Saturday, 26 May 2012

Forbach

Mummelsee

24.1

293.1

Warm, sunny and breezy

Mummelsee Hotel

Bread rolls and jam for breakfast, bread rolls and cheese for lunch, Wiener Schnitzel and tart for dinner.

None really

Breakfast wasn't until 8am, but I got up in sufficient time to visit a nearby bakery and buy some rolls and cheese for lunch, and finish packing before I had breakfast.  I should mention that the hostess the previous evening put the Bee Gees on the restaurant sound system during dinner in my honour.  I ate heartily at breakfast and said my farewells to the friendly hosts before starting the steep climb out of the village on the cobbled road.

After a few hundred metres I encountered an older (than me) couple struggling up the hill with their backpacks.  I thought of them often during the next hour of relentless climbing as the trail passed through farmland and then forest to reach the Black Forest high ground (~1000m) again.  It was cool in the forest and very pleasant climbing, but I was still bathed in sweat by the top.  From there, for the rest of the day, the trail followed the main western ridge of the Black Forest mountains in a southerly direction, visiting a number of towers and other viewpoints along the way.  Occasionally, I could make out the Rhine River in the far distance, but the haze marred the views somewhat.

The beautiful Saturday weather attracted many hikers and mountain bikers to the trails and the roads crossed during the day were busy with motor cyclists enjoying the winding mountain roads.  I reached Mummelsee, a small pretty mountain lake with a big hotel on its shore, at about 4pm.  Realising that accommodation might be hard to come by on such a busy weekend, I accepted the offer of a quite expensive (relative to the past couple of nights) room rather than risk carrying on further and not being able to get something.  It was a very good room and I showered and washed some stuff out before walking a lap of the small lake in the late afternoon.

I decided to buy some stuff to eat in my hotel room for dinner rather than pay the high meal prices when disaster struck.  Somewhere between buying some food at an adjacent shop (part of the hotel complex) and getting back to my hotel room, about 50m, a small plastic bag containing a couple of my credit/debit cards and about 300 Euros went missing.  The zip was undone on my trouser pocket and I can only think that the plastic bag fell out (if I didn't zip up the pocket properly) or I was pick-pocketed.  I suspect the former, because I was messing round trying to put my purchases in my little backpack and get out of the crowded store, with whoever found it (it was very busy) deciding to keep what they found.  It certainly spoiled my day.  I reported the loss to the hotel and they have made some enquiries of staff, but nothing has been handed in.  I have other credit/debit cards but no cash now, so will have to catch a bus to somewhere with a cash machine tomorrow morning before returning to the trail.  I'll cancel the cards in the morning if they haven't turned up.  It will be a pain in the butt to get replacements.

Even with the Eurovision Song Contest going on as I summarise my day, I'm still feeling sorry for myself.  If only I'd been more careful........  I know it will become a trivial issue as the days ahead pass and these things happen when you're travelling, but it's got me down a bit.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day and, apart from this mishap, it was a pretty good day with nice trail and great views.