This is the first route of a multi-day trip through the Alps, called Alpentoertje. I rode the route in six days with quite long stages. It is easy to share the day routes so that you also have / take time to do more along the route, have a longer lunch or just drive relaxed. For reference I would like to mention that we were with two motorcycles and both have extensive experience with motorcycling also in the mountains.

This route takes you from the north of the Black Forest to the heart of the Black Forest and avoids many boring highway kilometers towards the Freiburg area. Think of this as an alternative that will require you to schedule some extra time but is well worth leaving home an hour or two early.

Just below Karlsruhe you go off the highway and you arrive at the starting point. You can stop here but also pick up the route at the same time. You drive through the beautiful forests and are immediately treated to lovely rolling bends that are great for the average motorcyclist to loosen up after the (possible) highway kilometers to get to the starting point. You get into your rhythm, feel the stress slide off you and surrender to the joy of motorcycling.

We ignore the well-known SchwarzwaldhochstraBe and look for the more unknown roads. From Ettlingen we head for the river Alb, which we follow for a while until Bad Herrenalb. In the direction of Loffenau we get the first tighter bends, just short of hairpin bends, after which we leave the main roads for a while and can enjoy peace and quiet via small roads. We head further south to Freudenstadt.

Freudenstadt is located at an altitude of approximately 730 metres. It is the Kreisstadt of the Landkreis Freudenstadt. The city has 23,442 inhabitants. Freudenstadt's main church is the only structure that survived a bombing raid by the Americans followed by artillery shelling by French troops during World War II in April 1945. The rest of the city was reduced to ashes.

After Freudenstadt you notice that more altitude meters have to be conquered. And altimeters also means there are waterfalls. In Triberg in Schwarzwald can take a walk to the waterfalls of Triberg. These waterfalls are one of the largest in Germany. The River Gutach meanders through the Black Forest. At the falls, the water of the river falls from a height of 872 meters to a height of 711 meters above NAP. The Gutach runs over a sloping plateau to finally plunge 163 meters in 7 large steps into the V-shaped valley of Triberg.

Just past Schonach im Schwarzwald you will rise above 1,000 meters for the first time. At Waldkirch you start at the first pass of this route, the Kandel-Pass, with a height of 1,241 meters, a length of 24 km and a maximum gradient of 15%. This pass is a nice warm-up for the coming days and a nice end to the first day so we head towards the end point in Oberried at Hotel Goldener Adler for a good meal and a nice drink. Tomorrow fresh up for the second day along the German Alpenstrasse.