Jungfrau
Part 6

I woke to the sound of birds chirping away outside my window, a quick glance at my watch confirmed my worst fears, it was only six thirty! I thought back over last night at Maria's, once more I've been found out, this time by a stupid signature! I say once more but in reality it's the first time isn't it, Ingrid had a tip off and, well there isn't an and.

Then there's David. I hope that Maria can put him off the trail. Den's right though I need to take some precaution and get some man handling advice!

"I hope you all had a good time yesterday?" I got the usual round of mumbles in reply. I went on, "today we are to visit some of the Schwarzwald's best known destinations, on the way Dennis will give us a small scenery tour. So sit back and enjoy the ride"

I replaced the microphone and sat back into my little cave. Den headed us north and three quarters of an hour later we arrived at one of the tourist 'honey pots', Titisee. We looped off the main road to join an already full coach park, we had already decided to make this a quickie, and the passengers will appreciate it later - honest! We sent them off for an hour and after a quick brew I settled down to read more of my Cornwell novel while Den made Betsy pretty outside.

True to form the 'lates' were once again fashionably late, Den winked at me as I helped them on board, yep we'd got their measure!

"We must be going to Triberg now" I heard one of the punters tell one of his fellows as we did indeed join the 500 north. Little do they know. I waited a bit before taking up the mike and starting my rehearsed spiel.

"I hope you all enjoyed the See" mumbles, "well now we will see some not spoiled scenery" Den made a left. "So, what is the Schwarzwald famous for?"

"Gateau!" that was expected!

"Yes, the Schwarzwald Torte, anything else?"

"Trees"

"Trees of course" I encouraged

"Cuckoo clocks" finally!

"Yes, cuckoo clocks! The road we are now on is called the Deutsche Uhrenstraße or German Clock Road; the villages along the way are famous for their clocks and woodcarving. The speciality of this region is of course cuckoo clocks and we will stop for lunch at Triberg where we will see the largest cuckoo clock in Germany!" by now they were mostly looking at the scenery and waiting to spot the first clocks.

At Sankt Märgen I headed up the bus to do a tea run and as we wove around the little villages and hillsides I did a fair old trade. At Sankt Peter we took a short cut along part of the Panoramastraße up to Waldkirch before rejoining the Clock Road back towards lunch.

"Up on our left is the Bregquelle, the ursprung, how do you say erm, yes source of the River Donau, the Danube."

There were several 'oohs' and some straining to see something, later we'd cross the fledgling river but here there is nothing to see! We dropped around the bends into Triberg and Den pulled in behind a familiar looking bus, Sonia's charge, the big Univers Setra. Hmmm, maybe I can have a chat with her?

"We have two hours here, the famous Triberger Wasserfall is just a short walk, it is the highest in Germany and of course there are café's and shops in the town here. There are toiletten just behind the bus. So half past two please"

They all filed off, the call of the lav getting most of the coach, the clock and tat shop opposite gaining the rest.

"You fancy a walk?" Den asked

"Before or after we eat?"

"Before, we can go up to the falls"

"I suppose it would be a good idea, I've never actually been up"

"You surprise me"

"You've been?"

"Nah!"

"You're worse than me, the number of times you must have come here"

"I keep promising myself a clock too but I've never got round to it"

"Den!" I admonished

"Well" he locked the coach up, "something always distracts me"

We crossed the road and made our way up to the path to the falls.

"We have to pay?"

"Well it's only a couple of Euros, don't be so tight"

"I'm not!"

"Well shake a leg then"

"Women" he sighed

"I heard that"

"And?"

"Er nothing I was just saying"

Like a lot of these things, reality didn't fill our, well my expectations at least. Don't get me wrong here, there was plenty of falling water but Niagara it aint! We saw several of our passengers on the path including 'baggy' still dressed in his one set of clothes. There wasn't much to keep us there so we dropped back into town to get some lunch and maybe get Den his clock.

