Friday 6th October 2023

Basel to Black Forest – Altglashutten

Happy birthday to Mitch Hodgson my grandson back in Sydney.

Today was all about catching the right train at the right time to take us from Basel, through France, to our final destination at Falkau in Germany.

With first train not leaving till lunch time we grabbed a late breakfast and had a wander out through the suburbs circumnavigating the Zoo where we caught a glimpse of some monkeys and then down along a large canal back to home.

Off to the railway station to mingle with what seemed like a crowd going to the Grand Final. When looking at parking station most must have ridden.

We grabbed a bit of sustenance at CoOp where if you wanted mushrooms or a handful of banana’s it was there for your picking.

Found our platform and with no mention of our first point of change on the board . A few exchanges with locals and a guy in a fluoro jacket, who was probably less sure than us, we jumped on another fast train hopefully stopping at Freiburg.

We basically had the carriage to ourself to start with, but it slowly filled with University students , heading for Freiburg- we hoped.

The landscape changed pretty quickly and the plains turned into forested hills and vineyards. We could look in the opposite direction and see some of the peaks we had climbed last week.

Reached our destination and managed a swift transfer to the right platform to catch a slightly smaller Regional train. It was standing room only for the next hour with carriage full of local travellers, cyclists and the usual mutt.

It was certainly a long trip which finished at a small station in Titisee with one platform, smaller train and as many people. Thankfully the ride was only 10 minutes up through cuttings and tunnels to 750 metres to finish n Altglashutten.

What started off a worrisome journey was pretty uncomplicated and the final 500 metre uphill walk rewarded us with a great hotel with a magnificent view of the mountains. Sadly only half the height of what we will scale tomorrow or perhaps cheat a little bit with a short cable car ride.

A cute little babies cot, along with some period furniture was outside our room- thankfully no takers.

The hosts were perfect,like the room and the delicious set menu meal we had for dinner. The restaurant was full with travellers and locals, I don’t think anyone would have walked away disappointed with the fare or service.