Day 83: Shiltach to Horb

July 21, 2014

This shows where we started today and our target - the Neckar valley to the east.

The pamphlet for the Kinzig Radweg, which we found to be a great option

Our breakfast table at Shiltach, with fachwerk houses out the window.

We studied the maps to find a good way out of the Black Forest and over to the Neckar, and came to the conclusion that there was nothing for it but to climb out. So just a km or two out of Shiltach we hung a right, and started to push the bikes up. After what seemed like a decent bit of pushing we came to ... a hotel and cafe. "Aha", I said, "This Black Forest is pretty tame. Soon we will be out of here". Well not quite. Actually, not at all. After the hotel, the road went up, and up and up. It was a simple matter to take a photo of the forest, to establish that is was pretty steep and dense and comprised of conifers. So that established that we were really in the thick of it. Speculating on what people or creatures might inhabit the forest, we mentioned witches, or course. This is part of the local mythology, and is reflected by the many "hexen" for sale in the tourist places. "Princes", were also mentioned. We could confirm this as we climbed above a castle, sitting on a hill above the river. But these speculations took a strange turn as we spied a "stonehenge" like arrangement of rocks on a distant slope. The telephoto capability of the camera brought this reasonably close, but we had no idea of what the site was.

One other creature we saw was a small tan coloured deer. This disappeared into the forest before I could get the camera out. Then, near the top, we arrived at a farm. It was strange to see it up so high. In a pasture of the farm were some very miniature horses. Why are they raising these, here?

Little horses like this one were being raised at the farm

The "stonehenge" like site on a slope across the valley

Rather than descend right away, we then entered a high plain, where grain was being raised. Then in a hollow, the complete town of Rotenburg. What were all these people doing for a living up here?

Scrutinizing the maps now, we noted the roads to the Neckar - but they were very wiggly. We took this to denote hills, and looked for a way to avoid some further killer climbs. We finally gave up and just went for it. Then we found that the roads actually were wiggling down. So we were coming from the high plain down slope to the river.

We made our approach at Oberndorf. We hoped there to find Tourist Information and/or a bookstore, because we had mailed home all our maps of the Neckar Radweg. We found neither, but went into the rathaus and did get one small map.

So we noodled our way over to the river, and found the radweg. Hooray! We had climbed out of one route and were installed on another , though we did not yet have the "Book" for it.

We settled in to cycling for a while, with the route generally following the fairly narrow but fast moving river. In two towns we stopped in for a look at the churches. Though they were Catholic ones, they both were very plain, ugly even. Disappointing. In Sulz, as well, we had the intention of again looking for Tourist Information and/or a bookstore. But here we found basically the whole town locked tight, due to a "kid's festival". Weird - locking up even the furniture store for a family fair?

The weather forecast again called for rain and more rain, so we again decided to look for a guesthouse. In Sulz we though the 78 euro price in the hotel was too high. So we tried a private zimmer. Nobody home. Must be at the fun fair! We pushed on - to Horb.

Horb is an interesting little town, with its main old town high on the cliffside. We stopped two police officers and asked about how to best get up there with the bikes, since we were looking for a guesthouse. They showed us the way, but also pointed out a hotel down on the flats, bike friendly, and not too costly, they said. We pedalled over. 84 euros. By then, we were too tired to search further. So here we are. It's three star - that means the room is large enough to not always trip over your partner. That's great, but we are burning up the cash. It's raining now, though, and will stay wet for another two days at least. Three stars or not, we still fired up our campstove and cooked noodles and peas for supper, so our daily total cost is not too bad.

Tomorrow we will leave the bike in the garage here, and walk up and through the town. We can't dawdle too long though. We calculate we have just enough days to make it back to Frankfurt. There are lots of great towns to look at coming up, though, and we have developed the ambition of visiting the Ritter Sport chocolate factory!

Oberndorf looks interesting in this shot, but it had nothing we were looking for.

Pedalling the Neckar at this point is rather boring

The radweg has a fair bit of "good" gravel pathway

Grrr - who closes a whole town for a fun fair?

Another look at the lower area of Horb. Tomorrow we will climb up and look at the market square area.

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 4,135 km (2,568 miles)

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