Green meadows which provide a nice prelude to the hills with dark green conifers which the Black Forest features Green meadows

The Romans loved the Black Forest but nothing. They gave the densely forested mountains difficult to penetrate them his name, "Silva Nigra '. But nowadays, and if you do not come to conquer, the Black Forest is very accessible and welcoming. At the invitation of CityZapper and the tourist office of Baden Württemberg I could invent ways in which you can penetrate into the northern Black Forest and its culture.

Cycling around the valley

Bad Liebenzell, a large village located in a long valley in the northern Black Forest, is a tent arranged for me. At least .... tent. However, the outside is in any case of cloth. Interior walls of fashionable wood scaffolding, a rain shower and a spacious kitchen ensure that a hotel room in rough it starts to look like. Plenty of room, a kitchenette and no expensive minibar but a fridge. Yeah, get used to glamping . Want something different, there are plenty of hotels and guest houses, often built in traditional style with lots of flowers on the windows.

Glamping Camping Park Bad LeibenzellGlamping Camping Park Bad Leibenzell. My first afternoon I take a bike ride on an e-bike. Now I bike as Dutchman quite a lot. But who do not live in Limburg misjudged themselves how soon the difficulty of the hills in the Black Forest. We cycle at ease to the edge of the city and along green meadows which provide a nice prelude to the hills with dark green conifers which the Black Forest as features. There go the wide roads quickly into narrow paths that rise sharply. And yes, it gives such aid motor or you do a nice boost. Actually, you realize how much you've climbed as almost without stairs in a fraction of the time the return route have traveled down.

Green meadows which provide a nice prelude to the hills with dark green conifers which the Black Forest features Green meadows which provide a nice prelude to the hills with dark green conifers View Bad LiebenzellView Bad Liebenzell
The valley around Bad Liebenzell offers numerous cycling and hiking trails of various lengths and levels of difficulty.

There are plenty of cycling and walking routes through the Black Forest.There are plenty of cycling and walking routes through the Black Forest
A culinary vista

I had the kitchen of the region previously estimated as high level, but pretty decent and traditional. Generally beat though. But there is also culinary movement. I met Mark and Pierre, enthusiastic ambassadors of the craft. They want quality, involve their belongings solid local partners and allow for small scale, craftsmanship and innovation in the field of ingredients. Pierre comes from Sicily and serves at their very delicate tasting Schwarzwalderham a salad with Arancin, fried risotto with filling, a specialty of Sicily. He is responsible for the Mediterranean touch. I get a tour of the butcher shop located next to the kitchen of Mark and Pierre, actually an artisan sausage and ham factory. The butcher reveals the secret of the ham. Four weeks salts instead of two, but then with less salt than is used in the plants, four weeks of smoking and rest for two weeks.

Schwarzwalderham, salami and sausageSchwarzwalderham, salami and sausage Arancini and Schwarzwalderham Arancini and Schwarzwalderham
It is not a culinary revolution, but an enthusiastic mix of tradition and innovation. The duo provides workshops, cooking classes and themed evenings . So look forward to an event if you are in Bad Liebenzell.

Cures with forest view

Bad Liebenzell, as many places in the northern Black Forest, a health resort. Cures part of the culture of the region and part of this is the sauna. I choose the Panorama Sauna in Parcelsus Therme, which look out the windows of a forest. It's hot, very hot as a woman enters with a small bucket of ice cubes. serves a flavor on the hour. This time, forest fruit flavor. The blocks are laid on the coals and a warm, strong smelling steam cloud comes attendees off, encouraged by a fan. This is repeated a few times and it gets hotter and muggy, a couple of people to flee the area. Immediately after that everyone goes out and we get on a balcony tea and plums. Naked and cleaned in the forest. An experience, but the ice bath time I just ignore me.

