Every day when I’m travelling I see something cool. Sometimes it’s just the colour of the sky or the crispness of the snow, other days it’s a momument, a building or archeological remains.
Today it’s still raining. Even so we want one more shot at spotting wildlife and drive back to the area of Staufen. This time we park at Schönenbach and start hiking along the forestry roads. The snow is deep and we have to break our own trail, the weather is gray and rainy so we… Continue reading a day in the rain
It’s Sunday and we plan to take a short hike through the Ravennaschlucht, visiting a popular Christmas market located where the gorge starts. We set out in heavy snow and are even warned by a local that the path may be closed, but we decide it can’t be much worse than the Rappenfels and go… Continue reading to the Ravennaschlucht
See Wikiloc trail here! Today we’re exploring an area further away and we drive half an hour to Staufen, stopping in a bakery for a cheese sandwich and cookie to go. The last bit of road is icy and narrow, but there’s almost no traffic so it’s not too stressful to drive. We park in… Continue reading Rappenfelsensteig
See Wikiloc trail here! Today we have an easier walk planned: we’ll follow the Jägersteig, which is a marked trail with the quality stamp of Premiumwanderweg, we’re not entirely sure what that means but assume it must be a good thing. We take the train to Aha and set off along the Uferweg, which we… Continue reading Jägersteig
Today promises to be a sunny and clear day, excellent for hiking. However, we are starting to feel our muscles so we decree it’s a day of rest and drive to the Badeparadies Schwarzwald. We spend the whole day in the Palm Oasis, taking the occasional swim or drifting in the mineral baths. We have… Continue reading a day in the spa
See Wikiloc trail here ! The famous Feldberg is the highest peak of this area at almost 1500 m and it’s just too far to reach in a loop from Hinterzarten, so we use free public transport passes to take the train to Bärental and from there the bus to the Haus der Natur at… Continue reading hike from the Feldberg
see trail on Wikiloc here ! The weather is cold but a bit overcast today and we set off on foot from the hotel along the creek nearby. We take the scenic road up the valley and hike steadily uphill all the way to the Windeck. We don’t follow a marked tour, but have a… Continue reading hike around the Windeck
See Wikiloc trail here ! Up at seven thirty, breakfast at eight and we leave around nine thirty from the hotel, wearing lots of woolly layers, winter hiking pants (this is actually a thing) and rain jackets with a down bodywarmer. We studied the route on the map so we use the Wikiloc app not… Continue reading Hike to Titisee
Shoes are waxed, everything’s washed so we fill up the trunk and get ready to leave around nine thirty. It should be a 6 hour drive and it’s a Sunday, so we’re not expecting any traffic jams. Everything goes smoothly, we switch drivers every two hours and have a quick meal in a rest stop.… Continue reading drive to Hinterzarten
Today is a gloomy day with overcast weather and a light drizzle, though this does not change our plans: we drive to Vladslo to visit the Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof. We haven't visited any German cemeteries in France, though we did not exclude them specifically from our plans. Here around Ypres there are several close by though and… Continue reading Around Ypres
The In Flanders Fields museum in the centre of Ypres opens only at 10 am, so we have time for a leisurely breakfast before leaving the B&B. We see a few big buses so we expect a crowd and indeed we're surrounded quickly by classes of schoolchildren. Doesn't matter, the museum is nicely organized so… Continue reading The Ypres Salient
We’ve prepared our itinerary from Saint Quentin to Ypres and timed it perfectly to arrive at the first museum at opening time. It turns out however that the Historial de la Grande Guerre in Péronne is closed on Wednesdays after October. It looks very interesting from the outside so we’re sorry to miss it, but… Continue reading The battlefields of the Somme
The view of Verdun from the hotel room is nice, but we decide to stick to the theme and so we leave for the Fort de Vaux after breakfast. We passed it yesterday so we decide to forgo the help of the GPS and find our way ourselves. Serendipitously, we stop at one of the… Continue reading The battle fields of Chemin des Dames
Dinner was great, we had the Menu de la chasse with wild duck, pheasant and deer and tea with mignardises in the lounge by the fire. The hotel is very charming, but we feel a bit out of place due to our age: most of the other guests seem to be retired. Alarm is set… Continue reading To Verdun
This is the excerpt for your very first post.
Important Note: I did not write this during the journey, but only in 2019 when adding the journal to the blog. After a leisurely breakfast we set out on the last leg of our trip home. We follow the Valley of the Seven Castles. The drive itself is charming: green fields and forests, blue skies,… Continue reading Mersch to home
Important Note: I did not write this during the journey, but only in 2019 when adding the journal to the blog. Today we drive to Luxembourgh, that's about 345 km so we have plenty of time to visit stuff on the way. We start with Kaysersberg, recently voted the prettiest village in France. We park… Continue reading Colmar to Mersch
Important Note: I did not write this during the journey, but only in 2019 when adding the journal to the blog. We leave the car at the hotel and walk to the Basel zoo, arriving just at opening time. We spend most of the day here, having a sausage in a bun for lunch. We… Continue reading Basel to Colmar
The weather is grey and foggy, but by the time we set off (after a disappointing breakfast) it’s starting to clear up. We drive towards the Trümmelbach waterfalls, following a picturesque highway passing by lakes and through tunnels. The drive up to the falls is very nice, with views of the canyon valley and snowy… Continue reading Altdorf to Basel
Arne picked me up at the Avis office in Como the day before around 6 pm. We drove to the B&B La Villa and visited Como after a quick shower and hugging the local cat. In the morning, I have several texts and calls from family, wishing me a happy birth day. Hugging the cat… Continue reading Como to Altdorf
For breakfast we get a baguette, margarine, jam and a knife (no plates), so we’re done pretty quickly. We get a baguette from the bakery for our lunch and set off. This time we’re able to follow the canal road, since it’s used as a service road for a series of 26 locks, closely spaced… Continue reading LE CHESNE – CAUREL: 60 KM
Febe writes 