The Black Forest – Germany

On the corner of every English street is a pub, on the corner of every German strasse is a garden centre!

How does one articulate in words the weird and some what in your face nature of what seems to be adorned out the front of 2 out of every 3 houses? A large statue of Jesus Christ on the cross, surrounded by a pretty garden seems to be the theme here in Southern Germany. It is a rather in your face voicing of their religion, which unimpressed the both of us. Not one to dwell so much more positive facets to focus on….

The black forest really is a magical stretch of pine and beech trees, set high up in the hills surrounded by valleys with small country towns. Solar panels are widely used on barns, houses utilizing every spare space on the roof. A great initiative for use of solar energy, which I’m sure the rest of the Western world could do with education on.

We both really enjoyed the rides we did from a tour of a the largest lake in the region, to the tallest waterfall in Germany managing around 25km per day, allowing some time for sight seeing in the afternoons.

Though I found the hills quite a challenge not always smiling once I reached the top, the exhilarating fast down hill sections made up for this though soon after there would be another long slog up out of the next valley, still getting fit, surrounded by beautiful forests on holidays I really can’t complain!

One question we did find ourselves asking again and again was what do the locals do for a living? The houses are all 3 or 4 floors high, with several nice cars parked outside and yet there is so little industry. Logging is obviously a big industry in the area but surely not everyone makes a living from running a chainsaw and tractor combo in their back yards. The logging is being carried out at a huge rate so let’s hope that the replanting scheme is as active as the deforestation.