Th e west by north-west route from Austria took us into the Black Forest and we picked a site at Alpirsbach, at which we would ‘overnight’, close to a town (Schiltach) which had a tell-tale pencilled circle around it, in the borrowed Lonely Planet. The words “must be a nice place to visit” were uttered and so we arrived to check in, having sent an email earlier, to which the response had been, “we are very busy and hope to reply within 48 hours”. Actually they responded whilst we were en-route and so we were welcomed when we got there. It’s a nice site, similar to many others in Germany, on the edge of a town, in a wooded valley and apparently run by a family for years. This was no ordinary check-in as we were offered a bottle of beer each, from the local brewery. All part of the camping fee (€35 or so per night). Handily the cost of electricity was per unit (and we only used 1kWh over the 36 hours. So that was €1 and waived by the authorities. I had to do some work the next morning, l...