Heavy rain again this morning which is a shame although not a surprise. We had planned walks in the Black Forest area before we left the UK and a bit of rain was not going to stop us. We kitted up with waterproofs and walking shoes and drove the short distance to the National park office in Ruhestein. On route we stopped at a little ‘Backerei’ I had spotted in Baiersbronn to collect some savoury nibbles and a cake (no rolls again) for lunch. We ended up chatting to a very friendly man who was impressed that we were driving around in our own car and told us all about his lovely dogs - Harry Potter and Dumbledore who he took on regular walks around the golf course - luckily in English!!
We collected some more maps and directions and set off on a ‘moderate’ classed circular route from the park office, up past the ski routes and chair lift and then through the Forest with views down onto the Wildsee lake. It was quite steep at the start but only light rain but as we reached the moorland at the top, the rain got heavier so waterproofs were deployed! The views down onto the lake were superb with low cloud amongst the trees. We continued walking to a cafe area which (as with most other places we have been to) was closed - we’re obviously out of season but I cannot quite work out when the season actually starts! We sat on chairs in the ground of the cafe out of the rain and briefly chatted with a mum and her son who are walking a long 230km walk over two weeks. They both spoke perfect English (luckily) and it was very interesting hearing about the problems in Germany that we are not aware of.
We set off on the return leg of the hike downhill and the rain started hammering down. I wanted to protect my camera so kept it under my rain coat and got rather wet in the process as I did not want to stop to sign my umbrella on a hike - rather stupidly! By the time we finally reached the park office again I was rather grumpy but revived when I managed to dry my hair in the ladies facilities and sat down with a hot chocolate. Before we left the parks office, I had noticed a sign to a tower and we climbed the many flights of stairs to the top and wonderful views over the forest and even the rain lifted for a little while.
Back down again and we bought a little wooden owl (Colin really fell for him!) for our Christmas tree - called Otto. I also found a little chalet full of jars of honey and bought two for Mum although there was nobody to pay so there was an honesty system which I used to pay be PayPal!
Finally back to dry off (passing by Edekas) and I knocked up a rather excellent dinner of roast duck, red cabbage and broccoli followed by mango and rice pudding. All frozen - great cooking by me!
Final news of the day - a general election has been announced for 4th of July - hooray!
