3-7/2: WWOOFing, coughing and riding through a blizzard

3/2:
Slept poorly, coughing wretchedly and clutching at my throat to try and alleviate the pain. Eating breakfast hurt. Tea is my new addiction.

Sigrid looked at me with a bit of concern when I said I'd go out and work with Luke. I knew my throat was going to hurt no matter where I was, and being outside in the clean air was probably better for my cough, so I sucked it up and rugged up against the cold. It actually wasn't bad at all. I don't understand how -2 degrees can feel so comfortable to me when I've been accustomed to at least 10 degrees.

The WWOOFing task for today was to dig up all the grass and dirt from a patch out behind the stable where Martin wanted to construct a path for the horses to walk up and down. I was comically inept when it came to using the spade. On more than one occasion, I jumped up onto the hilt, intending to drive it into the earth, only to slip or stumble and almost go flying! It was quite fun though and very satisfying seeing the hole gradually widen and the truck gradually fill up with wheelbarrow loads of dirt.

There was a very tough patch near the chicken coop, which received very little sunlight and was frozen as a result. We got the pickaxes out and swung with all our might, trying to ignore the icey shrapnel that flew back into our faces. Before long I was down to just my thermal top.

I was getting pretty tired towards the end and was glad when we ran out of room in the back of the truck at about 5:20. Time to call it a day, we both decided. We'd done most of the hard work, and I thought I'd be able to almost finish it off by myself the next day (Luke was leaving for Munich).

Dinner tonight was shephard's pie with lentils. It was very well received, though Sigrid just scooped off the mashed potatoes, leaving the lentils sitting in the dish much to the disdain of everyone else present ('Das ist unfair!').

4/2:
My throat was feeling a lot better but to compensate for that, my cough had become quite a bit worse. I ate breakfast slowly and went outside at 9am to fill up the water containers for the horses. Luke's train was leaving at 9:30 and he cut it right to the line, getting a lift to the station with Sigrid at 9:20. He's going on a big exploratory trip of Germany, visiting Munich, Berlin, various relatives and wherever strikes his fancy basically. It's definitely the best way to do it this time of year I think! He'll have seen more of the country than I have, which is a bit sad considering I've already spent about four months longer than him here:P

The digging progressed a lot more quickly today. The soil wasn't frozen at all and thanks to the work we'd done yesterday, all I had to do was cut out blocks of earth with the spade and chuck them into the wheelbarrow.

Some time after lunch, a neighbour came out into her garden to take advantage of the bright sun, and started chatting with me. Amusingly, I spent about 5 minutes explaining where it was I come from. She claimed that I was saying Australia incorrectly (I need to stress the 'Ow' a bit more apparently) but Martin thought she was just a little deaf. I have to agree with him, Slovenia sounds nothing like Australia!

After six hours of tough work, I'd almost gotten to the door of the stable, but not quite. I was happy to call it a day when the sun went down though. There's another WWOOFer coming tomorrow, maybe she'll finish it off.

5/2:
Woke up very early for me - 7am - and couldn't get back to sleep, so I went down and had an early breakfast. The cough was as bad as ever, but the sore throat had vanished completely. The plan for today was to ride to Klostereichenbach, where I've booked a holiday apartment for the next two weeks. Getting over the inertia to leave was quite difficult. I sprawled on the couch, surfing the net for a few hours, only getting my act together when Martin told me there was snow forecast for 1pm.

I thanked him for letting me stay the past two days and rode off, following a map he'd printed out for me. It was very nice riding on the well maintained German roads with pretty little villages at regular intervals and the Black Forest never far away. To get to Klostereichenbach, which was about 45km away, I first had to do a little bit of climbing before finishing off with what Martin promised me would be a very nice descent.

As I got up above 700m, Winter showed its face and I was treated to a gorgeous snow covered landscape. It was incredibly beautiful and I felt privileged to witness what is becoming a very rare sight in Germany these days. The wind swirled around a fair bit, making riding quite difficult especially as I was feeling quite wretched, coughing violently and feeling quite weak and hungry after a very inadequate breakfast. A road cyclist soared past me up a hill and called out 'Has the touring season started already then!?'

