Lock keeper's house with goat.
Stop in Saverne
Wednesday July 4 - Day 8 - 52 miles - Total 334 miles
A very early start at 5.30am to stealthily pack up the tent was in order. From inside the tent, we listened for sounds of getting caught (foot steps? voices?) but we heard nothing but the mooing of cows and a tractor off in the next field. As it had rained overnight so the fly and groundsheet were a bit wet, but we shook off as much water as possible and packed them up to dry out properly later. We threw the rest of the sleeping stuff in a big black trash bag and strapped it on to the back of Andrea's bike (to be organized later). We had everything on the bikes in 45 min from waking up (a feat since it usually takes us 2 hours but we are getting better!) and were wheeling them out of the gates of the convent by 6.30am. The owner/caretaker was in her office however and came out to try and confront us, but we feigned not understanding (we didn't feel guilty considering her supreme unhelpfulness the prior evening) and walked on.
Of course, it was still slightly uphill before an excellent downhill to reach Sarrebourg. We found an open boulangerie (a rare occurrence!) and loaded up on pastries and sandwiches for the day! We also found an open cafe/bar in the centre of Sarrebourg and had our morning espresso as well as using their bathrooms to clean up a bit after wild camping! We had a false start getting out of Sarrebourg....but after asking directions a couple of times we found the way south to Niderviller and onto the Marne Rhine Canal bicycle path.
The day got much better after that. The bicycle path was mostly beautiful asphalt and trended downhill with every canal lock that we passed. Initially we followed the "old" canal which has now been bypassed and the crumbling infrastructure amidst the gorges of the Vosges Mountains was spectacular. Rusting lock gate mechanisms and lock-keepers house that had started to decay were a most excellent accompaniment to the towering rock faces and smooth asphalt.
We also started to see more touring cyclists as this path was part of Eurovelo Route 5. Ortlieb panniers abounded which was really excellent to see! We cycled through Lutzlebourg and into Saverne and were now truly in Alsace and not Lorraine. The architecture was much more Germanic looking. We stopped in Saverne for an early lunch and enjoyed their local market day in the town square. There were people everywhere! Strolling through the market stalls, we bought cherries, pastries, and some Moroccan artichoke heart salad... all enjoyed with the sandwiches from earlier on a park bench... watching the people walking by and listening to the international sounds of Bolivian pan pipe players.....some things are consistent!
We were out of the mountains now and it was only about another 30miles to Strasbourg. We powered on, but started getting tired due to our early start this morning. We paused for about 45minutes in the sun between the bike path and the canal, to finish drying out the tent in the afternoon sun and also relaxed ourselves.
Interestingly, after our rest, we came across a couple of "deviations" (diversions) where the bicycle path was closed. They are building a new dedicated High speed rail line for the TGV trains into Strasbourg and were building bridges across the canal. The first one of these was ridiculous as the path was only closed for 100yards, and they wanted to send us on a 3km diversion. That clearly wasn't going to happen, so we followed the tire tracks of the cyclists who had gone before us and just walked our bikes around the closed gate and through the construction site (of course the French workers weren't actually in view anywhere.....probably on strike or on lunch!) and back onto the path on the other side. The second diversion was a little more taxing. The German cyclists who were close behind us, decided to be good little order takers and follow the diversion. Andrea and I, with our supreme lack of trust in French signposting abilities, decided to skirt around the construction gates again. We went a couple of kilometers with no sign of any construction, but then had to bypass a second gate and this one was more secure. It may have put off the less faint of heart but we went down a forest track or two for a couple of hundred metres and back onto the path. Then we actually reached the construction zone! The workers who were there clearly had seen others doing this as they didn't care that we were wandering through an active bridge building site (hey, we had our cycle helmets!). The only issue was that the soil was mostly clay (the type of soil you make terra cotta pots out of) and thus stuck to everything, especially our tires and shoes. We quickly made it back onto the path and cycled away, swerving around to get the clay off our tires!
We stopped at the next lock and chatted to a very helpful (and lonely) lock keeper who
told us that there was a Hilton hotel in Strasbourg. After about half an hour of "help" we managed to break free and since Bruce still has some residual Hilton points from when he used to travel for business, we decided to see if they had availability! This would be an excellent treat and quite the change from wild camping in the back garden of a convent!
One really interesting thing we haven't mentioned yet is the abundance of house barges and boats on the canals. Remember how we met Fran and Perry who live on a canal boat, well they had said that there was a whole community of boaters on the canal with these elaborately renovated house barges. We have seen some of them now! Some of them have whole gardens growing on their decks, while others have tons of port holes along their length to see the water as they float by. All of the people on them seem so incredibly relaxed, they all waved and said hello in whatever language they chose to use at the time to us, the silly cyclists speeding away at 10 miles an hour. These boats move at a VERY slow pace down the canals. What a beautiful life to live on one of these. We saw a big blue one moored along the canal, and we deemed it the Big Blue Barge... Someday, if we ever publish a few best sellers, this will be our retirement home. What a serene way to travel and live. ahhh....
