As prepared as always we were totally surprised by the amount of snow in the area. We love snow, but often we have the right gear with us.
But, we can handle some frozen toes and it’s beautiful to take photos of the van. She is doing a great job btw, like the Dutch say “She drives like the sun shines” ☀️ In proper English; “She drives like a charm” 😉 She really does.
We’ve already got 9 thumbs up, a couple of lighting shows and many smiley faces.
Freudenstadt
Where did I left off? Oh yes, we were driving towards Freudenstadt over the Schwarzwaldhochstraße. Freudenstadt is quite a big city, it has a huge square with all shops surrounding it. Shops that were now closed cause besides the bakery, supermarkets and other food related stores everything is closed. It was quite cold so we decided to get a cup of coffee and some bread and a Schweinsohr – delicious! While walking around the little town our feet began to warm up a little bit and we made plans for the night.
Sleeping at a parking lot
Campings are closed, hotels are closed, everything is closed in Germany due to covid-19. You might think this is a hurdle for our adventure but actually it makes the journey a lot more adventurous. Yuri got an app installed which shows all the parking places in the area and as we are allowed to stay for one night on a parking lot we have no troubles finding a place. Because people nowadays travel in their own countries instead of going abroad we are surrounded with either locals or German tourists, which is also nice for a change.
Anyway, we found a beautiful spot at the beginning of several hiking spots. We were the only one at the parking lot so parked the car closed to the forest. Thanks to our sleeping bags we didn’t feel any cold during the night. Only waking up and getting out of it is a challenge. But, seeing the forest trees covered in snow it makes our blood go wild with adventure and wanting to hike. Thus we did so. A little hike because we had a long day ahead.
Wow, I can’t imagine it has only been one week since we voted and left home. We’ve already had so many adventures. From almost freezing to death on the Dutch farmland to eating wonderful home made pizza in Germany and sleeping in the beautiful Schwarzwald. At the moment we are in Switzerland, enjoying snow & sun.
But let’s get back to the Schwarzwald first.
After saying goodbye to Dominik, Nicki & their sweet dog we headed for the Schwarzwald. The last time I explored this wonderful European gem I was 17 I guess. The Schwarzwald is of course known thanks to the brothers Grimm who got inspired by the forests and invented fairy tales like Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Hansel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and many more. But the Schwarzwald is also known for amazing hikes, cute little villages and cuckoo clocks.
We didn’t come here for the clocks but we did come here to explore the villages which are often located next to a river in a valley. The villages wind through the mountains following the rivers and surrounded by a dense forest. Like in most villages the church is in the centre of attention with homes surrounding it. In most villages you find a bakery, a hotel, a tiny supermarket and a post office. We have seen some fire fighter stations but no police station.
Outside the villages you find the more typical black forest houses which are byre-dwelling and characterised by a long hipped or half-hipped roof that descends to the height of the ground floor. This type of dwelling is suited to the conditions of the Black Forest: hillside locations, broad tracks, high levels of snowfall and heavy wind loading. While we were hiking we saw so many of these beautiful houses, some with a water wheel next to it, others with animals and we even found a spot to have a schnapps for travellers.
A night in the Black Forest
The first night in the Black Forest we stayed near natural pools. All the hotels and campsites are closed in Germany so it’s gonna be parking lots. In Germany, if you are in transit, you are allowed to stay the night to rest. So, who needs a campsite right?
We decided Ottenhöfen im Schwarzwald would be the perfect place to stay the night. And it was. Alexine, the van, did a great job. She had a little difficulty with climbing and at the end sputtered a little. I guess she grew tired of the highway, so she deserved a night and day rest. We learned in The Netherlands that sleeping in the van can be quite cold and pulled out our sleeping bags. Oh my were we warm. Hot even!
After a good nights rest we woke up early, headed into town for some breakfast. Little did we know that everything on Sundays is closed, except for the bakery. It opened up from 8 to 11, so lucky for us we had a nice breakfast. Love the bread in Germany btw, they have so many options and I haven’t found one that is bad. The cappuccino is a different story though. While at the bakery we ordered a cappuccino but I couldn’t even finish it. I keep that for Italy I guess.
