Monday 18th May – we decided to spend two nights in Freudenstadt (our overnight stop last night) so we could catch up on some washing and have another crack at the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse (the Black Forest High Road – the B500) after being baulked a couple of times yesterday by slow cars that interrupted the rhythm of the ride. Wandered through the sunshine on legs to the Marketplatz and located the laundromat, only to be told via a little pantomime act that our washing would not be ready for collection till Thursday – fail. We had a coffee/coke & some Black Forest cake in the cafe overlooking the fountains in the square, and then strolled back to our hotel so we could get the bike.
I switched the bike to ‘Dynamic’ mode and with most of the luggage left back in our hotel room we had a sunny and lively ride from Freudenstadt along the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse heading north towards Baden-Baden. Unlike yesterday’s ride on this road there was minimal traffic on the road, and most of that were bikes heading south. We blipped past a couple of cars and enjoyed the sunshine and the drifting rear tyre. The road provides a scenic view over the valley below and the distant hills, and was magnificent to ride with its sweeping bends. We pulled over just out of Baden-Baden to turn around and ride the road again, and Karen was very complementary of the way the bike was sliding through some of the high speed corners as up to that point she had been very quiet on the back, savouring the experience.
We had another quick run along the High Road, stopping at Mummelsee – the highest point on the road and a lay-over which featured a hotel, a restaurant full of staff that completely ignored us and whom encouraged us to walk out without placing an order, and a shop that sold all sorts of bratworst sausages, souvenirs, and ice creams – and we settled on an icecream each for lunch. A lot of bikes were parked up in the shade, including a skull-festooned trike that also had a stuffed toy on the back of it (the squirrel character out of Ice Age). The owner must have been sitting nearby with a remote-control as when I approached to take a photo the bike’s four-speaker stereo made the sound of a flushing toilet, and a short while later when a mum with two young kids walked past it started to spurt out bubbles like a giant bubble-blower 🙂
We remounted the bike and finished off the remainder of the High Road until the B500 met the B28 leading towards Freudenstadt, and from there we had a leisurely ride back to our hotel. Now it’s time to catch up on a few blogs and emails before we wander back into town for a bite to eat 🙂
