The further you follow the banks of the ‘Murg’ river upstream and the closer you get to the Black Forest town of Freudenstadt, the deeper you will venture into one of the most enchanting valleys of the Black Forest.

In long bygone days, timber trade and rafting on the Murg were an important business in the area. The tradesmen built rafts by roping up solid logs of fir and spruce and floated them down the Murg, onto the Rhine river, and then all the way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The beautiful town hall in Gernsbach, dating back to the 17th century, bears testimony to this once flourishing trade.