Hiking in the Black Forest
Hiking in the Black Forest is not only a must it is also very easy. Every town, every parking lot, every incredible viewpoint has many hiking paths. There are so many different routes you can take. Want to have an easy short walk? It’s there. Ready for some more adventure and would like to hike about three hours? It’s there? Or are you the crazy type and love to hike a couple of days? You can!
We took an 8km walk through villages, over mountains and visiting a waterfall. It was a great hike actually. We came across animals, farmers, water wheels, schnapps house, dog barking gardens which we had to go through, steep hills, deep slopes, wide roads and tiny paths. We heard many birds and even saw an owl flying away. The waterfall ‘Edelfrauengrab-Wasserfälle’ was beautiful too, but because you can actually park your car there and have a short hike you’ll find many more people there. We didn’t meet anyone on the hike but we did meet many many people at the waterfall. Oh and while the hike should’ve been 8km, somehow we made it 16kms. No idea how, I’ve got some idea why. When we hike we get carried away by tiny paths that look adventurous, mysterious and interesting. Our curiosity where those paths lead takes over often, which means we end up off the road almost all the time. But that’s why we got to see an owl and hiked a very cool path.
Schwarzwaldhochstraße
It was time to get Alexine warmed up for another night in the forest. We drove to Freudenstadt, a one hour drive through the Schwarzwaldhochstraße. OMG! Everywhere was snow and the cloud we drove through blocked the view completely but as far as we could see (which wasn’t that far) it looked amazing!
The Schwarzwaldhochstraße or Black Forest High Road is the oldest and one of the best known themed drives in Germany. It is a part of the B 500 federal highway and leads over 60 km from Baden-Baden to Freudenstadt. The Hochstraße runs at an altitude of between 800 and 1,000 metres above sea level.
Alexine drove like an eagle flies, she took every turn like a dolphin surfs a wave and climbed up the mountains like a sloth moves from tree to tree. Not fast but steady, smooth and free. And wherever we go, we get happy faces along the way. No one cares that we drive 40 where 80 is normal or 60 where 100 is the average. We get there in the end and the people stuck behind us get the time to enjoy the view a little bit longer.
We arrived in Freudenstadt, but for now I’ll leave it with this. Freudenstadt and the night near the city is a different story. Stay tuned.
After a very cold night and great hot shower we crossed the first border. The weather was grey, rainy and cold, so were our feet. OMG! So so cold in the car, the heater isn’t working – never did I think, but now we wished we had a heater installed. Well, we can’t really complain though, it was fun to cross the border and finally get the Volkswagen back onto German roads. I don’t think we’ve ever taken her to Germany, so she’s back home for now.
It’s quite funny because all the way from The Hague to where we are heading now – Kasbach-Ohlenberg – it’s kind of one road. From the A12 in The Netherlands to the 3 in Germany, all the way to Bonn. Not the most beautiful scenery yet but we have just started our trip. Actually after Bonn it starts to get nice with those typical beautiful German villages, mountains with castles and rivers winding through the landscape.
Alexine is doing great. She’s enjoying the trip already. After 5 years of mostly standing still she is now fired up for a big trip. She sounds like birds waking you up in the morning, even though she hasn’t been this heavily loaded by us before. She is around 1300 kilo’s without interior and stuff inside her. I’m sure she’s up to 1500 kilo’s now, which means she’ll have a lot more difficulty with climbing mountains and the Alps are waiting for us. Luckily we are in no rush so she can take however long she needs to climb. But that’s for later. Let’s go back to our second leg.
So, we left The Netherlands behind and drove into Germany without any problems. I absolutely love open borders and wish it was this easy to cross all the borders of the world for everyone. How wonderful travelling is with open borders and not the annoying visa’s and all that. With a bit of traffic jams and work on the roads we arrived in Kasbach-Ohlenberg about half past three.
Dominik welcomed us with a delicious cup of coffee and a warm fire in his wonderful home. We met Dominik in Svalbard about two years ago on the Rembrandt van Rijn while sailing alongside the magnificent Northern island. Dominik told us he makes the best burgers in the world so of course we had to try those. Last time we came here by train and tasted these delicious burgers! This time we arrived with the van and will taste home made pizza from his newly handmade pizza oven in the garden. Dominik and Nicky live in this amazing house, previously owned by a pastor. It has this huge garden and wonderful kitchen. We love being here, drink wine together, eat and have stories about food & travelling mostly. Nicky & Dominik are such nice and hospitable people, they make the start of our long journey amazing and I’m sure when we feel cold or have a glass of nice wine we will think back of our start here.
