“A journey that starts on August 10, 2020 and probably doesn’t stop here…”

1) A departure to Switzerland

Duration: 7 days

Distance covered: 980 km

A departure and almost a flight forward, shortly after the deconfinement and free of all our obligations, so we left on August 10, 2020. You had to leave on a birthday. But where to go? First of all, we’re looking for the mountain. We decided very quickly to go to Switzerland. At least we’re sure we’ll find mountains.

Arriving in Grindelwald, a large Swiss resort, the mountains are present. A resort with lots of hiking starts. We will go from valley to valley, going south-east, then going north. We will meet the cows and they are not violets, marmots, deer, vultures and chamois.

Anecdote: “Despite the fact that many things are expensive we also met a farmer who gave us a litre of fresh milk. Without understanding each other, he saw that we wanted it a lot but not Swiss franc. We only had our poor euros. He didn’t even want it! He made us taste his milk and give us a bottle. Thank you very much.

1 L of Milk – hot chocolate and milk – pancakes”

2) Obligatory passage in Germany

Duration: 4 days

Distance travelled: 850 kilometres

We will say that this is my little Frenchie side but France is still more beautiful than Germany. We leave Switzerland with the certainty that we will not see the Alps for a while. But then what to see in this country where the fields abound, whose relief is just trying to get out of the ground? We’re going to take refuge in the Black Forest. And pretty quickly, because my old Transporter T4 is already tired of German sedans that go as if the devil was after them. Oh my God, productivity!!!

After a few bucolic outings in the Black Forest, we go hiking the Black Forest: the Grand Canyon!!! Located precisely in the Wutach Gorge towards Wutachmolhe, the gorges are about ten kilometres long. We will have understood we are well in Germany.

The gorges have many small waterfalls along the trail. The 13-kilometre trail runs along the Wutach River.

If you don’t want to take the shuttle back, you’ll need an additional 13 km. A beautiful day of hiking is to be expected.

Then we will visit the city of Fribourg in Brisgau. She’s at the door of the Black Forest.

We will mainly remember the beautiful square at the foot of the cathedral. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Freiburg is visible from afar but it is also visible from meadows. The belfry is certainly the most impressive. It consists of a set of bells, the whole of which weighs more than 21 tons. A unique set in Germany.

3) The surprise of the Netherlands

Duration: 6 days

Distance travelled: 750 kilometres

After Germany, our route continues further north. On our way we decide to go to the Netherlands. It is important to note that one third of the country is below sea level and the highest point is 321 m. Lovers of the mountains and the great outdoors, we chose our tour rather well. The Netherlands is the densest country in Europe. The density is nearly 500 inhabitants per square kilometer or almost five times France. The question then arose, what to do? To our surprise, there are exactly 20 national parks. So our interest has been there. We will have visited 4 during our stay.

Meinweg National Park:

The park is located in the south east of the country at the German border. It consists mainly of forest, heaths and parks. It is also possible to find lakes and sand dunes with quicksand.

Loonse National Park in Drunense Duinen:

The landscape is much more open than Meinweg Park. It offers a framework of dunes, which forms the largest stretch of quicksand in Western Europe. It covers 35 km2 These are formed 10,000 years ago. The wind being omnipresent the landscape often changes.