let’s all go to the lake

By loading the map, you agree to Google's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load map

Always unblock Google Maps

This post is about a 17km walk from Friedenweiler to Titisee. I arrive at Titisee and see a bunch of tourists and clocks.

I stayed for two days in a cozy room under a pitched roof in a small guesthouse in a tiny village in the Black Forest. One time I decided that I wanted a yoghurt and walked twenty minutes through the woods to a store and bought one.

Titisee

There was a lake nearby with an intriguing name: Titisee. “See” meant lake in German, but I had no idea what “Titi” was supposed to be. It sounded like the setting for a Gauguin painting.

When I looked up the Titisee Wikipedia page it offered a bunch of hypotheses for the origin of the name. Maybe it meant “child” in an Alemannic dialect. Maybe the Roman emperor Titus had camped here once. Or maybe there was some nobleman in the Middle Ages whose name was Titini and who had hunted here.

Okay.

the winding way

I decided to take a forest path down to the lake. This was fun in the beginning, when I found a cabin in the woods and opened its door. It was almost completely empty, except for a white plastic clock on the wall. When I checked my watch I noticed that the clock was correct. Of course it was fucking correct. The Black Forest region was famous for its clock-making, especially its hideous cuckoo clocks, so this was a bit on the nose. I loved it.

Then the path deteriorated. It left the forest and became steep and narrow. At some point it turned into a trail next to a pasture fence. Some cows were looking on as I was trying to manoeuvre the Caboose safely down the trail. The view was great, though. Dark hills, green pastures, a few farm houses.

more clocks

When I got to the shores of Titisee, it felt like a whole different world. There were throngs of tourists everywhere. Souvenir shops, cafés, and restaurants were catering to them. There were shops selling them clocks (normal ones and the hideous kind), and there were other shops selling them watches that seemed very expensive.

I ran to the other side of the lake and put up my tent in an overcrowded campground.

pictures

the walk from Friedenweiler to Titisee:

Ferns near Friedenweiler

cabin in the High Black Forest

…and the clock is correct

the Caboose in the High Black Forest

red bench

the way down to Titisee

cows are always curious about the Caboose

the path in its most rudimentary state

Titisee-Neustadt

bouncy castles

bicycle path to Titisee

boats on Titisee

clocks for sale everywhere in Titisee

Titisee

I sit on the shore of Titisee.

weird house

the Caboose on a campground