Au revoir France, Hallo mountains!!

So here goes, the Strasbourg to Bodensee update!

So I hung out in Marys house in Strasbourg for the morning and then I hit the road to Colmar in the afternoon. It was probably the most boring cycle so far, 80km along a very straight, flat canal with no shops or even picnic benches but I'm not complaining as it was also one of the hottest days so far at about 35degrees and the route was shaded so it was definitely the best choice of route and the best part was I didn't have to think, just follow the canal, easy!

I did encounter my first rude French person experience but only 2 rude French people out of all the wonderful French people I met isn't bad.

I finally arrived in Colmar and Olivier picked me up and then we went picking berries, it was great, just like summer at home :) I spent a lovely evening with Olivier, Clarise and their family and then the next morning I'd nice walk around Colmar which is a really pretty town.

 (a very unlikely looking Irish bar in Colmar)

From Colmar I followed the wine route to Eguisheim, a town that is still contained within it's original fort, supposedly the nicest tourist town in France 2013, it is very pretty. If you look close enough you might see the storks nest of the top of both churches, very cool. The smaller church was built in recognition of Pope Louis that came from Eguisheim!

The Rhine valley is full of vineyards so I followed the wine to my next stop Guebwiller where I stayed with Geraldine and Guillaume. Geraldines cousin stayed with me in Ireland a few months ago and when I was telling him about my trip he said I should call into his cousin and I am so thankful that he arranged it.
Geraldine and Guillaume were great, it was just like being at home, hanging out with friends, going for picnics and going on adventures. I was only planning on staying one night but I stayed two and I went for the most beautiful swim of my trip way up in Lac Ballon, it involved a pretty hard slog of a cycle uphill but it was definitely worth it. They are really involved with promoting and encouraging cycling so it was great exchanging ideas.

 Up from the valley to the lake

On our bicyclettes :)

I left Guebwiller and France and cycled across the Rhine valley to Freiburg in Germany. The difference between the 2 countries is so extreme even though they're right beside each other. It´s so relaxed in France and there is not so much bike signage and then as soon I start approaching Germany there is way more bike signage, cycle routes and bikes. I'm undecided whether I like cycling to Germany or not. Freiburg is the most cycle friendly city in Germany and there is definitely a lot of bikes there but everyone seems to be in a hurry so if you're like me and need to stop and look at the map there's a high liklyhood you'll get run over. I ended up hugging the wall a few times so I wouldn't get run over by cyclists!
I met Elsa in Freiburg and she brought me on a tour of the city and to a cool area where all the houses are built sustainably and they're developed so that cars aren't allowed onto the streets so that it's safe for kids to play. It is a really nice area and very well designed with lots of colours and nature everywhere so that it doesn't really feel like you're in the middle of a city.

But the main meaning of Freiburg for me was that this is where the mountains begin - up into the Black forest. Freiburg is at 270m and over the next few hours I was going to make my way to over 1000m. Anytime I told a local about my plan to cycle to Titisee, a lake up in the Black Forest, the response was generally just a hand signal that indicated very steep and a lot of looking at my bike and the panniers. But thanks to Guillaume and my cycle to Lac Ballon he was pretty sure I'd manage it as himself and Geraldine done more or less the exact same trip as me earlier this year. I got a little lost on my way to the base of the climb, I was getting confused by the signage but I finally figured out that the smaller signs are for walkers and they take a differnt route than cyclists.

 To the mountains

On the cycle map my route comes with triangles which means super steep but I conquered it - slow and steady and I made it to Titisee, very proud of myself. I had a little picnic by the lake and then I headed on to Lenzkirch to where Hilda spent a summer of fun! It's a lovely little village and the people were really friendly. An Italian guy organised some accomodation for me and then I got some yummy free ice-cream, mainly I think because he thought I was nuts cycling to Italy!

 Titisee

 Lenzkircher beer in Lenzkirch

So here I am up at 1000m and I know that my next destination is Lake Constance at 500m so inocently I thought that would mean a nice easy day of cycling downhill - how wrong I was!

I spent a long time studying my map to make sure I took what looked like the easiest route. First stop Kirnbergsee, the lake at the source of the Danube, only about 15km by map, great place for an early morning swim. Sadly it was more a sweaty afternoon swim. So the way the signage for cyclists works in the Black Forest is that you never go on a main road, you are on a mountain bike (preferably electric) and that you like cycling in circles.  

I figured I was going to go the direct route to Loffingen instead of doing a 15km detour that the cycle route takes you on. A few km in I see a sign for Loffingen and I think ok, that looks like a more direct route so off I go following the cycle route, a wonderfully bad idea! It brought me down a really rough dirt track to look at a river and then sent me up a crazy steep dirt track. I had to get off the bike and push. A car coming down the road stopped and told me that it's about 1.5km of steep dirt track so off I went pushing my bike cursing German signage when the car reversed back up the hill and told me they would bring me and my bike up the hill - lifesavers!! They left the wife and all their equipment on the side of the road and put me and my bike in the car and brought me up the hill, good job too as I would definitely have had a meltdown trying to push the bike up, I think I would still be there!

 My Lifesavers!!

 Kirnbergsee, source of the Danube

I finally made it to Kirnbergsee, with only a few more detours and some road blocks. I had a well deserved swim and then I hit the road again as I still had ages left to go. All in all I arrived at Lake Constance 8 hours after leaving Lenzkirch, with about 5km of downhill and 95km of confusion & hills.

But I made it - I conquered the Black Forest!! I had a  celebratory swim in Lake Constance and now I'm staying with the Sproll family that spent years living in Ballinrobe. They're taking great care of me as I prepare for the next part of the trip - The Dolomites (eek!!)