Day 1/5: Today we started at 0600 our tour to the Schwarzwald in Germany. The route led through all of Austria and parts of the South of Germany. In sum we did nearly 800 kilometres in a riding time of 7:57 hours. With all our fuel and refreshment stops we arrived at our accommodation at 1600. The weather was nearly dry the whole distance, but we had lots of stormy wind. Our bikes performed very well and we weren't really exhausted and tired after our arrival. After our check in we went to the centre of our small town and enjoyed some coffee and cakes in a bakery. Tomorrow we will ride to the northern parts of the Schwarzwald. In the following some first impressions. A short stop for some refreshments on our trip Our "hometown" for the next nights. First view of the lake "Schluchsee" A huge flower decoration in the town. View into a small park. Some local bakery and great coffee. The church of the town. Flower decoration at the train station of the town. Another view of the lake. Our today's summary.
Day 2/5: In the early morning we had to dry our bikes from the whole night hard rain which had disturbed our sleep. Afterwards we started after a nice breakfast and refreshing 11 degree Celsius our today's tour through the whole Schwarzwald. We used mostly the B500 and B31 which cross nearly the whole area. We also rode the "Schwarzwaldhochstraße" which leads up to 1.034 m altitude. One of our stops was at a exhibition/shop for cuckoo clocks. Cuckoo clocks of the Schwarzwald were the first on the market centuries ago and are well known world wide today. This was a real funny place. On one side of the building of the exhibition/shop you can start a hudge cuckoo clock with a 1 Euro coin. Music plays and a big cuckoo shows up and some big wooden figures were moving around. On the other side of the building you can see and visit the biggest cuckoo clock of the world. This "clock" (building) is really impressive. From there we went on through the Schwarzwald and ended up in the city Baden-Baden for some refreshments in a bakery. Delicious cakes, sandwiches, Brezel and coffee were offered there. On our way back to our apartment we partly used a German highway with no speed limit. - Naturally we tested the high speed possibilities of my wife's "Speedy" and my Rocket. She reached 215 km/h with her bike and I reached 225 km/h. And this completely legal!!! I checked both speeds with our additional navigation system, because the speedometers told some "high speed stories" with at least +10 km/h on both bikes. After this speeding sessions we rode again on A- and B-roads through nice villages and towns of the Schwarzwald. In most of those the speed limit is set to 30 km/h and massively controlled with modern radar systems. Therefore don't speed there! Today we did in summary 384 km in nice weather with very little wind. Some interesting things we found out about German car drivers on our rides the last two days. - They love to speed on the highway. - They follow slow moving trucks and other vehicles on A- and B-roads without overtaking them for a long period of time and distances. - When they than get overtaken by you regularly the may honk. - In towns and villages the drivers are not used to "professional city motorbikers", which use every possible hole to get in front between two lines, etc. They also may honk when you pass them. The prices for fuel vary between €1,66 to €1,74. For tomorrow we plan to do an additional international tour. In the following some impressions of today. On our way in the morning. Always the "wing man". Some "neighbours" next to the road. A big cuckoo clock which you can start yourself. The world's biggest cuckoo clock. The dimensions of the clock. Typical cuckoo clocks of the Schwarzwald. A cold coffee with vanilla-ice called "Eiskaffee".
Day 3/5: Today we started our tour through the south-western part of the Schwarzwald on little roads through wonderful valleys and along a small river. It was great; curve after curve and followed by many more. Biker's paradise! After about one hour we followed another small road along the border to Switzerland without crossing it. This road led after a while to some flat land and the river Rhein. On a bridge the border between Germany and France is situated. We passed the bridge and entered France and headed to a very special old town, called Neuf-Brisach. The town was built from 1699-1703 under the emperor Ludwig XIV. It was constructed only for military reasons with big places to form troops and for defense. The look, especially from above is great! After some delicious refreshments in a French patisserie we rode via some highways and great A- and B-roads back to our apartment in Germany. In the afternoon we rented a boat at the Schluchsee and had some fun there. After a refreshing swim in the lake we had another great "Eiskaffee" in the local Bistro next to the lake. In the following some impressions of today. Tomorrow we will recreate nearly most of the day in our small village and prepare our luggage for the long journey back home. First stop in a small valley. Another great view on our way. Again. Some orientation of my navigator . I "borrowed" this picture from Google to give you an overview of the complete town Neuf-Brisach. Some impressions of the town. In this patisserie we had some great French bakeries and refreshments. The cathedral of the town. An old Citroen.
Would it be ok if I hate you. . Lovely trip, and as ever nice report to go with it. Enjoy tomorrow, and have a safe trip back to Austria.
@Dawsy: Thanks! You are right! I found it yesterday when we talked about a short trip to France from our actual destination. The town looks great from every point you look at it or which you visit.
Markus, awesome tour ! Interesting to hear the differences in the overtaking unwritten rules, I dealt with some of that while traveling in the USA, on the bike we can overtake in the blink of an eye, and drivers do seem to get upset even when they are not doing while it is obviously safe ... oh well