From the Rhine Falls we crossed back into Germany for about the hundredth time, and the border patrol were obviously very bored this day because we got asked (well, told) to pull into the driveway on the left there and they proceeded to search through all of our bags and the Gutless Wonder. Just when I thought they might be wanting to stick a couple fingers up my ass and have a dig around in there too they sent us on our way. Oh well - would've made a good photo ;)

Shortly thereafter the weather started to really pack in again and became more persistent rain. This is Freiburg in Germany's Black Forest. We were to staying here tonight, and elsewhere in the Black Forest tomorrow night after spending the day driving all through it. Thanks to the rains we never really got a chance to see a lot of Freiburg by day, instead retreating into the nearest pub. Seemed nice enough from what we did see of it though.

According to meteorological statistics, the city is the sunniest and warmest in Germany. Hmmm.

The folks behind the bar at the place we had lunch recommended a couple pubs in town, both of which turned out to be awesome!

What else are you supposed to do in this weather?!

I love beer.

So beautiful.

And then, the shit hit the fan, in a big big way. In fact it pretty much dislodged the fan from the ceiling. Story time...

So, Katie and I were an item for the best part of two years but I called it off sometime back in April or thereabouts (that's a whole other story). The mistake we then made was that although we'd broken up, we never broke apart. Instead we sill hung out a lot, still went through with the few trips we'd been discussing (including this one) and as a result Katie never really moved on. We both knew it, and actually the plan was to go our separate ways immediately after this trip (better late than never). Now, up until this point, everything had been hunky-dory between us all. However, Katie had apparently being noticing some subtle "flirtatious behaviour" as she put it going on between Kristina and I, and I probably wouldn't disagree with that. I mean, Kristina has a very friendly persona, and I have a penis so, you know, what's a guy to do? Anyway, the shit first started to smatter the fan a little when Kristina put her hand on my leg (rather blatantly hehe though not deliberately so) during lunch when we first arrived in Freiburg earlier in the day. With that, Katie up and walked out of the pub - oh dear. A few minutes later she came back and motioned me outside for a chinwag, in much the same way as a lot of my school teachers did back in the day. I got a piece of her mind and was asked straight up if something was going on, and I straight up replied no. It's one thing to be acting like rabbits in the tent next door, but it's an entirely different thing to merely plonk your hand on somebody's leg while kicking back with a beer at the dinner table and that's all it was (and I do have a nice leg, you know, from all that cycling I do hahaha! ;) Sure, there was some flirty shit going on, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't worth putting a stigma on what had so far been an amazing trip and still had the best part of a week to go. So I said no, there's nothing going on, let's just get on with it, and I made a conscious decision to watch myself around Kristina and quietly told her to do the same.

Well that didn't last long. As I mentioned, it had been pissing with rain all day, the temperature had plummeted from the 30-degree days we were enjoying just a week earlier, and we decided to avoid the tents again tonight if possible. As luck would have it, our campsite had a few wooden huts available and so we all crashed in there on the floor - Katie in her favoured position of next to the door because she has a bladder the size of a pea, and me sandwiched between her and Kristina (like an Aaron sandwich). I'd had a few pints, Kristina also had few, and let's just say I was lying a little closer to Kristina than I probably should've been given the earlier lunch-time conversation hehe. And before anybody's imagination starts running wild, let me disappoint and stop you there - there may have been a bit of hand holding or whatever but again that was the extent of it. However, Katie with her radar on full alert was having none of it, and the old fan got another smattering of shit.

Come morning (day 11 of 16) Katie had decided to make good on her earlier threat, which was to be taken to the nearest airport if something was going on. Now, what was I supposed to do? I'd already straight up told her just yesterday there was nothing going on, she'd seen whatever convinced herself otherwise, and given her highly pissed-off state there was no point in me trying to deny anything. She'd made her mind up, there was no talking to her, she was going, and that was that. The nearest international airport from which it would be fairly easy for her to get back to London on a whim was only 50kms away - probably the most awkward 50kms I've ever driven hahaha, even learning to drive was less intense than that! We arrived at departures, she grabbed her shit out the back, said goodbye, walked away, and the fan was dislodged.

