Dreaming back to Biking.....

We may have started blogging late, but are not going to let chronological sequencing stand in the way of telling about out cycling trip in Alsace.  For those of you who have heard this before,  it will be enhanced with photos this time.  We began our Europe adventure with a 'kick start' to fitness ( though landing up in wine country counters much of that.....)
Here come the memories......
We arrived in Paris Sept 22.  It was good trip. The highlight of the trip for me (Rich) was our transfer in Frankfurt... Lufthansa deserves a lot of credit. Our connection was tight and our Air Canada flight was delayed just short of the gate in Frankfurt, which meant we deplaned 10 minutes before the boarding call for the flight to Paris. Rather than let us scramble and do a 20 + minute run, we (and two people on the way to Zurich) were met at the plane by two escorts. We followed them through the airport as they took us through a special customs/immigration gate,  then through our own security line, and down to a bus, which one of the escorts drove across the tarmacs to our Paris plane at the gate. We were escorted upstairs through two security doors to just behind the check-in agents at our gate. The agents scanned out boarding passes and told us to board the plane. We were the first passengers on the plane without even breaking a sweat!! Not bad.. And our bags made it too. No wonder Germany is an economic power house. They know how to keep things on time!!!

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We got lucky and got the express train from the airport to the Gare du Nord.   Finding our way out to the front entrance of the Gare De Nore train station was a bit of challenge ...it is really huge.

Gare du Nord from hotel window

   Day 1 & 2

Strasbourg beauty

We got up and took the TGV(fast) train  to Strasbourg  400 km in 2.2 hours.   This worked out well considering it was civil strike day.  Joan’s ‘anxiety’ saved us when she insisted on getting our tickets the night before.  The ticket office was closed the entire day we were supposed to travel.  We got in about 1 pm and really enjoyed walking around looking at the wonderful architecture. One of the prettiest cities we have been to.  The Hotel was a great two star called Hotel du dragon.

civil strife - can you find Joan?

We got our bikes at  6:30 pm and the forecast too ... 100% chance of rain. Heavy rain in the morning and two days of lighter stuff.  Needless to say we did not sleep well not knowing what roads to expect and how wet we were going to be…though, given Joan is here – it was to be expected.

Cycling down the Rhine canal

We got up at 6:30 and got on our way. Got lost twice getting out of town (we finally gave up following their ‘play by play’ directions and followed a map ) but retracing our steps found the correct route and headed south out of Strasbourg along a canal of the Rhine. The canal was beautiful; the big trees were turning colour and it was not raining yet. The little villages along the way had farm houses that included a huge barn and shed all hooked to the house. They were beautiful.

Iowa???

We covered 45 km before noon and are now waiting in a bus shelter  until 4 pm for the hotel to open. Given the lack of sleep we are both tired but happy. The rain arrived while we were having lunch in a nice pub.   Tomorrow we have 65-70 km, so will have to work somewhat harder.

Sand, France -15 minute nap, just before the rain

Joan's idea of a holiday....

gorgeous cathedral

Sask farmers should be sending Joan money for taking the rain with her.....we have ridden through some rain each of the first three days.  Today we had 4 hours of heavy rain....it seemed to follow us up the valley. We were supposed to have a small day - 48 km...but got lost twice and extended the trip on purpose once, so ended up doing about 65-70 km again.  During the brief period when the sun almost came out, we were in Nuef-Brisach, a walled fortification/village built by Louis xiv to protect against the Brisach fort on the opposite side of the Rhine.   We decided to go across the Rhine to the fortress on the hill in Germany in a self-guided detour. There was large hydro station, some big locks and still a big spillway. What a river!!

Unfortunately, it started to pour while crossing the Rhine, and stayed much the same for the remainder of the day.  After crossing back into France, we headed south for 3 hours.  There was very little rain ahead of us throughout the day…..it was almost like that cartoon where the cloud is only above the two characters and they can’t get out from under it…. Rich did manage to see some great examples of corn harvesting.   We stayed in a small village, Ottmarshem, which was closed for Sunday (civilized)….finally found a Turkish pizza/donair restaurant open.  It is always interesting to be drinking Turkish wine while in the wine growing regions of France…. In spite of the rain, we both decided that it was still a fantastic day, fantastic trip.

Day 6 -Started by riding through a forest , nice straight trails so we really made time. Actually I was wondering if we would run into the wild boars that had been rooting at the sides of trail and Joan was wondering if we would be shot as moving targets as the signs told us to stay on the trail. (As if a hunter would know the difference! ) As we headed west toward the hills things got  even prettier. Lots of villages with nice old churches. At the end of the day we arrived at the south end of the Alsace wine region.  Very pretty. The villages are old with an ancient wall near the middle ( typically built about 1200 AD ish). We made it to destination Guebwiller by 12:30, even after stopping for our first wine tasting. I hear the Rieslings are good in the general area - looking forward to studying the wine industry in depth tomorrow.  We went into an old cathedral…..one of many, but this one really was breath-taking.   It was not the gilded gold, frescoes etc…tremendous intricate stone carvings, 20 metres plus high…..and a pipe organ that filled the entire back balcony!

 

Day 7 To Riquewihr -This was a fantastic bike ride, lots of hills but miles and miles of vineyards, vistas and medieval villages. The riding is getting easier, so much so that we took the harder scenic routes. The grape harvest was on. Very interesting; lots of labour in the hand picking and some mechanical harvesting as well. The “combine” straddles the row and shakes and beats the vine to get the grapes off. Lots of air flow. Slow going about 2 mph, one row (spaced 4 ft apart) each pass. The villages have all of the wineries ( caves viticoles) and many of them per village. It seemed it was like the corn farms only these are grape farms. If we had wanted to wine taste at each winery we would be laying in the ditch by 9:00 am. The old villages got even prettier as we moved Northward. Riquewihr was so pretty it almost looked fake and commercial...except the buildings were hundreds of years old so they have been at it a while.

Grape harvest - combining

Day 8 To Obernai

We started with a big climb out of the village Riquewihr to the north. Got a great view of the valley.   The rest of the day was more grapes, chateaus and castles on the hills, and more medieval villages.  Quite a bit of up and down but less than day 7.  At one point a fellow involved with the harvest reached out as we rode by with two bunches of grapes.  We graciously accepted the offer.  They tasted fantastic.  This was particularly good because Richard insisted we not ‘steal’ any, even though we were riding by kilometer after kilometer of them.

...and harvesting

Obernai is yet another gorgeous town.  We are staying in a hotel that was built in 1588 ( yes….1588).  It has a beautiful courtyard, 2 foot thick walls, and was actually part of the inner wall of the city. 

Tomorrow is our last day of riding.  This has been a phenomenal holiday – one we will repeat – different location,  but same general activity.   It is such a fantastic way to see a country.