A Walk on the Wild Side

At first glance, Wolfach in Germany looks nothing like the literary template of an enchanted, perilous forest.

Key points

• The historic town sits prettily at the confluence of the Wolf and Kinzig rivers, in the heart of the Central Black Forest.
• As Milena Santos von Zelewski, the trail leader, explains, there is no dark secret at all, except.
• It steepens, the trees close in, and the path turns rough and, leads to a clearing known as the Witches' Landing.
• The locals affectionately began calling them 'mountain witches'. The women eventually maintained the moniker as their own.

At first glance, Wolfach in Germany looks nothing like the literary template of an enchanted, perilous forest. There are no brooding woods, lurking wolves or gingerbread houses waiting to lure unsuspecting travellers. The clear, sunny skies of Wolfach offer not the tiniest hint of what lies ahead.

For context, the historic town sits prettily at the confluence of the Wolf and Kinzig rivers, in the heart of the Central Black Forest. Just a few steps from the Lower Gate, a surviving relic of the town's 12th-century fortifications, the Schlossblick trail-literally, castle-view trail-begins its gentle ascent.

It steepens, the trees close in, and the path turns rough and, leads to a clearing known as the Witches' Landing. Time, perhaps, for the dark secrets of Schwarzwald-the Black Forest.

"There is no fairytale connection here, " she notes. "Some 40 years back, a group of women from the Women's League II 1866 Wolfach began hiking up the mountain every Friday to train for their yearly Alpine trip. The locals affectionately began calling them 'mountain witches'." The women eventually maintained the moniker as their own.

"Though individuals were always living here, against the backdrop of the forest, no one from outside came. Even the Romans skirted around it. Owing to the dense canopy of trees, the sunlight hardly reached the floor. All that led to the mysticism and black magic tales, " notes Karen Smallman of the museum.

Meanwhile, the forest's darkness was not merely a product of folklore. Today, even if the world does not know all the secrets of the Black Forest, it certainly knows two of its most delicious exports: Black Forest Gateau and cuckoo clocks.

Perhaps the forest's greatest trick is not that it is dark. It is that it can be sunny, charming and delicious-and still create you look over your shoulder.

In short, a Walk on the Wild Side is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.