25th – 27th June 2011

Left Calw and followed the road that runs along the river down to Wildberg, it is very scenic and twisty! It really does follow the river and winds its way along with some very sharp hairpin bends. We soon saw signs for the campsite which took us down a narrow single lane road, luckily we only met one car coming the other way, which didn’t have to reverse far.The camp’s pitches are not that large so we took a place on the hard standing, not far from everything and it has the sun in the afternoon. It is in a very lovely spot, alongside the river in the bottom of the wooded valley.

Sunday (26^th) the locals close the road from Wildberg to a town about 35k further south, to all motorised vehicles from 8am to 8pm. So we joined the hordes of locals and set off on the bikes towards Nagold. The road was busy with cyclists and roller bladders of all ages, families with youngsters as well as some serious cyclists. Roller blades are obviously very popular here as lots of people again of every age were out on them and boy can they move!

As you reached a town you came across food and drink stalls and in Nagold, where we stopped for a drink they had a band playing and kids’ activities, as well as stalls showing local activities like gliding. Steve you and Mark would love it here, there is a gliding club/school just down the road and it’s meant to be a good area for it. Given the number of birds of prey you see circling around I can see why! We continued on for a few more kilometres before stopping for lunch in a small town. We had some fun ordering our red sausage in rolls (plus the obligatory beers) and were clearly an amusement to the locals serving us! The food was very really good as were the beers and it was fun relaxing watching the locals go by. It seemed everyone was out, some serious, some on blades for the first time! Occasionally someone sitting in the food hall would recognise someone passing and shout out causing some chaos as they tried to stop and come over! Each junction had either a policeman or fireman on it to let the cars cross the road, but given that this is the main road connecting the towns and villages we were surprised they closed it off. No one seemed to be bothered and everyone was clearly enjoying the day and making the most of it, it was really great to be able to cycle along the road without having to worry about the cars etc. they obviously start them young here as there were lots of youngsters out about who could only just ride.

On the way back, the road was busier which made it interesting at times, but the atmosphere was great, everyone was having a good time. When we reached Nagold we decided to stop for a break and sat at a restaurant in the square, eating fantastic ice creams! The place was packed and great for people watching!

We returned to the van, slightly tired but having had a great day, it’s a shame we don’t do this sort of thing back home but I guess not enough of the population are into cycling etc.  



Monday we’re spending doing a few jobs and then cycling into Wildberg.