I got back in the Gutless Wonder, looked and Kristina, and Kristina looked at me. We felt horrible, plain and simple, and both knew this didn't have to happen. But it is what it is. The girl hadn't moved on, I clearly had, and that was too hard for her to stomach. Fair enough. Several people are going to be thinking the obvious question: "Aaron, you dumb dumbass, how the hell did you not see this coming?!" Well that's a good question. I guess I did see this as a potentiality but just didn't think it would actually happen. As I said earlier, Katie and I tried to find other takers for this trip - the more the merrier and all that. Kristina was invited (by Katie ironically) because people are impossible and she's not, so I kind of just walked into the situation. But again, it is what it is. Kristina and I finished the remaining five days of the trip - what else could we do?

So we left the airport, and headed deep into the Black Forest with the sky starting to finally clear. The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range shaped like a bean with a length of 160kms and breadth of 50kms. And it really is stunning if you ever get the opportunity (just don't go with your ex-girlfriend / ex-boyfriend).

This stretch of road is the Hexenloch. It's bloody narrow as you can see and penetrates deep into a valley of rushing white water and tall trees. Breathtakingly beautiful, especially in this weather, and alone is worth the cost of the car hire (not that we really paid a lot for the Gutless Wonder hehe).

Welcome to Schiltach, the "prettiest town in the Black Forest" according to Lonley Planet, and again I'd have to agree! It's very quiet as most places are around here, and damn it's nice. We had lunch here in a hotel restaurant, and got chatting to the couple who own the joint - him German and her from California of all places. Some years back, her and her daughter were travelling around Europe for a while, stayed at this hotel, and got rather chummy with the owner (him). Those two kept in touch, and after her plans brought her back this way again some time thereafter, they really hit it off. To make a long story short, she packed up her life as a corporate lawyer in California and moved over here. They got hitched a year ago and now run the hotel together. What Kristina and I found most fascinating, besides the fact that this tiny town is a far cry to California, was that she speaks no German and he barely spoke any English (though is now quite fluent). For a long time they communicated largely by way of hand gestures and a big yellow English-German translator book hahaha - the things we do! People always ask whether I'll settle back in New Zealand some day, and as much as that is the plan, you just never know.

As she does, Kristina made friends with the hotel pet, which then spent the rest of the time staring up at me for food hehe.

We passed a lot of cyclists in the Black Forest. Considering some of the hills around here they're a lot keener than I am!

So as if it hadn't already been enough of an awkward day given the whole Katie saga, we paid a visit to the Friedrichsbad baths in Baden-Baden.

Lonely Planet says of them "who wouldn't want to bathe naked with a bunch of strangers?" hahaha! Baden-Baden's natural hot springs have attracted visitors since Roman times. The Friedrichsbad baths are Roman in style and provide a "muscle-melting" 16-step bathing programme - everything from hot tubs to steam rooms to massages to cold dives. And no clothing is allowed inside! Yup, the Germans are big on nudity (example here), so while it may seem a little out there to most folk, the Krouts think nothing of it. Remember when I said Kristina hadn't really committed much of this trip to memory beforehand? Well she definitely hadn't noticed the bit in the proposed itinerary about the nudity in the Black Forest hahaha! But yes, Kristina and I stripped down to our bare asses and treated ourselves, and it was awesome! I must say I'm now a big fan of the Black Forest!

The following day, and thanks to another one of those fucking road blocks, we had to detour via France to get to our next stop.

Hehehe Worms.

This is St Goar, plonked right on the Rhine River and impressively situated between mountains which rise on either side of the river.

One of the main draws of the town is its castle, Burg Rheinfels. This beast is the largest castle on the Rhine, and in its heyday was five times its current size (it's largely in ruins now).

We raided the souvenir shop ;)

Looking down from the castle over St Goar, and across the river to St Goarshausen.

No shortage of castles in this neck of the woods - we passed a heap just on the drive here and everywhere you look there seems to be another overlooking the hood.

Not a bad spot for lunch!

Looking back down over the Burg Rheinfels from further up the mountain. Impressive!