We still have to figure out some things and finish a bit of work which is nice to do here. I’m not a big planner, yes I’m very organised but I don’t like to plan too much. So, I’ve organised a very nice Google Docs in which I have written for which country we need a visa, what language they speak, which religion they have and what money they use. It included a check list, addresses and government websites which inform us about corona regulations. But, I haven’t installed my GPS tracker yet, haven’t checked if our MiFi (internet) is actually working and have no idea how a satellite phone works (sorry mum & dad ;-)). No worries though, I can figure this out very easily over here. Which I am going to do today!
So the second leg of our journey brought us to a friend in Germany and gives us the time to figure those things out. Also, it’s freezing at night and our next stop will be in the Schwarzwald where it is going to snow this weekend. Not sure if Alexine is up to some snow but I’m not even sure if we are. Luckily we’ve got some extra sleeping bags with us but driving in snow is also quite cold in a car without heater and with lots of cracks in the door.
What do you think? Should we go for some snow fun? Or stay and bake more pizza’s? Let us know in the comments!
On Wednesday 17th of March we woke up early, voted and started our journey towards China. We said goodbye to our parents and headed East. For the night we decided to stay in The Netherlands near the German border, just to make sure we packed everything, we are happy with how we arranged the box and wheel on the roof and to see how Alexine is doing.
We stayed at a campsite on the land of a farmer. We were the only guests and the first ones of the year. The day before he fixed the showers so he now had hot water again. Good for us because it was a very cold night. It was -1 so we slept in our thermo underwear, socks and under extra blankets to make sure we wouldn’t freeze. It wasn’t the best night as we woke up often because of the cold and getting used to the little space we have now. In our home we have a big bed, in the van, well… you can imagine, we don’t have much space.
However, waking up to the sound of birds not cars makes us forget the night easily. And not long after the birds the chickens started waking us up while scurrying around the van. A hot shower was very welcome and soon we were on our way to the first border crossing. Not before Yuri lost his wallet. Yeah, it doesn’t matter how small the van is, you can easily lose things in it! So, we turned the van upside down in search for the wallet. At least now we know everything we have with us and I can tell you; it’s not that much. We still have to figure out what we put where and how we are going to organise ourselves, but we don’t have much stuff with us so that’s a good thing.
Some very necessary things like a volleyball, stroopwafels and peanut butter are of course with us. But we also brought a GPS tracker, satellite phone and MiFi (internet) with us. We also have a lot of camera gear with us and some basic things like pans, cutlery and cooker. Spare parts are on top of the van, we’ve got very good oil (10 liters) with us and a jerrycan with gasoline.
But, because we were in a rush I just threw everything inside the van without really thinking about what should go where. We will figure it out on the road is my believe, as long as we have everything with us.
Our second leg will take us to a friend in Germany. We met each other on our trip through Svalbard. Will tell you more about this in a next post.
Wow! You are going to drive all the way to China? What route will you take?
A question we, not surprisingly, get asked a lot lately. So, let’s share our route. This will be it roughly. Of course there will be things we will add, things we will skip, roads we will take and ways we will omit. The route isn’t written in stone but in Google so it’s ready for changes made while we’re on the road. But, it gives an idea about the route we take and the things we wish to see along the way.
The past weeks went by so quickly, we hardly had time to breathe. We were both in full speed working on the van, emptying and cleaning the house, Yuri was busy finishing his projects and I tried to get everything online ready for our adventure. We will sleep when we’re on the road, we will relax at our first stop, we will unstress the moment we leave. For now, too many things to do, too many stuff to arrange and too much going on. Travelling is working. It’s not like you pack your bags and unpack at the beach. At least our way of travelling is not. But the more we have to arrange now the better the reward will be when we’re on the road.
