Tour de Grand Est - Stage 2 - Colmar & Kaysersberg

The cycle out of Mulhouse was pretty. Paths along the river and plenty of safe bike lanes. 

We went straight to Decathalon, one of our favourite places 🤣. And this was a full Decathalon Village complete with Boulangerie and outside shaded tables. We made a new friend, Noemie, who helped us get our extra tube, rim tape and sunscreen. She had so many suggestions of where we should go, and she was so enthusiastic that she took our email address to send us more ideas. She loves cycle touring. All set. 

 

We headed to Colmar. The Vosges on our left and on our right, the Rhine valley and Germany in the distance. 

 

Very interesting industry along the way. What the heck is that? 

Yesterday I was so excited to see a Stork. Today we must have seen 20. They were flying over us, in nests above us and even standing on the bike path at one point. 

I did some reading to find out that Storks return to the same nest each year, when they migrate from Africa to spend the warmer months in Europe.  They are considered a good omen, more storks means a better farming year, and farmers encourage nests on their property for good fortune. No wonder there are so many. 

Always another beautiful church to admire. 

Our lunch stop was a quiet little town, with big trees and a little stream. 

This little bus stop was so cute. It houses a library and a mail box. What more could you ask for?

 

It was a perfect day for cycling. About 23 degrees and the wind at our backs. We stopped at a pick your own strawberry farm and enjoyed some samples. 

We found ourselves on the Wine Route. Cycling along through vineyards. The vines all look super healthy and green and lush. No sign of grapes yet, but I am sure they won't be long now. The strawberry farmer told us the asparagus crop has already been harvested, and the strawberries were ripe and sweet. 

We are still in France. But we are also on the German border. And well, ya, they have a lot of letters in their place names here. Good for scrabble! 

Colmar was our first "tourist" destination. "It is such a cute little town" we heard. It was not just us with the idea. There were SO many people on the little cobblestoned roads. It was overwhelming. Seriously congested.  Picturesque for sure. 

This is the description. 

Colmar is a town in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, near the border with Germany. Its old town has cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered medieval and early Renaissance buildings. The Gothic 13th-century, Eglise Saint-Martin church stands on central Place de la Cathédrale. The city is on the Alsace Wine Route, and local vineyards specialize in Riesling and Gewürztraminer wines.

We stopped and enjoyed some Alsace cuisine on a shaded patio, and we watched the tourists go by (and by and by and by). Marc had the meat, I had the asparagus. 

We don't usually stop for lunch. It was fun. We had good service and good food, but it was really hard to get going again. We had another 10 KMS to go to camping so off we went (shut up legs).  

More vineyards and now castles!

From research:

Former city of empire, Kaysersberg has its imperial castle. Built around 1200 in order to block the roads coming from Lorraine, the village is an important strategic place in the war between the Empire and the Dukes of Lorraine. An enormous cylindrical keep, one of the oldest round keeps in Alsace, whose walls are more than 4 m thick, is a curiosity in itself.

The castle looks quite beautiful as you approach the little town. And the town was just as cute as Colmar and much less busy. 

After more cobblestones than our arms and legs wanted, we found our campground waiting. 

A walk around here and, as Marc says, it is like going to the Outdoor Show. Every kind of camper and camper van and table and chair and sunshade set up you can imagine. And everyone has a dog. We enjoy our walks around, and as people pass our little set up we definitely get a few comments (usually in a language I don't know, but I smile and wave 😀🤚). 

No table or chairs for us tonight, but our Tyvek sheet serves us well, both as a table and a tablecloth 😂 and we have shade. 

Another 70 km completed. 

Tomorrow we end in Strasbourg.

And will have a day off our pedals to explore. 

Good night, thanks for coming along. 

Tour de Grand Est - Stage 2 - Alsace - Mulhouse

We didn't rush this morning. No need to rush. We just had to load the bikes and point them towards Mulhouse. We barely had to pedal, but we did, to keep from being bored. 

Down to the Rhine we go. 

Very pretty scenery with forested foothills surrounding us. 

 

Today is Sunday. Dimache. Not much is open in France on Dimanche. So we had to be careful not to miss the turn off to Saint Armarin. We knew there was a bakery open until noon, we were pleasantly surprised to find a market there too, with a "queue right down the street".

Note the middle photo. The town square with the market. And families sitting eating and drinking wine. At 10:20 am. 🥂

Apparently Saint Armarin will be a location for part of the Tour de France this year (also part of our Tour de France 😉). And they are very excited to host. 

Another successful Boulangerie stop and back to our scenic tour. 

At this rest stop we watched as a young boy had his training wheels removed by Grand papa and he had his first try at cycling without them. He was very shy, so I didn't film it. But we all watched. 

The route took us through many small towns. We found ourselves in a village called Thann and suddenly came upon this massive Cathedral. 

From internet research:

Situated in the centre of the old town, the church known as the Collégiale is good example of the style of Gothic architecture that flourished in the Rhine valley in the late Middle Ages. The Cathedrals of Strasbourg and Freiburg in Germany are also built in a similar style.

The building owes its name "La collégiale" to the college of monks who moved to Thann from the nearby town of Saint-Amarin in 1442. Construction of the collégiale took more than 200 years, from the end of the 13th Century through the 15th Century, and was completed in 1516 with the 78m tall spire.

It was quite astonishing to happen upon in this little town. The streets were all decorated too.

Back to the beautiful countryside we followed the Thur river on a bike somewhat busy bike path "Hello Bonjour Hello Bonjour".  We passed a few climbing walls as well. 

At one point it sounded like a woodpecker was very close by. We stopped and looked up to find a Stork, in this massive nest, right in the bike path. And she was clapping her beak open and closed. It was quite a sound and quite a sight! 