Back in the town, Sonia's bus had departed so no chat today, well for now at least! We found a café that did a reasonable schnitzel and chips then headed back up the hill towards the bus.

"Lets go get you a clock"

"Nah! I can wait"

"Well I can't, you'll just go on about not getting one so come on"

"You'd get on well with the missus"

"Well we have one thing in common already"

"Which is?"

"We both got lumbered with you!"

"Ooh that stings"

"Sorry I couldn't resist, come on lets have a look at these clocks"

I led the way into the shop, the front 'room' was pretty much taken up with tourist 'tat', in the back was the expensive stuff, wood carvings on one side and a wall full of cuckoo clocks! Small ones, big ones, electric and wind up, in every variety you can imagine. I was drawn to the more intricate multifunctional models, well until I saw the prices, well over Euro 1000,00!

"I like this one" Den mentioned pointing out a less grandiose piece

"Aw! That's cute" and indeed it was. The 'house' was a two-story affair with a balcony and window boxes. The cuckoo doors were in the roof apex above and the barometer feature had the traditional man and woman emerging onto the balcony. "Are you getting it then?"

"She'll kill me, it's a hundred quid"

"And next year it'll be more, and the year after"

"Okay, you've made your point"

I felt rotten for bullying him.

"So?"

"She can only kill me once I suppose, why not die happy!"

Most of the passengers were waiting when we got back to the coach bearing the two stout boxes containing the clock, two because one had the weights and chains the other the house. Of course the punters were intrigued so Den had to open up and show his purchase to the assembled masses!

By the time we were packed up and the clock stowed, even the 'lates' were back at Betsy. We set off down the hill just about on time. After a brief photo stop at the huge clock at the bottom of the hill we followed the road east to Villingen where we again picked up the Uhrenstraße for our afternoon drive through the hills of the eastern Schwarzwald.

I did another drinks run that just about cleared out the fridge, we'll need to restock in the morning. I remembered to get Den to stop as we crossed the stream that would become the Danube, nothing to see of course, it's just a little beck here. We stayed true to the scenic route as far as Lenzkirch, where we headed for the Schluchsee.

We did a brief ice cream stop at the lakeside before resuming our journey back to Todtmoos via Sankt Blasien; after all we've got another excursion this evening!

True to her word, Maria had cajoled Dave into having our evening meal ready for six so that by seven everyone who'd signed up for tonight's visit was ready and waiting for our guide, Inge.

"Sorry Nena, I had to sort Birgit out"

"No problem, are we walking far?"

"Neh, Papa is bringing the tram along"

"Tram? I didn't see any tracks," Den mentioned

"You are thinking of O-bahn" Inge chortled, "the museum has how do you say, touristzug?"

"A Noddy train, I saw a picture at the tourist office" I advised

"What is 'Noddy train'?" Inge enquired

"Ah... don't worry, the English humour" trying to explain Noddy and Big Ears was not a good idea!

Just about then the little land train pulled up outside of the hotel, my charges got the idea and piled on as Inge introduced her father to us.

"Thanks for doing this"

"My pleasure"

He started the tractor up and we chugged through the town and out the short distance to the mine entrance. Inge's Dad, Franz, spoke pretty good English that was just as well, my technical German is lousy!

"Good evening ladies und gentlemen, welcome to the Bergwerke Todtmoos, the Todtmoos Magnetite Mine. My name is Franz and I'll be your guide this night. Before we go inside I must ask you all to be careful, the tunnels are often low, we have hart Hut?" he gave me a questioning look.

"Oh sorry, hard hats"

"Yes hard hats in side for everyone"

I helped Franz and Inge get everyone helmeted then Franz led us off for an hour long trip around the maze of galleries that make up the 'public' areas of the mine. It was clear that Franz was a mining enthusiast; even philistines like myself got something out of the visit.

By the time we got back to the hotel I was feeling a bit rough, I left Den to socialize for a while and headed to my room for an early night.

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