It’s starting to feel a bit like Christmas.

Week 2 – 16th – 22nd December 2023 (Solre-le-Chateau, France to Muggenbrunn, Todtnau, Germany. 400 miles.)

Saturday 16th December 2023 – Solre-le-Chateau, France to Zweibrucken, Germany (204 miles)

We woke up this morning to a grey still day, sounds miserable but it’s not really. We are in our little home on wheels, it’s warm and cosy and there is no better place to be. Breakfast is coffee and Spanish tortilla.

Today we are heading to stay in Luxembourg in either a campsite or another free aire. It’s a couple of hours as we have to go through a bit of Belgium and head south east to Luxembourg. Once we are cleaned up and ready we set off. We are already quite close to the Belgian border and it’s not long before we are on their shocking roads. We complain a lot about UK roads, but Belgian roads are quite something. Badly maintained, full of holes and fissures. Even the newish built motorways are rippled and bumpy. The van is rattling like mad as we make our way through Belgium.

Finally we are in Luxembourg where the roads are much better. Whilst on route we decide to give our stay in Luxembourg a miss and press onto Germany.

It’s not long before we are on the German autobahn. Wow! These roads are something else. Smooth, clean and very well maintained, the M6 it is not. Hayley has found us a ‘parkplatz’ in the town of Zweibrucken (Two Bridges). 16 euros a night next to a river and a fantastic restaurant with only a short walk to the town. The parkplatz is run by the local hotel, the Rosengarten. Smashing.

Arrival requires a check-in at the local hotel who take your 16 euros a night. They have here, without a doubt, the best showers for motorhomes ever! They are amazing. It’s like walking into a 5-star hotel bathroom. Wonderful. There is a lovely Christmas-ready restaurant right next door to us which we will take advantage of at some point in the stay.

It’s a short walk into the small town of Zwiebrucken where the Christmas market is in full swing. We go to the local church where there is an Advent celebration on, as it’s all in German we don’t understand anything, but the church is nice, the choir is excellent and it’s all very nice so why not?

Once the service is over we have a good walk around and have a bowl of currywurst and some gluhwein (mulled wine), all very tasty and just in time for a band to strike up on the small stage.

We didn’t stay for long, we were tired and it was getting cold. If you like the band Green Day then the band were for you, but not for us. The third song sounded just like the first so we make our way back to the van. It’s cold, very cold.

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Sunday 17th December 2023 – Zweibrucken 2nd day

It’s boiled eggs and the remainder of the Belgian bread from the farm for breakfast. It’s cold this morning, it was the coldest night yet outside, minus something or other and it’s only going to get colder, but in Jess it’s just right.

We are staying another night so we can go to the Christmas market again in the day and have dinner at the local restaurant next to us. The day is spent doing some van jobs like replacing the dash cam and getting the blog up to date. We get wrapped up and set off for the town. The sun is out and it’s a beautiful day.

We have a good walk around the town and finally arrive at the square where the Christmas market is. It’s in full swing. Kids are dancing on the stage, there is a best dressed Santa Claus competition and it’s all very nice. One thing we can’t but notice is that there is nobody in a high vis vest, no security, no police, nothing. It just feels safe and everyone is there, singles, couples, families and they are all there for the same thing, very refreshing.

We have a cup of gluhwein each, one with rum and another with Amaretto. It’s very, very tasty, a very nice afternoon. We walk back to Jess in the setting sun as the temperature is falling. Tonight we will dine locally.

Dinner tonight is at the local restaurant, Valantins Beer House. We have quite a feed there, plenty to eat in a lovely atmosphere followed by the last gluhwein of the day in the little cabins that have been put up for the festive season. It’s all starting to feel a bit like Christmas.

We are leaving tomorrow for either Baden-Baden or… we don’t know.

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Monday 18th December 2023 – Zweibrucken to Baden Baden (88 miles)

We have woken up this morning to another very sharp, thick frost, oh and some fog too which is slowly clearing. We have decided that we will go to the German spa town of Baden Baden. It’s a 90 mile drive so not too bad, and it is now that we turn south to go through the Black Forest.

We say goodbye to Zweibrucken which was a lovely stay and gave us our first German Christmas market which was really nice. On the way out of town we stop at an LPG station to top up with gas as the cold nights are chewing up the gas. Whenever we get a chance we will top up with gas, diesel and of course, water as some of the facilities get turned off in the cold, winter travelling certainly requires a bit more forward planning. What we need is a watering can so we can fill up our tank whenever and wherever we can get it.

