I’ve always loved hill walking and my happiest times are always wandering through trails on hillsides and in forests (with perhaps the odd stop off for a pint).

Nikki and I had heard of a company called Inn Travel who do luxury walking holidays and theyd just launched a new trip in the Black Forest.

I’d always wanted to go trekking there, so off we went.

We flew Easyjet from Manchester.

The nearest airport was called Basel-Mullhouse, which is right on the border between Germany, France and Switzerland.

A nice glass of wine at the airport as we sit in the sunshine and wait 20 minutes for the airport bus to take us to Frieburg.

It was air conditioned and very comfortable.

We stayed at the InterCity hotel.

It was run with usual German efficiency, the staff were charming and we had this amazing view.

Although a German town, I found it to be relatively laid back.

La Pepa, a Tapas restaurant I’d found online, was really quirky and mellow.

They had no website, and I had to book using their Facebook page.

Lovely food and wine, and some nice German beer. A cracking start to the trip.

Most of the buildings in Frieburg were old but the University library was modern and I’d been told to visit it at night.

A few more drinks around the town and then back to our hotel.

We were travelling into the Black Forest late afternoon, so that gave us some time to explore the town.

9am on Sunday morning, the streets were pretty quiet but the sun was out.

I saw this C&A shop.

A constant fixture of my youth, they completely withdrew from the UK market in 2000.

Frieburg Minster, built in the 1200’s in the Gothic style.

Inside Minster square, a whole row of old buildings.

The red one, is the historical merchants hall.

Frieburg’s new Town Hall.

We found a nice cafe in the square by a souvineer shop.

The chap serving spoke practically no English, so we were unable to order breakfast, and instead just had coffee.

Was really nice to sit out in the square and relax.

But we couldn’t relax for long, as I really wanted to see the place and we were running out of time.

One last photo of the Minster and were off exploring.

The Whale house, Frieburg tourist information.

Konviktstrasse.

Had lovely old buildings and antique shops.

Along the way, the Wolfshole restaurant, the best in the city and fully booked months in advance.

Some bars next to the Canal.

Still unable to find breakfast, we just waited a while and then had Pizza for lunch.

The stone Crocodile statue in the Industriekanal.

It weighs 400kg and somehow some of the 30,000 students there managed to turn it around to face the other way as a prank (its since been turned back).

Martinstor, the gateway to the black forest.

Out of time, but in high spirits we jump onto the bus to Feldberg and the Black Forest adventure begins.