Germany-bound

This week saw us heading towards our second country of the trip, Germany. Not before driving across the breadth of France, a task which seems to fit into all of our holidays somehow - she's a big country France, full of long straight roads... However, what a surprise we had waiting for us in Eastern France - no-one ever really mentions Eastern France do they? It is truly beautiful, all alpine mountains and fields of brown and white splodged cows. A perfect place to stop for a few days and gather some energy for Germany. A campsite in Corcieux, run by a chap from Huddersfield and his French wife was our pitstop. The sun finally came out for a couple of days, and we filled our days with lots of mountain cycle rides, which are as challenging and beautiful as they sound. By the time we strapped the bikes to the back of the van and headed off, we were truly relaxed. Onto Germany then. We managed to drive through the Black Forest and ended up at a town called Tuttlingen. Rather than go back we thought we'd stay the night and found a great aire by the river in town. Now for a beer; the change of country had left us feeling a little strange, and let's face it beer helps with that. Only thing is that we are finding that with the exception of the UK, the whole of Europe shuts down on a Sunday, so we are left wandering the streets of Tuttlingen getting thirstier with every step. Turns out the only place open in the whole town is...yep you guessed it...an Irish bar. What can I say we were desperate. And anyway, this place was about as Irish as my accent. Thankfully, the next day Tuttlingen came alive - we had a very early walk and stumbled across a fantastic market, where we stocked up on lovely fresh food for the week ahead...and the obligatory pretzels of course. Now for the Black Forest...