From the future to the jungle

I get an electric car with the tourist office. They rent out not only as a service as well as an introduction to a greener future. Indeed, it feels like a trip to the future. No ignition, but a kind of remote control that you put in your car before you press the start button and then the display which forms the dashboard comes to life. After a slight pressure on the accelerator, the car drives away, to protect pedestrians at low speeds, a humming noise producing so seems to come from Star Trek. The modest Renault rises above his class out, reacts very directly on the pedals and rides with ease on the winding mountain roads in the beautiful hills. I'm getting. Let the future come.

I reach the village Enzklösterle and walk from there with a picnic basket the 11.5-kilometer walk to the jungle 'Bärlochkar. The walk leads through the suburbs to a path along the River Enz. A single farm, a place where you can fish in groups and lead a few bridges to a village with the intriguing name Gompel Scheuer. Since a narrow path going into the woods. This path goes up and meanders to a point above the banks of the river. And then it becomes narrower, with fallen trees, loose branches and almost overgrown pieces. Blue sky by jagged branches and the smell of moss. A forest that has been deliberately left to its fate. A loop through the Bärlochkar brings me back to inhabited areas. The tourist office has maps and a booklet with more walks. You can also just the piece primeval forest walk from a parking lot.

Meadows and green forests Meadows and green forests Due to the Bärlochkar Due to the Bärlochkar After the Bärlochkar After the Bärlochkar
Walking along the treetops

A boomtopwandeling I had ever made before, but it was always a somewhat wobbly span and near ziplijnen and other adrenaline-pumping activities. The " Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald " Bad Wildbad there seems nothing like. Here it is focused on recreation for young and old, of nature and education. There are five of these parks, all with their own design, says Esra Pastoors, the head of marketing, as we approach the circular tower that will be the culmination of this path. Meanwhile, she points to a treetop that rises next to the path as a small Christmas tree. At least if you are not on the 14-meter trunk note that underneath. And she shows you how to shake it a few inches a 30 meter high tree with ease. Matter of leverage, I know, but it is still funny.

Baumwipfelpad Schwarzwald in Bad Wildbad - behendigheidstrajectjes parallel to the main trackBehendigheidstrajectjes parallel to the main path Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald Bad Wildbad gives beautiful views over the Black ForestBaumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald Bad Wildbad gives beautiful views over the Black Forest
The trail meanders and spirals slowly to 40 meters, the attraction will remain accessible to the elderly and even wheelchairs. And the view of the dense black forest (conifers are indeed close together and appear to have less white space than deciduous trees) is very beautiful. For dessert, you can have a roller coaster down in seven seconds.

The Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald tower with the roller coaster downThe Baumwipfelpfad Schwarzwald tower with the roller coaster down
The Hot rod to the hot spots of the Black Forest

Perhaps less sound and sustainable than the previous activities, but not least, the mini hotrods departing from Calp. It's my last piece in the northern Black Forest and also the most spectacular. Hotrods are antique cars, mostly from the 30s which have been converted into car show. Low to the ground and with a lot of horsepower.

These thumbnails of them are suitable for public roads made karts. Low to the ground, bumpy, narrow and very direct steering. "The Hotrods you find in more places, such as Berlin, Aachen and Hamburg," says our guide Michael Kunert, who in his second life in the winter tour manager for bands European tour ,. 'Bit drive from stoplight to stoplight. But here we wanted the woods, full throttle the slopes and off.

After a short distance on the roads (still weird when you almost sitting on the ground drives between passenger cars, vans and trucks) arrive at a country road that meanders between and over the hills of the Black Forest. We drive into formation with four carts to form a broader context for the other road users and reach speeds of over 60 kilometers per hour. After cycling, hiking, silent E-car and boompad delivers this again a new perspective on the northern Black Forest.

alp -a big kid in a toy carOk, you look a little like a big kid in a toy car. But the nice thing is that you feel so Mini Hot Rods on TourMini Hot Rods on Tour
And with that I'm actually at the point of the story. Find your perspectives and find the variety. For there is indeed more to do than walk and breathe unpolluted air.