Maginot Line 🇫🇷 and Black Forest
Sven Walther
Maginot Line – Flooding System
We start a historical excursion, and the first stop on the way to Fortress Schoenenbourg is a parking spot by a lake. It turns out that even here we are already right in the middle of history, because this dammed lake is actually part of the Maginot Line. The valley was meant to be flooded if the German army crossed the border.
Lake for flooding
Lake for flooding
Lou by the lake
Information sign flooding system
Bunker by the lake
Maginot Line – Fortress Schoenenbourg
We continue to one of the huge fortresses of the Maginot Line. Fortress Schoenenbourg has been extensively restored and can now be visited. It’s incredible what France built here to create a bulwark against Nazi Germany. You can only partially capture it in photos, but we spent several hours underground and walked several kilometers — all within a single fortress.
We park directly at the fortress
Entrance to the fortress
By the way: dogs are generally not allowed — unless you carry them the entire time.
The entire fortress is supplied by rail
Corridor inside the bunker
Machinery
Diesel tank
Pipes
Narrow corridors
Quarters
Kitchen
Kitchen
Medical station
Operating room
Clerks’ office
Wall painting
Wall painting
Overview map of the fortresses
By the way, this fortress was never captured during the war — it only fell into German Nazi hands after the capitulation.
Alsace – Lorraine
While I am again hosting full-day workshops for the company, Saskia and Lou hike up to a lookout tower and capture the beautiful surroundings here.
View from the lookout tower
Black Forest and Sigmaringen
Back in Germany, we follow the (truck) navigation system to a parking spot. The access is adventurous via a narrow and steep old-town street. We lean out of the windows on both sides and squeeze our way narrowly between cars parked on both sides (despite no-parking signs…). Later I read on Park4Night that smaller vehicles have already picked up scratches here — we didn’t :)
Parking spot
Parking spot
Our last stop before another visit to the Allgäu is Sigmaringen, where we explore the old town and especially the castle.
Lou in front of the castle
Town hall
One more thing
On the last few kilometers before Kempten, we make a stop for a customer appointment (online meeting), and while I’m waiting for my turn, I casually click this nice-looking “Update me” button in Victron VRM. Let me put it in Stephan’s words: “that was not a good idea.”
After that, the inverter is out of service (but the PV system continues to work, so the meeting went through just fine) — meaning no more power from the batteries, no 230V — only the power currently coming in from the solar panels…
More on that in the next blog post, including several hundred extra kilometers caused by stupidity…