There’s no escaping the changes of the seasons, not that I’d want to. It’s all very well loving the summer heat and long days, but each season has its pros and cons. Autumn is definitely upon us, with the leaves changing colour and the flowers hiding away for the oncoming winter.
What this means, for a motorcycle tourer, is that it’s getting bloody cold. If the air temperature is 12ºC, then at 60–100 kph, it’s significantly colder. Very fresh indeed. Full leathers deployed, as well as numerous layers, but I still had to stop for a hot drink somewhere otherwise I was going to start shivering.
I pulled up at Sankt Blasien, a former health-resort town located in the valley of the Alb [pronounced basically identically and unhelpfully to Alp, in German) at the foot of the Feldberg mountain.
A ‘new’ abbey church was built in the Early Classic style after a fire in 1768. With a diameter of 46 metres and a height of 63 metres, the dome is the third largest in Europe.
I walked around a little, snapping some pictures with the Zeiss adorned RX1, which I haven’t used for months. I decided to take it with me on my trip as it’s the smallest camera I have, all said and done, and fits neatly into the tank bag on the rear of my bike, so it’s no real carriage. It also means I am not farting around with lenses, wondering if I have the right one with me. It has one lens and no zoom. If I want to get a whole church in the shot, I have to move. Simples.
It looks rather warm, and the light was, but it was cold. Public toilets in Germany are paid for, in my experience. As I knew I was going to have a coffee somewhere, I decided to forgo the public loo and instead went to a nice looking local cafe and pulled up a seat in the sun.
I ordered a cappuccino, even though it was the afternoon (sorry Italian readers) to go with an apple strudel, with cream, and a portion of ice cream.
Once the shade met my table, like an oversized sundial, I knew it was time to leave. I zipped up, and hopped back onto the Speedy, and carved my way through the Black Forest back home.