The last 10km of the day always takes a long time and seems a lot longer than it actually is. This was true today as well even though the terrain was obviously flat along the canal. The surroundings changed from woodlands and farmlands to gradually more built up as we entered Strasbourg. After negotiating a flock of swans who were hissing and spitting at anyone who passed we reached the European Parliament building! Croatia had just joined the EU as of July 1, so the Croatian flag was in evidence everywhere. The local mini-bus driver knew exactly where the Hilton was and we followed the bike paths straight to it! There are bike paths everywhere in Strasbourg, so getting around tomorrow will be easy!
The hotel did have availability and even upgraded us after they found out that it was our honeymoon and that we were cycling across Europe. We then set about unloading all our bags and doing laundry, which is currently on clotheslines all across the room in a very non-Hilton way!
After cleaning ourselves up as well, and hitting the Hilton Executive lounge (gotta love those travel perks!) for free Alsatian sparkling wine (you can't call it Champagne if it isn't from Champagne!... and we know what Champagne from Champagne tastes like!) and snacks, we got the tram to the historic downtown of Strasbourg. The centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is not difficult to see why. Medieval architecture abounds and it is truly beautiful with alleyways and squares that are all interconnected in a haphazard way. This is the type of city Dickens could have written about, where someone comes to the city and disappears down its many streets.
The gothic cathedral in Strasbourg is it's center piece. It is enormous and incredibly ornate. As we walked by, a man with a raspy French voice sang along while he played an organ grinder. All he needed was a monkey on his shoulder and this could have been an episode of Madeline (animated comic in the US about a little French girl in a yellow cap). Strolling under the historic architecture, we heard many local musicians playing and singing.
Soon we headed towards a local wine boutique called VinoStrade to try and taste the wines of Alasce (one of our Travel Registry items... Thank you Anne Marie and Ken!). Our wonderful waiter was very knowledgeable and started us off with a light, refreshing Sylvaner, before moving on to a very aromatic, dry Muscat. Next we also tried Pinot blanc, Pinot Noir, a dry Reisling before finishing off with a much sweeter late harvest Pinot blanc that was almost like honey. Luckily, we also had a little snack and desserts with this as the wine portions were much more than tasting samples.......We were sad that we couldn't get to the actual vineyards, but they are way up the hills in Alsace, and the canal was down in the valley and our bicycles much prefer the flatlands to the hills!
After admiring the cathedral again the fading twilight, we took the tram back to the hotel and fell fast asleep ... very quickly!
What an amazing city! What an amazing day! The World is Ours!
A very early start at 5.30am to stealthily pack up the tent was in order. From inside the tent, we listened for sounds of getting caught (foot steps? voices?) but we heard nothing but the mooing of cows and a tractor off in the next field. As it had rained overnight so the fly and groundsheet were a bit wet, but we shook off as much water as possible and packed them up to dry out properly later. We threw the rest of the sleeping stuff in a big black trash bag and strapped it on to the back of Andrea's bike (to be organized later). We had everything on the bikes in 45 min from waking up (a feat since it usually takes us 2 hours but we are getting better!) and were wheeling them out of the gates of the convent by 6.30am. The owner/caretaker was in her office however and came out to try and confront us, but we feigned not understanding (we didn't feel guilty considering her supreme unhelpfulness the prior evening) and walked on.
Of course, it was still slightly uphill before an excellent downhill to reach Sarrebourg. We found an open boulangerie (a rare occurrence!) and loaded up on pastries and sandwiches for the day! We also found an open cafe/bar in the centre of Sarrebourg and had our morning espresso as well as using their bathrooms to clean up a bit after wild camping! We had a false start getting out of Sarrebourg....but after asking directions a couple of times we found the way south to Niderviller and onto the Marne Rhine Canal bicycle path.
The day got much better after that. The bicycle path was mostly beautiful asphalt and trended downhill with every canal lock that we passed. Initially we followed the "old" canal which has now been bypassed and the crumbling infrastructure amidst the gorges of the Vosges Mountains was spectacular. Rusting lock gate mechanisms and lock-keepers house that had started to decay were a most excellent accompaniment to the towering rock faces and smooth asphalt.
We also started to see more touring cyclists as this path was part of Eurovelo Route 5. Ortlieb panniers abounded which was really excellent to see! We cycled through Lutzlebourg and into Saverne and were now truly in Alsace and not Lorraine. The architecture was much more Germanic looking. We stopped in Saverne for an early lunch and enjoyed their local market day in the town square. There were people everywhere! Strolling through the market stalls, we bought cherries, pastries, and some Moroccan artichoke heart salad... all enjoyed with the sandwiches from earlier on a park bench... watching the people walking by and listening to the international sounds of Bolivian pan pipe players.....some things are consistent!
We were out of the mountains now and it was only about another 30miles to Strasbourg. We powered on, but started getting tired due to our early start this morning. We paused for about 45minutes in the sun between the bike path and the canal, to finish drying out the tent in the afternoon sun and also relaxed ourselves.
