tiny houses

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This post is about an 18km walk from Titisee to Hinterwaldkopf. I see some miniature Black Forest houses and go higher into the hills.

The campground was tightly packed with camper vans and full-sized motor homes. I had never seen this many of them in one place. They stood side by side on a terraced slope next to the lake, each with a view of Titisee, each part of a giant pile of white boxes.

camper life

Most of the other campers were nice. One woman saw me pack my clean laundry and remarked that I must have been on the road for a while. “I noticed how systematically you were packing your things,” she said. True.

I stayed on the campground for a day, then I got going.

cocoa

One annoying thing about the campground was the excessive amount of morning due. Every morning it felt as though the lake had somehow raised itself out of its bed and descended upon the land. When I left most of my gear was still completely wet.

I walked until I was out of the touristy area. And then, when I got to a wooden house next to a forest, I asked the owner if I could dry my stuff in her yard. Yes, she said, and did I want a cup of coffee?

Her name was Heike, and on top of the coffee she gifted me a few tomatoes and cucumbers, and four boiled eggs. She also filled up my thermoses with hot water, and her daughter made me a cup of cocoa.

miniatures

And then she introduced me to her dad. Herbert Stolz had been making miniature Black Forest houses since he was ten years old. He had a collection of them in an enclosure not far from their house.

And they were magnificent.

Herbert had created a system of moving elements in the houses that was powered by a little stream of water. A group of workers were working on timber in a sawmill, a blacksmith was beating iron on an anvil, a millstone was grinding along in a watermill.

When I asked him why he had been building these tiny houses, Herbert said that he wanted to show a part of the Black Forest that was vanishing: the traditional village life.

up

The road went back up into the mountains after this. Or rather: I chose a path through the mountains because people had told me that the main road was too dangerous to walk with the Caboose.

And so I dragged myself and Boosey up until there were pastures with horses on them, and farm houses that looked as if they were from the Alps, and at some point I found myself on the ridge of the Hinterwaldkopf. It was about 1150m high, and there was a wooden shelter next to the forest.

A tiny house, just not as tiny as the others.

pictures

the walk from Titisee to Hinterwaldkopf:

Titisee at dawn

weird house, again

hot cocoa at Heike’s house

this will become a miniature Black Forest house

parts, all hand-made

Herbert Stolz in his workshop

Herbert Stolz, maker of miniature Black Forest houses

miniature Black Forest houses

many of the miniature houses are mills of different sorts

miniature saw mill

miniature forge

I sit between miniature Black Forest houses

Hinterzarten

rural house near Hinterzarten

horses grazing

horses running

lamas wondering WTF

Hanselehof

woman, man, cat, dog

view from the Hinterwaldkopf

shelter at the Hinterwaldkopf

ground mat problems