternoon dried up nicely and the sun came out to a gang of very welcoming climbers. We headed out to Kandelfelsen to make the most of it…
the next day we headed out on a longer drive south to the Tannholzwand crag, perhaps the tallest crag in Black Forest. It was awesome, although when we first arrived in the damp morning air with the crag still in shade it was quite intimidating. A return visit on a warm dry day would be great – the central wall looked amazing!
That evening we had booked a team dinner at the Thurner Wirtshaus just up the road from our DAV hut. The staff at the restaurant were amazing, they dealt with a large gang of English speaking climbers (and our one German team member, Rebecca) brilliantly. The food was great too. But best was the owner’s sense of humour – he kept us laughing all evening!
Our last day in the Black Forest was at Runie Falkenstein, and it was easily our best weather day, it was hot!
Our last evening meal before leaving the Black Forest was a team BBQ. The fact that it was raining cats and dogs didn’t deter Iain, Bob, and Bob even a little from turning out a great range of BBQ’d sausages etc. We ate indoors of course, there are limits!
Leaving the Black Forest Laetitia and I drove to Freiburg to do a little sight seeing before heading on further north to rendezvous with Rebecca, Mathias, and their kids in Karlsruhe.
Our last day in Germany was spent in the Pfalz with Rebecca and her family. We went to the Fladenstein sandstone tower to do a little easy climbing with Paula – her first ever outdoor climbing! ;-). Then we went on to eat cake at Burg Drachenfels hut before exploring the Burg Drachenfels ruin itself and heading back to Karlsruhe.
We collected a massive pile of chestnuts while walking in the Pfalz woods. Rebecca prepared them later that night and we roasted them in the over – yum!
And so we headed back to Stuttgart and them the UK and home. Germany was great – again – until next time…