Interestingly, after our rest, we came across a couple of "deviations" (diversions) where the bicycle path was closed. They are building a new dedicated High speed rail line for the TGV trains into Strasbourg and were building bridges across the canal. The first one of these was ridiculous as the path was only closed for 100yards, and they wanted to send us on a 3km diversion. That clearly wasn't going to happen, so we followed the tire tracks of the cyclists who had gone before us and just walked our bikes around the closed gate and through the construction site (of course the French workers weren't actually in view anywhere.....probably on strike or on lunch!) and back onto the path on the other side. The second diversion was a little more taxing. The German cyclists who were close behind us, decided to be good little order takers and follow the diversion. Andrea and I, with our supreme lack of trust in French signposting abilities, decided to skirt around the construction gates again. We went a couple of kilometers with no sign of any construction, but then had to bypass a second gate and this one was more secure. It may have put off the less faint of heart but we went down a forest track or two for a couple of hundred metres and back onto the path. Then we actually reached the construction zone! The workers who were there clearly had seen others doing this as they didn't care that we were wandering through an active bridge building site (hey, we had our cycle helmets!). The only issue was that the soil was mostly clay (the type of soil you make terra cotta pots out of) and thus stuck to everything, especially our tires and shoes. We quickly made it back onto the path and cycled away, swerving around to get the clay off our tires!
We stopped at the next lock and chatted to a very helpful (and lonely) lock keeper who
told us that there was a Hilton hotel in Strasbourg. After about half an hour of "help" we managed to break free and since Bruce still has some residual Hilton points from when he used to travel for business, we decided to see if they had availability! This would be an excellent treat and quite the change from wild camping in the back garden of a convent!
One really interesting thing we haven't mentioned yet is the abundance of house barges and boats on the canals. Remember how we met Fran and Perry who live on a canal boat, well they had said that there was a whole community of boaters on the canal with these elaborately renovated house barges. We have seen some of them now! Some of them have whole gardens growing on their decks, while others have tons of port holes along their length to see the water as they float by. All of the people on them seem so incredibly relaxed, they all waved and said hello in whatever language they chose to use at the time to us, the silly cyclists speeding away at 10 miles an hour. These boats move at a VERY slow pace down the canals. What a beautiful life to live on one of these. We saw a big blue one moored along the canal, and we deemed it the Big Blue Barge... Someday, if we ever publish a few best sellers, this will be our retirement home. What a serene way to travel and live. ahhh....
The last 10km of the day always takes a long time and seems a lot longer than it actually is. This was true today as well even though the terrain was obviously flat along the canal. The surroundings changed from woodlands and farmlands to gradually more built up as we entered Strasbourg. After negotiating a flock of swans who were hissing and spitting at anyone who passed we reached the European Parliament building! Croatia had just joined the EU as of July 1, so the Croatian flag was in evidence everywhere. The local mini-bus driver knew exactly where the Hilton was and we followed the bike paths straight to it! There are bike paths everywhere in Strasbourg, so getting around tomorrow will be easy!
The hotel did have availability and even upgraded us after they found out that it was our honeymoon and that we were cycling across Europe. We then set about unloading all our bags and doing laundry, which is currently on clotheslines all across the room in a very non-Hilton way!
After cleaning ourselves up as well, and hitting the Hilton Executive lounge (gotta love those travel perks!) for free Alsatian sparkling wine (you can't call it Champagne if it isn't from Champagne!... and we know what Champagne from Champagne tastes like!) and snacks, we got the tram to the historic downtown of Strasbourg. The centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is not difficult to see why. Medieval architecture abounds and it is truly beautiful with alleyways and squares that are all interconnected in a haphazard way. This is the type of city Dickens could have written about, where someone comes to the city and disappears down its many streets.
The gothic cathedral in Strasbourg is it's center piece. It is enormous and incredibly ornate. As we walked by, a man with a raspy French voice sang along while he played an organ grinder. All he needed was a monkey on his shoulder and this could have been an episode of Madeline (animated comic in the US about a little French girl in a yellow cap). Strolling under the historic architecture, we heard many local musicians playing and singing.
Soon we headed towards a local wine boutique called VinoStrade to try and taste the wines of Alasce (one of our Travel Registry items... Thank you Anne Marie and Ken!). Our wonderful waiter was very knowledgeable and started us off with a light, refreshing Sylvaner, before moving on to a very aromatic, dry Muscat. Next we also tried Pinot blanc, Pinot Noir, a dry Reisling before finishing off with a much sweeter late harvest Pinot blanc that was almost like honey. Luckily, we also had a little snack and desserts with this as the wine portions were much more than tasting samples.......We were sad that we couldn't get to the actual vineyards, but they are way up the hills in Alsace, and the canal was down in the valley and our bicycles much prefer the flatlands to the hills!
After admiring the cathedral again the fading twilight, we took the tram back to the hotel and fell fast asleep ... very quickly!
What an amazing city! What an amazing day! The World is Ours!
Swans in the way in Strasbourg
Andrea in Strasbourg
Gothic Cathedral in Strasbourg
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