Black Forest - cuckoos and stair rods

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From Switzerland its an easy 3 hours drive to Munstertal at the southern end of the Black Forest. Our campsite is famed for its facilities which also means that it is completely full. There are nice big pitches but ours backs on to the railway line with diesel engines thundering no more than 2m from the caravan from 5am onwards – hmmm.

The clientele of this campsite is definitely different, most are over 50 with teenage kids (i.e us in ten years!). They all have identical style (if not pattern) awnings and spend a lot of time watching TV. Its not very friendly.

Unfortunately, as well as The Major we are towing a large black cloud around Europe with us and even though we arrive in blazing sun and 30 degrees by tea time it is raining monsoon style – the campsite roads are turned into rivers and everyone is out splashing in the 5 inches of water flowing down them.

The next day we take the boys to the park and then on the mini golf before heading north into the Black Forest proper to visit the Vogtsmuseum. At the museum we get to go inside one of the huge farmhouses that we have seen all over Switzerland and the Black Forest. They are typical wooden chalet style but enormous to the extent that the whole farm was housed under one roof – milking parlour in the basement with the stores, cows in the barn at the back, living rooms at the front. Very impressive and a design Mrs Kimber might favour to save going outside to milk the cows – I’ll mention it to her!

On the way home we see an enormous cukcoo clock, the size of a house and it regales us with cuckoos, chickens, dancing maidens, woodcutters and um-pa-pa music. Quite the most kitsch things we have ever seen. Unfortunately viewed through stair rods of rain.

On the way home, we decide enough is enough of this very British weather and that we will move on to France the day after.

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