We finished our "glide ride" in Mulhouse. (It sounds very different when the French say it, more like mullhooze.) 

 

It is a big campground and checking in we were told we could simply choose where ever we wanted to stay. We asked for a recommendation and Chalet 56 was suggested. There are many little chalets here and this one is not rented, and has a big covered front porch. We pitched the tent as the rain started. And we have spent the evening hours on our little porch (complete with table and chairs and drying rack) as we watched and listened to another round of dramatic thunderstorms pass through. 

There are dozens of clever little cottages here to rent. There is also a pool and a bike storage house, and a communal room with kitchen, comfy seats and electrical outlets. 

It is a nice place to start our Alsace Adventure. 

Stay tuned! 

Tour de Grand Est - Stage 1 Complete

Our day started with a paraglider (motorized) buzzing around above (at 7:23). Much better than fighter jets but not as nice as the medley of birds who were our alarm clock (just after 5).

Would you believe the route took us DOWN that big hill. But this time we got to stop and appreciate the view. Quite a "Petit Cite de caracter" as the sign says. 

Half way down it was safe to stop. Hard to get the full impact of the valley but suffice it to say it was impressively full of big old houses. 

Exiting Plombieres we had a cute little boy ride along with us for about 100 meters. He was determined to keep up on his tiny bike, until he finally said "au revoir bon route!". 

Our route changed to more beautiful forest, with ferns lining the road, bon route indeed. 

Saturday morning traffic was light and the sun was shining but not too hot, yet. 

The daily pastry stop was a success. And we were reminded of Nana Bev and her meringues. 

In the parking lot outside we could pick up some eggs 👀

The French do love their vending machines. 

Leaving town the bike path took us under the highway into a cool tunnel (cool art and cool temperature).

When you are cycling toward a mountain pass, you keep your eyes out for where that "low" point may be.  

A rail trail / bike path (La Voie Verte) kept us safe and kept the navigation easy for many kilometers. All the way to Bussang. 

Lots of cyclists out today. Those coming towards us going downhill with the wind at their back, whizzed by.  We did not. Uphill, into the wind and 30+ degree sunshine. 

We did have one couple pass us by, Dad on a road bike, mom on an e-bike pulling the kids. 

Polite hellos.

They passed us again later, clearly they got a longer lunch stop than we did. 

Just as the heat was getting to be unbearable we came upon this velo stop - tools, bathrooms and WATER! We took full advantage - full bottles, full bellies and wet kit. All the other cyclists did too. 

The bike path ends at Bussang. Where the train apparently stopped many years ago. So we had to join the road, but the road less travelled for sure. At one point we found ourselves surrounded by racers. Yes we were being passed by a road race, talk about feeling slow 🤣. 

A local couple was out at the end of their driveway handing water bottles to the riders. The hand off wasn't successful but it was a nice idea. 

As it turned out, our friends - Dad the road guy and Mom pulling the kids - had stopped at the Source of the Moselle, which was right in our route. 

The Moselle takes its source at the base of the Drumont mountain, at 735m, on the western slopes of the crystalline Vosges, and flows into the Rhine at Koblenz.

As we passed they joined us and we all climbed the final kilometers of the summit together. The mom was so nice, e-biking beside me cheering me on.  "You can do it, we are almost there".  And when I made it to the top she yelled "I am so proud of you!!" She even stopped to take our photo at the summit sign. 

Note the "peak"

 

And we passed into the Alsace region.

Woot woot Stage 1 Complete. 

Obviously, once you summit you head down. For safety the road hairpins repeatedly. It was absolutely spectacular, and I could have taken 100 photos but the grade was 6% for over 2 kilometers so I had to concentrate on the road and my brakes. 

Thank you Marc for my new brake pads (well used now!). 

Down we went, happy legs, happy cyclists, glad to be over the mountains and into Alsace 

As we turned the corner to our campground we passed a man with an enormous backpack. He didn't look like much of a hiker and we both thought how very strange that was. 

As we found our camp site, we sat and relaxed and snacked and watch paragliders (no engines) enjoy the breeze and the beauty of this valley. 

We met our camping neighbor, Adrian, and he is a paraglider. I asked how they get back to their cars from where they start and he explained they pack the sail into a huge backpack and walk or hitch a ride. 

That explains the non hiker man with the giant backpack!  Our campground is full of paragliders. 

As we sat, relaxing, suddenly, out of the blue, my back tire popped. Yup. Crazy. After all these kilometers and it just suddenly pops. Wow. We think it was likely as it cooled off, a tear in the tube caused by a rough spot in my new back tire. Wow. So glad it happened when it did.  I wasn't even on it. 

Marc fixed my tire, I pitched the tent, and checked the weather. Chance of thunder storms tonight.  Oh wait, what's that? Massive thunder, massive rain, out of the blue. Mad dash to get everything into the tent...

It was red level heavy! How do the clouds actually hold that much rain? 

So we went to the campground restaurant for dinner. Two choices. 

We were happy to have a meal "out" and enjoyed the company of paragliders and soccer fans watching a game. The rain stopped. 

 

The evening stroll (also known to some close friends as the "fart walk") included a look at the landing field for the paragliders. 

And this structure (photo from the internet as the sun was setting and my shot isn't good). It is a sad and lonely portion of a train viaduct that was built, but the project was never completed. So it stands like this, here, in the middle of a field, going nowhere. 

Our tent held strong through its first rain storm but pitching under pine trees means lots of needles.  When we arrived we really wanted shade, now we hope we dry out for morning pack up. 

Long day 

Lots of adventure 

And lots of daisies along the trail today, reminding me of home and our sweet Josie Daisy. 

Good night all.