The weather has improved, the fog has lifted and the drive to Baden Baden turns out to be beautiful. A chilly, but sunny day. We get clear blue skies for the most part of our smooth German motorway drive. Once off the motorway the drive through the start of the Black Forest is lovely. We find a small garden centre and buy ourselves a nice big 10 litre watering can.

The Baden Baden stopover is a very tidy motorhome “parkplatz” that has a nice easy connection by bus to the centre of town where there is an enormous and spectacular Christmas market, the second of the trip. Hayley makes us an early lunch of steak and her homemade Dauphinoise potatoes.

These are the business, really good, tasty and perfect with a rare steak and broccoli.

We do some research regarding bus times etc and set off for the town just as it’s getting dark. We are just in the rush hour so it’s a bit slow. We can’t help noticing how immaculate the buses are. They are fantastically clean and with no adverts inside them. Sounds like an odd thing to put in a blog but when you think how grubby your home buses are, that’s when you notice it!

The town of Baden Baden is wonderful. It looks very classy and festive, with trees and lights everywhere with all the lights in the same colour which makes it look special. The Christmas market is huge, so big that guided tours are offered to go around it.

Filled with small cabins selling everything from sweets, food and clothing the place is full and vibrant. There are small dining igloos beautifully set out for dinner and a large stage with a band playing to a healthy crowd which we join while having a gluhwein and bratwurst, finishing with a cherry crepe.

We take a short walk around the town just in time to get the bus back home and to a rather chilly Jess.

All in all a rather enjoyable day. That’s two Christmas markets in less than a week. Where to tomorrow?

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Tuesday 19th December 2023 – Baden Baden to Triberg (66 miles)

We wake up this morning not really sure where we are going to next. We have a few options, still in Germany, but nothing really that makes us say “yes, let’s go there” until Hayley finds an interesting place to stay for a night or two in the Black Forest town of Triberg.

Having given Jess a full-service at the Baden Baden stop, we set off further south heading towards Triberg. It’s a lovely drive climbing steeply into the Black Forest where the temperature falls in parts to -1 in the day and we get our first glimpse of snow, old snow at the side of the road, but snow all the same. Jess is filthy, but too bad. There is no point in a wash as the weather is predicted to be rain for the next week or so.

We start to drop in altitude towards the town of Triberg. It’s a lovely little place set in a valley and has a rather unusual place to stay.

The location is an old steel factory that has been converted into an indoor camping site. They provide a selection of caravans and campervans to hire, inside a warehouse, that are beautifully decorated. For visitors with motorhomes, the spaces are outside either next to the river or on a top deck parking area which is the roof of the once-old steel factory. This we have to see.

We arrive at camping daHeim after a very lovely drive into the valley of Triberg and we are welcomed by a very nice lady who books us in for two night at about 25 euros a night which includes a place, electricity and water. With your stay you get a ticket that allows you on the local trains and buses as well as entrance to 4 attractions in the town. There are only another two vans here so we can park where we like. We chose the top parking deck rather than downstairs in the yard as the river running by is very noisy as a result of the famous Triberg waterfall, which we shall be visiting.

We get parked up, plugged in and settled before setting off for our first look at Triberg. We are going to take a look at the waterfall here which is supposed to be the biggest waterfall in Germany. We shall see. It doesn’t disappoint.

It is quite spectacular, high and moves fast as it cascades amongst the rocks, and through the town. They are preparing for a fireshow on the 25th December so there is lighting and lots of dangerous gas canisters around. It’s a good steep walk and continues up for quite a while but we stop just before halfway and take the nature walk back, the long way into town.

We find a rather formal and dark hotel for a beer. We are the only ones in there it seems. It look like the set of a 1940’s movie, very clean, very tidy, but we can’t help but think that Marlena Dietrich will come down the staircase asking what we want to drink. We have a beer and move on, this time to look for some dinner which we find quite easily and settle into local dishes of venison stew with spatzle (German egg noodles) and a traditional schnitzel. All very tasty in a very pleasant traditional dark wood, warm, cosy restaurant. They do the whole Christmas decoration thing here very well.

Back to Jess and Hayley is to call an old school friend from Germany that she has not spoken to in 35 years! Fantastic. They spend a good hour and a quarter on the phone and agree to meet somewhere, sometime in the new year.

