Day 3

20/08/2011 – Day 3

Schӧnau to Hebelhof

The big problem with camping is that once the sun gets up you are awake, even though you are dog tired it is impossible to sleep with the light coming through the sides of the tent. So it is that I am up at 6am.

Once we have got everything sorted for the morning start we go to the reception for the bread rolls we ordered last night. If only they were early risers too!

Reception was ‘open’ but that was only the door. The good news was that the Internet was working so we could plan the day ahead using Google maps again. We had a proper map of the area but it was not as detailed Google maps. The bad news, there was no one about, so no coffee, no breakfast, nothing!

As we sat there looking at the map we planned our day to reach Donaueschingen, about 70km, by the end of the day. The route look simple to follow with a few hills, admittedly, one of them was quite steep. The reality turned out to be something quite different.

Finally we set out from Schӧnau at about 10am, after getting that cup of coffee. As we turned right out of the camp site we saw a café that had been open for hours! Just our luck, we could have been on the road hours ago, yea, right!

We continued following the signed cycle paths, although we did wonder why we were cycling along dirty tracks when there was a perfectly serviceable road next to us. The only reason we could think of was to keep us nasty cyclist separated from those innocent cars.

The big change came at Todtnau. Firstly, M had lost his baseball cap (the first thing to be lost on this trip, it will not be the last). Secondly, the road turned up hill.

Having bought a picnic lunch at the local supermarket, we set off up the hill. There is waterfall just above the town which is supposed to be one of the highest in Europe falling a total of 90 something metres. As it was on the way we thought we would go and see it, then carry on to the day’s objective.

Within minutes we were off the bikes pushing as the hills were too steep to cycle with a full load. Just as it levelled out we found a turning for the falls down a dirty path, not really designed for the bikes. As we pushed the bikes down this track we met a few people coming the other way, ‘guten morgens’ were exchanged and that was all. Had they mentioned that the track was blocked we would have turned back there and then and not carried on the electric fence that blocked the path some 20 minutes later.

The upside was that it gave us a panoramic view of the valley as we sat on the last bench before the fence to eat lunch.

Backtracking to the turn off we got back on the bikes, cycled round the next bend and hit a hill that would not be out of place in the Himalayas! This was to set the scene for the rest of the day, hills too steep to cycle up. We pushed the bikes almost all the way the waterfall using the alternative route. At the last minute it turned down hill so we could ride to the waterfall and not look bad to the people already there. ‘Wow! Look at those two guys; they have cycled all the way to the top!’ As if!

At the falls the route to our next objective, Todtnauberg, was signposted straight up the falls, following a set of steps cut into the rock face. Sounds good in theory, but when you look at the bags on the back of the bikes you know it will never happen. So out come the map and Google maps again to find an alternative route that does not involve mountaineering with a bike on your back.

The solution is easy, follow the wide footpath to the car park where everyone else has come from and turn uphill. This was not as bad as we expected as the road was not as steep as we feared but was a lot longer than we anticipated. But the view from the top was well worth the effort, we could see for miles over the top of the mountains.

As we had reached the top of the mountain it was down hill all the way for about 10 minutes, then back up to the next mountain. It was like this for the rest of the day, short downs followed by long ups. Plus, the signs became very confusing here intersecting with foot paths and bridle ways at every junction, requiring us to stop and check carefully which route was the right one for us (as it turned out we would probably have been better off following the footpaths).

One of the things about cycling is the camaraderie it creates with fellow cyclists. When you see a fellow cyclist at the side of the road you always stop to see if they needs help, which we did as we came round a bend to find three guys with a broken bike. They assured us they were OK and we pushed on. Several k’s later we stopped for a rest and the three guys passed us, back on the road, all problems solved.  As we set off and rounded the next bend there they were with their friends having lunch. This was one of those places where the signs were misleading and as we stopped to check the map they came over to help. It turned out they were locals on a day out and knew the tracks well. In their limited English and my limited German we worked out were we were and they told us not to follow the track as there were lots of ups and downs, but to take the next left turn which while uphill at first soon led to a long gentle descent to a refreshing beer. Good news to anyone’s ear!

By this time we were totally spent. We had only done about 25km but most of it had been uphill and on foot. As we came down to the hotel that had been promised we decided to ask if they had any spare rooms. Unfortunately the answer was ‘no’, we had come at the height of the summer season on a Saturday and they were full! The only solution was to carry on to Feldberg, the next town.

From the hotel it was all downhill to Feldberg and at points it became quite steep. This was where the ‘hidden’ damage to my bike made itself known. Braking for the bends on the gravel footpaths the bike started to weave alarmingly. I had never experienced anything like this before. Even when we came to paved roads and it was a straight run to the village, any application of the breaks led to wild wobbling.

After asking at a few hotels we were directed to the local youth hostel where we finally found a room. It was quite late now and we had spent all day climbing (in total we had climbed almost 2000m) but only achieved 33km and after a quick meal at the pizzeria opposite we fell in to our beds exhausted.