As we didn’t have a Swiss vignette, we kept to the minor roads as we headed north from Vaduz, Liechtenstein back towards the SW of Germany. The Swiss roads were quiet on a Saturday afternoon (April 20) and it was lovely to gently make our way towards the German town of Konstanz. The town sits on the southern side of Bodensee (Lake Constance) despite the rest of that part of the lake still being in Switzerland. We had originally thought we would stay there overnight but we didn’t like the look of the place so we caught a ferry across the lake from Konstanz to Meersburg. What a difference!

Meersburg was a delightful medieval town with bars and restaurants and a pedestrianised Main Street. It even had its own winery. We parked up just outside of town on the side of the road (P4N#89928) and walked back in to have a look around. We had a beer before deciding to eat at one of the restaurants called See Sicht (Lake View in English). We both had wonderful meals of salmon dumplings in a bed of roasted vegetables and Pike Perch with salad, complemented with local wines. Despite being right next to a busy road in the day time, we both slept pretty well.

In the morning, we were going to visit a Pile Dwelling museum in the next village but we couldn’t find anywhere to park and it started to snow, heavily. We parked up by the lake but we were moved on by the local police for taking up too much space. A bit crazy as it was snowing so heavily no one was venturing out.

We decided to cut our losses and made our way to Titisee Lake in the Black Forest as it was supposed to be very pretty. The A31 was shut for roadworks so we took the more mountainous route. Stunning scenery and despite the amount of snow, all the roads were clear no matter how minor. Amazing. We even passed a truck driver making a snowman.

We arrived at Titisee along with a number of tour buses so after a quick look round we moved on. We had been told that the Black Forest High Road B500 was a stunning drive. Some of it was closed but we managed to drive a lot of it over the next couple of days. Truly beautiful vistas, especially with the snow piled up at the side.

Sunday evening, April 21, we parked up in Triberg (P4N#13942) by the bus station (oh the glamour!) and when it had temporarily stopped snowing, we walked up to Germany’s highest waterfall. The town was pretty unexceptional apart from the waterfalls so glad we didn’t spend too much time there.

Back in Dora that evening whilst more snow fell overnight but again, all the roads were clear in the morning and we continued on the B500 northwards towards Baden-Baden. On the way, we passed through more delightful scenery, the world’s largest cuckoo clock and also found a Bear, Wolf and Lynx sanctuary.

They obtain abandoned or mistreated animals from all over Europe and give them a safe place to live out their lives. Wonderful to see animals looking very relaxed in their habitat.

We arrived at a Stellplatz in Baden-Baden (P4N#20380) around 16.50 and parked up for the night. It would be a secure place to leave the van when we explored Baden-Baden in the morning. We had a quiet evening as Liz had managed to give Jo her cold so neither of us were up for much exploring. Next morning, Tuesday April 23, we caught the bus into town and were delighted with the place. It had a vibrancy and a touch of class about it and we thought we could easily go back there for a long weekend.

We decided not to go to the thermal baths as it wouldn’t be fair on others to pass on our colds, so after a late lunch we left to make our way towards Hohenzollern Castle via an amazing treetop walk at Bad Wildbad and passing through several pretty villages.

We parked up just below Hohenzollern castle (P4N#17518) for the night and hunkered down as the temperature was due to drop to minus 4°C and, of course, it snowed but we were ready for our tour of the castle in the morning.

Miles driven since last post: 349

Miles driven this trip: 4,552

Tolls: €0