Day 34- Strasbourg to Lorquin
After a great night of sleep on the top bunk in the hostel I was awake at 6.00 am …. A sleep in by my previous standards.
We were all packed by 7.00 am and were in for breakfast at the hostel. Breakfast was great… muesli with yogurt, scrambled eggs on toast and a croissant.
We were off out of Strasbourg by 7.45am and despite it being a work day, the traffic was light. We quickly made our way to a lovely canal called the Marne au Rine ( Marne to Rhine) which we spent most of the ride following. Initially the track beside the canal was narrow and we had to watch oncoming cyclists…. It was quite interesting that very few made any deviations with us approaching and it was us that had to make all the room for a safe pass!
We saw a lot of converted river barges near Strasbourg anchored by the canal… seems that were being used as domestic housing and they had not travelled on the river for quite some time.
The canal we travelled along today is part of a series of canals that operate in France and this canal is one that connects Paris to the Rhine and is over 300 kms in length and has 158 locks. We were travelling upstream and along the way saw a number of rental boats making their way and enjoying the lovely warm weather. The lock system is automated and seems easy to operate. It would however be slow going on the canal in the boat and after the thrill of operating the lock a few times had worn off would be quite frustrating I would imagine.
We had a morning tea break at 35 km mark at a place called Dettwiller where I had a cool drink and 2 chocolate biscuits. As there was no seating in the bakery we found a small park to have a well earned break.
It was then on to Savern at the 50 km mark where we found a cafe for lunch. The town of Savern is quite large and from what we saw in the town square , was very pretty.
At this point the canal system was passed through a valley with some big hills on either side. The canal at one point even had a large tunnel and traversed a road via a bridge! Quite amazing engineering as the canal was built in the 1830’s.
Another interesting sight on the trail today was a fellow riding a penny farthing bike. He was doing very well and traveling well over 20 kph. He is travelling from Germany to Paris for the Olympic Games. We might see him there
Arriving at our accommodation a bit early, we thought we might be waiting in the heat to check in…. But no the lovely host let us into our room early so we could have a shower and relax.
The accommodation is in a house run by a lady and she allows guests to use the spare rooms in the house for the night. The cost includes breakfast is € 50 including breakfast…. Not bad!
The days riding was over 87 kms and we climbed about 320 metres. The weather was good for riding with cool temperatures in the morning ( approx 15 degrees) warming up to about 30 degrees in the afternoon.
The pictures today are:
The route
Early morning at the Strasbourg port
The European Parliament building in Strasbourg
A typical view of the trail we rode on beside the canal
Me with the rider of the penny farthing bike… glad I was riding mine.
A court of photos of boats on the canal
A sign post indicating we are on Eurovello 5
The canal tunnel…. This goes for quite a distance
Our accommodation for the night… ver comfortable and cheap!
