Tuesday 19 June.

On our way back from Brend on Monday we were met by Erika near the Hirschen, we were happy to see her until we heard that she had been so worried about us that she had come out looking, armed with mobile phone, expecting to find us lying dead or injured at the side of the road. We had been out seven hours, which they must have thought too long for the expedition, not realising that as tourists we liked to make a day of it. I think the feeling was that they could not stand the strain of letting us out alone again, and so our proposed visit to Freiburg next day was incorporated into a trip to Titisee - I was pleased to hear this, as Diana was interested to visit the lake, and it was a very complicated procedure by train and bus taking over three hours. Erika planned to drive there which would not take very long, look around and then go by train to Freiburg, as it is a very scenic trip. I made a mental note of this for another time. Titisee was so lovely I requested that we stay there for the day and take a walk, it was very hot and I wanted to enjoy the scenery.

clock shops in Titisee - the way down to the lake is a tourist trap, with shops and stalls, but also good food stalls at reasonable prices. No rip-offs here although it is one of the premier tourist spots in Schwarzwald.

Erika and Irma went off to arm themselves with tourist leaflets for their future guests, and we went to sit by the lake - what a beautiful picture this one is, I have set it as desktop background on my laptop. We set off to walk right round the lake, not realising we would have to take to the road for a good part of the way at the start. Once back on the shore the rest of the way was very pleasant. We were resting on a seat when two German men stopped to talk with Erika and Irma, who explained we were our guests. We smiled pleasantly. Not realising we understood German, one man said, "they are pretty, the English ones, where are their husbands? Did they leave them at home?" Erika replied, "No, they do not like men!" I wonder what they made of that one!

View from the terrace of the restaurant where we of course ate a large lunch!