From Hell to Paradise in the Black Forest. Sounds like the title from a movie poster, but in reality Hell and Paradise are tiny stops on a train line in the deepest, darkest German Black Forest.
Not all runs have to be serious or have an end goal – sometimes the journey is the goal, as the cliché goes. Sometimes the goal is just to have fun with a group of close friends and throw in some good food.
Kickstarting the Kuchenlauf with cakes!
Last Saturday we (Hildegunn, me and our dear friend the Waldhexle - or forest witch) kicked off our very first Kuchenlauf (trail running from Black Forest cake shop to the next) on the Querweg (a long distance hiking trail that connects Lake Constance and Freiburg) and which also happens to run parallel to the Jakobsweg - the pilgrim’s route to France and Spain.
Having fun on the way
We started in Hinterzarten and our end goal was Himmelreich (Paradise). In between we ran across Ravenna gorge and down into Höllental (Hell’s valley). Eventually we made it to Posthalde, before getting a bit lost. As nobody had a map or GPS, and the trail we thought we should have taken, looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time, we didn’t know where to go. In the end we hiked back up to Hinterzarten.
Lookout at Piketfelsen over the Hoellental
I often took the train through Höllental to meet the Waldhexle for our weekly English lesson. This time I got to see and experience it in a whole new way – with spectacular on-the-ground scenery, lots of laughs and cake.
The Hoellental is a narrow valley that connects Freiburg with the Black Forest
The trail down to Posthalde
After getting lost at Posthalde, we headed back to Ravennaschlucht
Some of the nice rocks and cliffs of Kaiserwacht along the way to St Oswald
The customs house at St Oswald
The railway bridge over Ravennaschlucht
Having a drink at the trough
We hope to make the Kuchenlauf an annual event. :)