Black Forest July 2022 Report
Day 1 - An overnight stay in Folkestone gave us all a chance to meet for the first time and meant we were ready for an early train to cross the channel. But sadly, only days before departure, Stuart (our No.2 lead and TEC) tested positive for Covid so the team of 5 riders and No.1 lead had to leave without him.
We crossed the channel and Calais greeted us with lovely sunshine. We sped off from the train along the motorway to the nearest service station for a quick breakfast. After a good breakfast we headed onto the A & B roads as we began our journey to our first overnight stop.
Only stopping for fuel or to stretch our legs or whenever we felt like it, we motored on through the day. Mid-afternoon we stopped for a late lunch in the picturesque town of Guise then headed onwards again to arrive early evening in Monfaucon d’Argonne our rest stop for the night.
Our accommodation was a small, quaint and typical French village hotel, which doubled as the local war museum! We spent the evening eating a delicious homecooked meal, drinking wine/beer and telling tall stories before bed.
Day 2 - After a typical French breakfast we were given a local battlefield tour by our Dutch host Maarten – a historian of both the Great War and WWII who certainly knows his stuff! This was followed by a quick tour of the museum before we then bid our hosts farewell and began the next and final leg of our journey to Seebach in the Black Forest. Blue skies and sunshine accompanied us all the way so we were thankful to reach the cooler mountain regions and twisty trails of the Black Forest.
Arriving at our B&B accommodation in the hills we parked up, took a breather (for breather read beer…) and then took a stroll down into the beautiful village for a welcome evening meal and beer in the local hostelry.
Day 3 - We awoke to another day of beautiful sunshine, surrounded by fantastic scenery and so we decided to release some testosterone by doing the local hill climb – a 12km uphill stretch with 127 corners and an altitude of 869m which resulted in smiles all round. So much so we did it twice and spent the rest of the holiday talking about it!
Day 4 - More blue skies and sunshine so a chance to explore the legendary B500 road. The twists, turns and scenery of the B500 are spectacular on a bike, but we did manage to fit some touristy stuff in. One essential sight to see was the world’s largest cuckoo clock, where we managed to arrive in time for the midday striking of the clock. Quite an epic experience to see and hear a massive cuckoo flutter out of the clock to chime the hours.
As we all had adventure bikes, we even got to do some light off-roading. This took us to an observation tower on top of the highest local mountain. A panoramic view not to be missed!
What with all this excitement, we finished off by sampling the local Black Forest gateaux in nearby Mummelsee, where legend has it mermaids exist... Never will Black Forest Gateaux in the UK be able to compete with what was truly a taste sensation.
Day 5 - Today’s ride kept us a little closer to ‘home’ as we explored nearby Kloste Allerheligen with its’ spectacular waterfall. Time to walk off some of the Black Forest Gateaux as we climbed down the length of the waterfall for some stunning views. After some refreshment we took in some more local roads before we happened across some castle ruins at the top of a hill. It was not possible to ride up to the castle, so we had to climb the last few hundred metres on foot. Hard work, but the well preserved ruins and the most stunning views across the Black Forest made it worthwhile.
Day 6 - We had to say goodbye to Seebach and travelled back through Germany with short spurts through both Luxembourg and Belgium before we reached our final destination for the night, Maubert Fontain. Here our accommodation housed yet more horsepower; but of the four legged variety! We were booked into a ranch...
After a home BBQ by our excellent hosts (Dutch yet again) we whiled away the evening in preparation for the last leg of our journey home.
Day 7 - We left the ranch and headed for the euro tunnel in yet more blazing sunshine. Sorry that the adventure had come to an end, but full of good memories, both of our adventures and our excellent hosts.
We covered approximately 1500 miles over the week, averaging between 100 and 150 miles per day, with a couple of longer days on the way out and back. We had also traversed some fabulous roads, stayed in some great accommodation and last but not least, had ridden with some fabulous company.
All in all, an extremely successful trip.