All in all a good day.

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Wednesday 20th December 2023 – 2nd Day

The rain has started. It kept Hayley awake at times in the night, Del slept right through it. After breakfast we are off into the town to use our free passes to some of the attractions.

The first is a model railway exhibition. Sounds dull? Not at all, it’s excellent. Situated on the main street and very modern, it consists of 12 large tables with an excellent model of a town, city or countryside scene all perfectly crafted with moving trucks, cars and trains.

The English-speaking lady is very pleasant and helpful and tells us all about the fireshow. The town will be crowded from the 25th of December for about a week. They have already set up park and ride spots in advance.

Probably a good thing that we are moving on, although from the model here representing last year’s show it looks spectacular.

Next is a rather strange attraction. A large, open, glass-windowed space which is divided up into areas that you can step into and take your picture for your instagram……!!!! why!!!! We give it a go and take a bunch of pictures all the same. We are probably 30 years too old to understand this one, but it makes us grin all the same.

Around the corner from the hi tech “photo booths” is the Schwarzwald Museum. The area is famous for… wood, cherries, ham and clocks, of the cuckoo variety. An interesting place which tells us a lot about the area. Very interesting and well worth the visit. It has the world’s smallest cuckoo clocks! So they say.

After seeing the world’s smallest cuckoo clocks we take the bus to see the world’s largest!

A 5 minute bus ride drops us off at a massive clock shop that sells every kind of clock from old cuckoo clocks to modern digital clocks. We arrive just in time to see the clock strike 3!!! Very funny and yes it’s very big. We pay an extra 2 euros each to go in and look at the clock in action.

It’s mostly made of wood. Very impressive. The cuckoo alone is 2.6m long and weighs 150kg.

We get the bus back and do some shopping for local fayre. Local Schwarzwald ham, cherry chocolate and a traditional Christmas bread – Stollen.

The car park here at the Edeka supermarket once made the world news with ABC and NBC, among others, reporting a strange story: when the car park was built the corner was cut off to accommodate the shape of the river next to it. This resulted in a strangely shaped car parking space which they kept and labelled, for a joke, ‘Manner parkplatz’ or ‘men only parking space’ due to its difficulty of access. It is now graffitied (presumably by women) with various slogans. For the full detailed story, you can also read the wikipedia page.

Once back at Jess we get warmed up, we are expecting snow tonight by all accounts. After our showers we try some of the local Schwarzwald ham with a cold German beer. Very nice, the ham is very, but very, smokey.

We would have liked to have done a good railway journey around the Black Forest while we are here but time is not on our side. We have to move on tomorrow.

A good day today, despite the cold weather. Dinner on board.

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Thursday 21st December 2023 – Triberg to Muggenbrunn (41 miles)

Last night the dinner was an all-German affair. Local Schwarzwald smokey ham with a cold beer to start, followed by schnitzel, spatzle and green beans. This was finished off with an Underberg – a small herbal digestif. A very pleasant dinner, when in Rome and all that…

Today we are planning to go to another Black Forest town that we have been to many times. The town of Todtnau is a place that we have enjoyed as it has a good place to park overnight, the town is pretty and it does the very best Black Forest gateaux. Hayley pops into town for some shopping before we leave while Del prepares the van for departure.

The drive is challenging in parts, as we go up and down in altitude in the Black Forest we encounter plenty of snow, clear roads, but the snow has been heavy here and has settled.

There is also dense fog in parts, but Hayley is at the wheel today and does and excellent job of getting us to the “parkplatz” in Todtnau. Just in time as well as we need to empty our grey tank, load up with fresh water and change the toilet!

We are a bit lower down now so most of the snow is all but gone, but there is rain and a very strong wind. To add to the misery we find that the place where we are going to stay has ramped the price up. 5 years ago it used to be 10 euros which you just dropped in an honesty box, now it’s 10 euros for a place, 3 euros for electricity, which you cannot use for heating, and 3 euros for 100 litres of water which, because of the winter months, has now been turned off. Finally, it’s 5 euros to empty your grey tank, or toilet or to get rid of a bag of rubbish! To top it all your every move is watched on CCTV. We decide to ditch the idea of staying and instead make our way into the town, park up, and have the excellent cake before moving on to somewhere else.

