Back in Montreux, we were again itching to move on, and so we sped off from another beautiful city. The ride to the French border once again featured unique scenery. In fact, all of the scenery we saw was completely different in feel. Every forest was different to each other, no mountainous valley the same. Very near the border we rode to a large inn by a river in the forest, where using a system of archaic sign language and primitive sounds, we were able to order a whopping great sandwich from the French speaking natives.
It was really quite an idyllic little place, with an old dog, a younger dog, and a cat milling around and lounging in the sun amidst the people sitting outside at the tables. The owner of the house came to talk to us, luckily using English, and it turned out that he too had visited Finland! It was incredibly relaxing to enjoy the surroundings and watch the cats and dogs play with each other and beg for food from the guests.
Well fed and content, we rode a short way to the border and crossed it with once again only a sign to bid us welcome into yet another country, this time France. The difference between the various countries was far greater than you would expect. France felt surprisingly French, and all the villages and countryside we rode through felt completely different to any places we had been before. They weren't just variations of German villages, but had a complete feel of their own.
Me getting slightly annoyed that I always have to be in the picture -_- Whole village looked a bit like Disneyland to be honest.
That's better.
Although we considered staying the night in France, I thought it would be nice to return to Germany, which actually felt like home after all the other countries we had been to. We decided to return to the scenic black forest, this time riding high up on the hills.
Our once again randomly picked destination, Schapbach, turned out to be quite a charming German village, built along a river running through a valley in the black forest. We found a pleasant guest house for the night and treated ourselves to some schnitzels. The following morning our gracious hosts gave us (my dad) the resources required for us (my dad) to wash the bike.
We bid farewell to our gracious hosts and made our way back to Wiesbaden, where we were to spend the evening and the next day with our relatives. Despite the lack of constantly changing scenery, It was great wandering around the city, buying soft Weathers toffees (which I had been deprived of since England) and enjoying the great company.
With initial plans laid for a proper family get together for Christmas, we began our journey back home. Despite our greatest adventures being behind us, it was still great to get moving again. Thanks to my stubbornly waterproof gear not even the heavy rain could damped my spirits. In fact I often find the freshness of rain to positively invigorate my spirits. We later took it upon ourselves to experience a traditional German roadside kebab. A kebab my dad successfully predicted would wreak havoc in his stomach.
The riding that day was, despite the heavy rain, enjoyable once again. Even my dad was undeterred by his cold and soaked crotch, the unfortunate result of a leaking rain suit. Our riding for the day was finished at Soltau, a town reasonably close to Travemund, and also the home of a large amusement park. Once again we found ourselves a great place for the night, a small guest house run by a friendly married couple. The evening was completed by a culinary culmination at a Brewery restaurant, where I ate a delicious double layered schnitzel with mozzarella and pesto accompanied by pasta in tomato sauce. As if that wasn't enough, I then had a whopping portion of apfel strudel with ice cream and strawberry sauce... phew! Oh, don't forget the beer, it was a brewery after all.
Our trip to the amusement park was accompanied by a constant drizzle, which unfortunately did not fend off the schools visiting the park. Nevertheless, we had a few face distortingly fast rides, one of them being the steepest wooden roller-coaster in the world. Several high speed experiences later we returned to the city where, fuelled by a craving for Chinese food, I took it upon myself to locate a restaurant with the bike's navigator. Indeed I found one, and my craving was well satisfied. I also made the most of the fact that practically every restaurant in Germany seemed to have an assortment of ice cream portions. A banana split was clearly in order.
Later we rode to Travemund through random patches of rain and sunshine. Worried that we hadn't eaten nearly enough on our trip, we decided to do what we could at a seaside marine restaurant. My dad treated himself to a herring dish, while I stuffed myself with more apfel strudel.
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It was that our journey came to an end. Even as I write I feel the same tinge of sadness I felt on the boat back home. Our amazing journey was over, and it had gone by so fast, yet we had seen so much and experienced so many things...
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