Virus can't stop Germans getting their favourite baguettes

German gourmets refuse to let a virus keep them from their favourite French pastries, with one even resorting to a fishing rod to reel in his baguettes.

Residents in the German border town of Lauterbach are fond of popping across to neighbouring Carling in France for their daily croissants.

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So when the border slammed shut to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many were bereft at no longer having access to their favourite boulangerie.

But baker Myriam Jansem-Boualit is going the extra mile — or at least, the extra few metres to the border — to make sure her German customers can still have their daily loaf.

Hungry customers can telephone ahead with their orders, and Jansem-Boualit will meet them at the border crossing in the street outside her shop with the fresh baked delicacies.

 A resident gets French baguettes at a bakery in Fontenay-sous-Bois near Paris in France. Reuters

"There used to be a lot of Germans who came here to buy bread," she said. "They don't dare come any more because... there are checks. So what I can do now is bring the bread to them... across the barrier."

Hartmut Fey, 52, is one of her happy customers.

"It has to do with tradition. We've been buying our baguettes and bread here in France for decades," he said.

Fey has even published a video on social media showing himself retrieving his baguettes with a fishing rod. "It was an idea of mine to create awareness," he said.

Fishing tackle is not compulsory, but with a steady stream of customers at the barrier, it seems Fey is not the only one who is hooked.