Furtwangen is a Black Forest town high on a ridge, at about 850 metres, and it is the place where the story of the cuckoo clock is told. The Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, founded in the 1850s to inspire local craftsmen, holds one of the great clock collections in Europe, from early wooden Black Forest pieces with painted faces to elaborate astronomical machines and cuckoo clocks in every size. A clockmaking school was established here too, and it grew into a university of applied sciences, which is why a town of under ten thousand people has a fair number of students.
The Black Forest clock trade began in the eighteenth century, when farm families made wooden-geared clocks during the winter months and peddlers carried them across Europe on their backs. The cuckoo clock, with its carved wooden case and tiny bellows that imitate the bird's call, became the best-known export. Today craftsmen still make them by hand, and several workshops welcome visitors, though many cheap versions are made elsewhere, so look for the maker's mark if you want the real thing.
The geography is a curiosity as well. Near Furtwangen, in the hills, rises the Breg, which together with the Brigach forms the Danube at Donaueschingen, and the Breg spring is traditionally called the true source of Europe's second-longest river. It is a small stream here, and the idea of it ending up in the Black Sea is hard to believe. The surrounding forest of spruce and fir is dark, tall and quiet, and the air smells of resin.
The ride is a gentle and winding one, through valleys with big farmhouses and small chapels, and the roads climb and drop in long, smooth curves. The Black Forest is popular with riders, so expect company on dry weekends, and slow trucks and tractors on the narrower roads. The winters are cold and snowy, with frost possible into May, and summer thunderstorms can be sudden. Furtwangen has a few petrol stations, supermarkets and cafés, so it is a sensible stop for a break. Order a slice of local cake and watch the time pass, as befits a clock town.