One o'clock came and went, but luckily I'd escaped the dark clouds despite my slow progress. Desperately hungry, I stopped at a service station and picked up some nice rolls (how I love German bread). Luckily I'd done the tough part of the ride by then and only had to go about five hundred metres before reaching the start of the promised downhill. Whoopee, down I went, wind whipping into my face and sending the huge wind turbines spinning quickly. The last five km were flat and still buzzed from the downhill, I pushed into the wind and flew along.

After consulting with the very cheery woman at the tourist office, I found the apartment, was given a quick tour and left to my own devices. It's nothing special: a little kitchen, a little bathroom, a little TV and a bed that folds out from the wall (the first one I've ever seen!). But it's all I need:)

I surfed the net for quite a while, ignoring the fact that I had nothing at all to eat until it was already dark and all the shops in the town were closed. There were always restaurants right..? After ascertaining that the restaurants were both expensive and lacking in suitable dishes for vegans, I bit the bullet and walked the three km to Baiersbronn. It was rather hairy walking next to the road with no shoulder whatsoever. On the way back, laden with groceries, I found a path next to the river. It was rather spooky and I was a tad worried it'd lead me deep into the forest, where I'd meet a Grimm ending.

6/2:
My cough was truly awful today. It wracked my whole body and I just didn't want to do anything. Normally I just train through colds (heavy exercise has been shown to not slow your recovery rate at all), but when it's below the neck I exercise a little more caution. The last thing I want is to end up with bronchitis. So basically I just spent the whole day on the internet, only making a single expedition out to Baiersbronn for more groceries.

7/2:
Woke up feeling quite a bit better. The cough was nowhere near as frequent or violent, which I was very glad of. I decided to get out and do a bit of exercise on the bike. The reason why I chose Klostereichenbach is because it's quite close to the cross country trails. Unfortunately the trails down at this elevation (650m) are not currently skiable (haven't been for a number of years I think), so to get some practice in, I'd have to head up a bit higher. So that's where I headed. Not really very well prepared for any bad weather, I rode off towards the town of Kniebis, which is twenty km away and 300m higher in elevation.

It started raining as soon as I got out the door, and I started to wonder whether this was really a good idea. Telling myself I could always take the train back if it got really bad, I pressed on, soon reaching Freudenstadt. By then, the rain had turned to snow, which spattered into my face and blocked my vision whenever I got up to any decent speed. I was still warm though, and quite enjoying the ride, my unloaded bike responding crisply to my pedal strokes.

Going off memory, I took a wrong turn and cruised downhill for three km before turning back on the advice of a woman walking her dog. Oh well, more hill training can't hurt! I was a bit scared of the road up to Kniebis. From what I could remember of the many bus trips I took up there last year, it was quite steep. So having found the correct road, I took a deep breath, imagining 8% grades all the way up, and set off..downhill..

My memory must be really rubbish, because it was not difficult at all. There was a bit of climbing, but it was very gradual, barely noticeable most of the time. I actually relished the climb because by that stage, my gloves were very wet and my hands were getting quite cold. I discovered that if I pushed hard up the hill, while simultaneously wiggling my fingers around, my hands actually remained quite warm:)

Before long I had reached Kniebis. The snow was coming down heavily, hanging in the air in great flurries. I was covered in the stuff, but didn't mind at all. The ski stadium was just a bit further up the hill and I spun up easily before dragging my bike across the snow to the Hütte. I wasn't planning on doing any skiing today but I was hoping to hire some skis for the next two weeks. It was within the opening hours they'd published on the website, but the lady at the counter told me there was no-one there who could help me and that I should come back the next day. Oh well, at least I'd got a workout in.

I really wasn't looking forward to the downhill. It was going to be cooold. I pulled on another jumper, my balaclava, my sunglasses (so the snow wouldn't fly into my eyes) and a woolen glove (not sure what happened to the second one). Just as I expected, it was cold. My hands and feet soon felt like blocks of ice and I had the unusual wish for a nice, long uphill. The only good thing about the downhill was that I could go fast (or fastish, I was being cautious on the wet road) and get it over with.

Basically the whole way back to Klostereichenbach was downhill. By the time I got back, I was a wreck. My hands were soo cold! I couldn't get my helmet off, and spent about five minutes trying to get the door to my apartment open, almost crying in frustration. I was wet and cold and just wanted to get inside and curl up in a blanket.