And oh my, am I ready for the road. I can’t wait for the adventure to start. The last couple of days also meant saying goodbye to some people. Besides the standard questions about travelling with Covid-19 restrictions, people now also start to ask me whether I’m afraid of something, what my biggest fear is or what to do when we get stranded and a Nomadic tribe is coming our way. And to be honest there is nothing I’m afraid of, I don’t have any fears haunting me at night, and when a Nomadic tribe comes our way I hope I have enough ‘stroopwafels’ to share with them and make friends. Of course there are things that can go wrong, but more things can go right. Funny that no one asks about that, no one asks about what I’m looking forward the most, or what I’m most confident about.
So, let’s answer these questions.
What are we looking forward to the most
I asked Yuri and he replied ‘the nice sceneries’. I totally agree, but what I’m looking forward even more I think is the freedom. I’ve travelled a lot in my life, even dedicated a study to it. I have lived in several countries and the feeling of freedom and the ability to explore the unknown has always made me feel so alive. I guess that’s what I’m looking forward to the most; driving and living in a van and the freedom that brings. And of course we look forward to the explorations into cultures we do not yet know, the incredible nature we will witness, the most delicious food we will taste.
Ah, there is so much we are looking forward to. From seeing our friends to meeting strangers, from eating food we know to food that is new to us and from driving in the mountains to driving in deserts. We are looking forward to strange money, languages and road signs. To waking up to the sound of birds to going to sleep in the quietest of places. Watching amazing sunrises and glorious sunsets, tasting all kinds of beers, wines and honey. Hiking great mountains and jumping in the most clear water. Visiting historical sights, religious places and crowded cities. Wearing flip-flops and sunglasses or hiking boots and outdoor clothing. Capturing memories by photo and film. Exploring the world together, sharing one of the most thrilling adventures of our lives together, travelling together.
What to miss and not to miss?
Yuri is going to miss running water, especially running water from The Hague – it’s delicious. I won’t miss a thing, but I will miss my family & friends. But it’s always a good kind of missing and the internet makes the world so small nowadays.
What will we not miss? I won’t miss the noise in the street when I’m trying to sleep (sorry people but I love the curfew). Well, and of course the waiting in line while grocery shopping, the diversion of Netflix, my mobile phone, internet and I won’t miss the hasty lifestyle of the Dutch.
Yuri will not miss the annoying and very busy traffic in The Netherlands. That’ll be fun when we drive through Istanbul, Teheran or Xi’an.
What are we most confident about
We are very confident that this is going to be one of the most amazing trips we will ever take and we will be taking so many beautiful photos, making wonderful memories and meeting the kindest of people. We are confident that when something happens we will be able to make the best of it, we are sure that we can turn bad things into good things and good things into even better ones, we are certain that luck is on our side.
We feel as confident about this trip as we are sure the sun will rise tomorrow. When people think about the bad things that can happen on a trip like this we think about the good things that will happen. Don’t forget that there is only bad because there is good, that there is dark because there is light and that safety doesn’t exist if there is no danger. No yin without yang.
When you feel confident, when you are positive, when you trust in luck, good things will happen.
Are we really not afraid that anything bad happens?
That corona doesn’t throw a spanner in the works?
Of course we know travelling during a pandemic has it’s challenges. Yes, we understand that driving an oldtimer is daring. But Covid-19 is a challenge at home as well, driving an oldtimer is always daring but has it’s charme, the world is always full of bad things that can happen. If you focus on the negativity it will happen to you. But if you focus on the good, the good will happen.
Four more days
So, now you know our mindset it’s time to focus on whats left to be done. And even though we have only four days left we have lots of work to do. We still need to finish the roof, sew the curtains, fix the couch/bed, get the solar panels to work, get new sunshades, install the door panels, fix some electricity issues. We need to install fog lights, get an oil sump and buy spare parts.
Besides that we need to move, so empty the house, clean the house, pack our stuff and leave the house. We’ve got four days and after that; freedom!
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Hi there! We are Milene & Yuri. We are travelling the world together since 2015. Our endless curiosity and will to explore has resulted in many cool, and somewhat extreme, adventures. On MYgrations you'll read all about our adventures, you'll find lots of information about the countries we visit you won't find anywhere else and more. Enjoy!
We’re also grammin’
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