Finally after two years of postponements the trip to the Waldblick hotel in the Black Forest was on. Although 17 people were heading for the hotel everyone had their own itinerary. Some were leaving the hotel early so that they could go to Berlin for the BMW Motorrad Days event and others left to go on to the Vosges. Different crossings, different stopover hotels but we decided to have an extra night or two in France on the way, but With P&O disrupting their ferries by sacking their staff, it had to be the Channel Tunnel this time for us.

We all expected to get together in the Waldblick, but already COVID had intervened with one of our number having to isolate after testing positive on arrival. Following the German regulations for COVID, the hotel insisted that anyone testing positive isolated in their own room with room service for meals. Fortunately, all the rooms concerned has balconies with extensive views of the countryside, and the opportunity to chat to each other and the rest of the group across the balconies while still isolating. Our group table for dinner shrank further as two more tested positive and others left for destinations like Berlin.

A group went off to the Technik Museum Sinsheim where you can see an amazing selection of cars, motorbikes and planes, including Concorde and its Russian twin the Tupolev Tu-144. With nearly 5 hours of riding to get there and back, there was so much more to see than could be covered in a single trip.

Another group decided on a relaxing day walking to the nearby village of Schiltach. The route through the forest included a climb up to an old castle ruin followed by coffee, beer and Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau) in the old centre of the village. On the route back we found a tree stump that had been fitted somewhat unusually with a door. On further investigation we found it was an underground store of drinks with a cable and pulley mechanism to raise the drinks up to ground level, and an honesty box for payment.

Not far from the hotel was Schramberg with its museums. We thought there were three museums, but another expedition found a different museum that we hadn’t seen. So there are at least four museums to look at. The main museum is located in the old clock factory, clock-making being a traditional activity of the whole area, and it has four floors full of time-keeping equipment along with transport relics including lots of cars and motorcycles. There was even a touring version of the Trabant where the sleeping accommodation consisted of a tent bolted to the roof of the van.

The second museum was originally the power source for the site, with an enormous diesel engine powering a generator still in its original location with all the switchgear to synchronise the generator with external power sources. The third was a large and beautifully crafted model railway layout including a cog railway going up the mountain.

One day we went a bit further on down the B500 to Lake Titisee which had dedicated free motorcycle parking and yet more Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Another day we went to Triberg which features the highest waterfalls in Germany, and a dedicated motorcycle parking area that was free but involved a steep unmade ramp down to a gravelled area. Definitely one for exercising the off-road skills. Like most days at the Waldblick the weather was mostly overcast but dry, and we didn’t need to use the waterproofs. However we nearly got soaked on the return from Triberg when with just the odd drop as we got back to the hotel, the rain came flooding down as we parked the bikes. The rain was too much for the awnings which were reeled in to avoid collapsing from a heavy load of rainwater.

After the Waldblick we went on to stay in the centre of Colmar. This was essentially the Vosges extension to the trip originally proposed by Geoff Clough when he set up the Club trip before the pandemic. We spent a day exploring Colmar and a day riding out to the lakes of Gerardmer and Longemer where there was a local triathlon in progress.

Finally, many thanks to Geoff Clough who planned the trip and organised bookings even though in the end he was unable to go himself.