We get into town only to discover that parking is almost impossible. You either have to have a permit, be a resident or pay a fortune, and the town is empty! This is not going well. Del scoots off to buy the best cake ever as a takeaway item. We orbit the town and fill up with diesel.

Hayley has booked to stay at a campsite nearby for Del’s birthday tomorrow as she has booked a dinner at a nearby hotel high up in the Schwarzwald, so we might as well go there a day early. We set off and start to climb up through the Black Forest to the area of Muggenbrunn situated 1050 meters above sea level. As we get higher the snow is starting to get deeper by the side of the road, lots of it. There is also a dense fog now, it all looks rather wintery as the wind is also building up.

This is the first time we have done snow in Jess. So far, so good, as we arrive at the campsite for what will now be a two-night stay. There has been heavy snow here. There are a lot of permanent caravans in place that only get used in the summer months and have snow piled up against them.

We get settled in with a coffee and we get stuck into our Black Forest gateaux, which is still delicious and doesn’t disappoint.

There is a washer and dryer here so we get some laundry done as you never know when the next chance will be. It’s nice in the van as we read, play games, update the blog and watch a couple appear with a caravan, struggling to get set up in the driving rain, wind and cold. The tea in Jess is nice as the heating gently whirs away. Never mind eh!

The lady at the site is very helpful and gives us a good space. We do a full van service and get settled in. It’s heavy rain for the rest of the day with a threat of snow overnight.

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Friday 22nd December 2023 – Muggenbrunn, Todtnau, Germany – 2nd Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEL…!

It rained all night last night, but really rained, heavy, but heavy. It always rains here in this area. There has been a lot of snow, it’s piled up everywhere. Heavy snow is expected later, we shall see.

Del’s birthday is today so it has been a lovely morning. A full continental breakfast with salmon and champagne, tucked up in Jess with a view of the snowy hills and trees. Lots of cards to open.

Many thanks to all of you who sent a card and text. The cards were intercepted and saved for today, squirrelled away by Hayley.

She even went to he trouble of making a hand made card which is wonderful. Very, very nice. Traditional fuzzy felt and glitter on card. Fantastic.

Hayley has a birthday special for Del, more on that later. However the usual van jobs have to be done, so Hayley volunteers (well it is Del’s birthday) to do some chores. The bins need emptying and the grey water has to be dealt with. It’s raining again so the full gear is put on and off she goes, returning 20 minutes later.

The rest of the morning is spent on Jess staying warm and dry, reading and wittering.

Hayley has brought us up here for a reason. She has arranged a surprise for Del’s birthday. She has us booked into the Waldhotel Notschreipass for a spa afternoon, massage, and dinner afterwards. Wonderful. There is a bus stop right outside the campsite, it’s still raining very hard so we have to get togged up with all the gear and take bags with us for the spa and the dinner. Being Germany the bus arrives on time and drops us right outside the hotel. It’s a lovely place. The spa area has fantastic views over the Black Forest. Even though it is shrouded in fog and rain it looks spectacular, most of it is still covered in snow despite the persistent rain. It’s a fabulous afternoon nipping in and out of the sauna to the steam room and dipping in the pool until the time comes for the massage.

Hayley has a half an hour massage while Del has a full hour with mountain oils and the works. Excellent, just what we needed.

The dinner is absolutely fabulous. Set in a cosy dark wood restaurant with excellent service, Hayley has the venison while Del has the goose. 1 glass of red is enough, especially after the champagne earlier and ‘Kir Royal’ we had for an apéritif.

We get finished just in time for the last bus back to the campsite at 8:30 and by chance the rain has actually slowed to a drizzle for us to stand about in the freezing fog. Within 10 minutes we are back at Jess and settled in just as the rain starts drumming on the roof again. We have absolutely had it now with the rain. Even the locals are complaining that it should really be snowing but instead we have had persistent, non stop rain since we got here and it’s very noisy on the roof of Jess.

All in all, it has been a rather splendid day for Del’s 60th birthday, with thanks to Hayley who did all the research and got us here. Despite the rain, it’s a lovely place, we have enjoyed the “Schwartzwald“, we have seen a lot in a week and enjoyed every minute of it.

Tomorrow we leave Germany behind and head for Switzerland, where the weather is a little brighter and drier. The plan, at the moment, is tomorrow in Lucerne, Switzerland, Christmas in Interlaken, Switzerland, and then back to Lucerne for a couple of days where we will celebrate the new year. After that…? No idea.