Page 13 - Shining On Winter 2022

no-no but traffic is meant to part to allow any emergency vehicles through. Ooops! At that point we were
at the end of the jam, and we drove on not daring to look at other drivers. At least I did. I think Graham
was blissfully unaware of the rules.

Ettlingen is on the edge of the Black Forest and is a picture postcard town. Lunch in the town square was
a welcome break before we headed on to our hotel near Bad Herrenalb in the Black Forest. The thought
of enjoying some wine and good food that evening was soon put to rest – Monday night is “ruhetag” (rest
day) for the restaurant – closed! However, there was a basic choice for those guests like us that did not
know it was closed. So, a few beers and a plate of pasta was well received.

The next day was again cloudless and promised to be hot. A
good day to ride up the hills on the Schwazwalder Hochstrasse,
which can be translated as the Black Forest High Road. The
official route is a forest driving road which runs 60 km from the
spa town of Baden-Baden in the north to Freudenstadt, although
there is also an extension to the Swiss border making a pleasant
180km run. The Hochstraße runs at an altitude of between 800
and 1,000 metres above sea level past several highland hotels.
We opted not to do the entire length but picked the route up just
outside Baden-Baden and left it at Kniebis and then on to
Wolfach, some 80 km of absolutely stunning scenery.

The road surface is superb and with long sweeping bends, a joy
to ride. There is a slightly annoying speed limit on most of the
route, which is rigorously policed, but did not detract from the
experience. Another plus is that the temperature on most of the
route was pleasantly cool after the heat of the previous days, and
to be experienced later in the valleys.

We stopped at Freudenstadt for lunch and then a visit to a local, and well stocked, bike accessory shop.
Graham needed some new boots as his were coming apart. A
good idea considering the weather forecast for the next day
was not good. The route back to our hotel at Bad Herrenalb via
Bad Wildbach was not as spectacular but did involve some
lovely forest rides and a long, and scenic, diversion, as the last
few kilometres of our route was blocked for road works. Total
ride was 220km.

Wednesday was the start of our amble back home. Bad
Herrenalb to Reims promised to be a boring and mostly
motorway drive of about 400km, and wet in places. Alas it did
live up to our low expectations, however, we did arrive at
Reims in glorious sunshine. Our hotel being close to the centre
offered a gentle walk into town where we enjoyed some
welcome beers and a tasty Vietnamese dinner.

The next day it was on to Ypres (known to British vets as
“Wipers”, Ba) and a visit to some WW1 sights and of course in
the evening to the Menin Gate to hear the Last Post. I know
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