We Sadly Say Goodbye to the Alsace Wine Route

May 6, 2018

The Another good night at camp. It really helps that the nights are less cold, as we get a better sleep. Plus, it is great having the blue cable as we can charge everything in our tent...so civilized.

We remembered from previous trips how delightful (and reasonably priced) French campgrounds are. Le Florival with hedges between each spacious site, a lounge with a frig, etc was great and only €15.

Today we will leave the wine route at Cernay, about 20 km along, and head south on some secondary roads to rejoin the route we had been on until Strasbourg. That route is one Barry found on the website Biroto: Koln Germany to Barcelona Spain. It is a bittersweet feeling to leave this part of the Alsace as each day has been a delight full of memorable discoveries. Nonetheless, there is much ahead of us - the south of France, Spain, Italy, the Alps. Not a moment to waste!!

We love French campgrounds. All of the campgrounds we have stayed in this trip have only recently opened for the season on May 1.Something to consider if one wanted to travel earlier in the season.

These horses were happy to come and visit after hearing our bike bells.

We often see huge bicycles in France. Perhaps the Tour de France passed by here at one time

The geography is changing today. We are leaving the vineyards behind and it is getting flatter and cattle has replaced the vines.

With the verdant Vosges range in the background, we liked the image of this stone barn.

We had read about the Stork Park in Cernay and as fate will have it, when we stopped for lunch at a rest stop, we looked around and it was right there. What a wonderful space they have created for them with nesting pole, a pond, much vegetation and fenced. We were fascinated by being able to observe their habits so closely.

Many of the nests had hatchlings that the mothers were feeding and their mates were busy getting food. A few of the nests had not yet hatched and it was fascinating to watch the mother sitting in a trance like state with her mouth open.

We have successfully navigated secondary roads and avoided the freeways to reach the Rhone Canal, part of the Eurovelo 6 route. We will try to get to Montebiliard tonight. There is no camping in this area, so we will try to find an inexpensive hotel.

On such a hot day, the breezes from the canal are welcome. It is just the beginning of May, but it feels like summer and is in the high 20’s. Locals we talk to are concerned what the summer will bring.

So many locks with the original locksman’s house alongside. Now workers arrive in vans to help with the locks. It is always interesting to see that people always stop riding to watch the process at each lock.

We met this couple from Frankfurt, riding a Hase Pino, on their way to the Mediterranean. This is day one of their tour and they look so fresh and clean, compared to us. They are also staying in Montebiliad tonight. We liked their plate on the back: “convoi exceptionnel “.

This heron posed for us as he hopped on to a boat.

As his owner said (in French), mon chien est kaput!! The dog had been swimming in the canal, but still looked ready to play.

The landscape has changed dramatically from the wine region - we are now in horse country.

We rode this route 7 years ago when we rode the EV6 from Nantes along the Loire River to Serbia along the Danube from its source in Donaueschingen. Things seem very familiar at times but we have ridden thousands of km in Europe since then. It seems so long ago, yet just yesterday in some ways.

The Canal du Rhone is quite pretty - we are really benefitting from being here in the spring with lilacs and spireia (spelling?) in full bloom.

This young man and his father rode with us for a bit and told us about his upcoming trip to Greece with his girlfriend on this tandem. They are from Montebiliard.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 780 km (484 miles)

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