Day 18 Homeward Bound

We thought it would be a simple 2.5 mile cycle to the airport this morrning however our first attempt at following the Google directions had us arriving at what looked like the cargo section of the airport, if it hadn't been for all the locked gates we would probably have ended up on the runway.

So back  the way we had come to see if we could get onto a road with cycle paths which we had crossed on a flyover a wee bit back, but there seemed to be no way on to it.  I suspect that this is a direct route from the Swiss sector of the airport directly into Basel with no access from France which we were in.  So, after more studying of the maps we worked out a loop which took us right past the front door of our hotel again  (to the Benny Hill theme tune playing in my head) and eventually got our way to the airport with just enough time to get the bikes packed up and cheked in.

The guy at the check in desk was a bit bemused by our bikes just wrapped in polythene bags but after a quick phone call to his boss we were soon checked in and on our way, the bikes and all our luggage arriving safe and sound at Edinburgh. A quick stroll to the car park and we were soon loaded up and on  our way home in the glorious heatwave Scotland has been enjoying while we were away. It was only when we got home  that we noticed that the bonnet and front wing of my car had been badly bashed in the car park while we were away!

 Anyway, apart from  that it has been a great trip.  We  have covered over 700 miles, through 6 countries with quite different landscapes and met a lot of great people along  the way.  The towns of Alsace have been particularly special and I think we'll need to come back and do some more exploring there.  But for now thats it, we just need to start planning where the next trip will  be.

Day 17 Mulhouse to Basel

Today started off with  a bit of a metropolitan nature theme, first of all we had a family of otters swimming about the canal in the centre of the city, then when we stopped for breakfast at a cafe there was a crow with attitude who hopped from table to table and totally refused to be intimidated by any shooing or flapping of newspapers.

We then followed the Rhone - Rhine canal  and then the Rhine for just over 20 miles to our hotel near Basel airport.   Being still in France we arrived in the middle of their 3 hour lunch break so had to retire to a nearby bar for a few refreshments. We ended up sitting at the next table to Alex, a former international professional waiter who had worked at Gleneagles Hotel in the early seventies and had certainly picked up plenty of Scottish phrases and sweary
words.  He was currently "as happy as a pig in shit" to be back living near his birthplace in Alsace.

After booking into our hotel we got the bus over the border to Basel in Switzerland.  By this time or must have been well over 35 degrees.   The locals have their own way of dealing with this.  They  get into their swimming costumes, pack their clothes into a dry bag,  then throw themselves into the Rhine to float downstream to eventually come out at some riverside bar before getting a tram back upstream.  We parked ourselves at one of these bars for another refreshment but had to move on when Sandra decided there were far too many bikini clad young ladies about!

 After  a wander around Basel we decided to head back to France for dinner  ( mainly because of the prices!)  We are now  about to sort out our gear for the flight home

tomorrow, it is only about 2 miles from  our hotel to the airport.

Day 16 Turckheim to Mulhouse

Cycling through Alsace is like travelling through a fairy tale, The towns and villages are spectacularly beautiful.   This morning we cycled a couple of miles into Colmar.  This is a fair sized city but the old town in the centre is immaculately preserved from hundreds of years ago.  We parked up the bikes, had breakfast then had a wander  around followed by a boat trip along the river where  our boatman talked us through some of the history of the city.

We then get back on the bikes and we're straight back out into the countryside where we stumbled across the town of Eguishiem for  lunch.  Just when you think it can't get any better this place blows you away!  It is completely surrounded by the town ramparts with beautiful cobbled streets, wineries, churches and a chateau with loads of storks nests peppering the rooftops

We had a lovely relaxed lunch to the strangely soothing soundtrack of the stocks clattering their beaks in the nests above us.

After lunch we soon left the wine route to head down along some of the D roads onto the Rhine floodplain towards Mulhouse with some cooling trailside showers along the way.

  At the campsite there was a van selling Tarte Flambé, an Alsace version of pizza, sweet  and savoury options.  One of each made a top notch dinner.

Day 15 Obernai to Turkheim

It was pretty much more of the same today. Glorious sunshine, wind behind us,
beautiful villages, vineyards and maybe a few more chateaux on the hill tops.

We are now at Turckenheim, yet another beautiful wee town.  Sandra us slightly concerned about the number of storks strutting about the campsite!

Day 14 Strasbourg to Obernai

A few years ago while researching one of our previous bike tours I came across a forum where someone had asked how long they should give themselves to cross a certain part of France.  There were many replies but the one which stuck in my mind was "as long as possible, why on earth  would you want  to hurry."

That certainly applies to Alsace.  We had a great start to the morning with an excellent bakery just round the corner from the campsite for breakfast then half  a mile to get  back on the cycle path which followed the small, muddy but extremely tranquil Canal du Bruche out of the city for about 16 miles to Molshiem where we stopped for a snack and a wander round.

So far today our route had been a very gradual climb from Strasbourg.  The profile on my Garmin cycle computer was however showing a bloody great spike of about 250 feet up and down over about half a mile, I had almost convinced myself that it was just a GPS gremlin when we came across a steep 14% gradient climb over some vineyards.  Fortunately it was very short and we were soon rolling through more ridiculously picturesque towns to Obernai where we had decided to have an early stop after about  25 miles.

We arrived in Obernai about 1:30, checked into the campsite then went for a swim at the local outdoor pool.

We then had a wander round the beautiful town, had a beer and got some  supplies for dinner at the campsite.
One of the downsides of short days cycling is that Sandra has more time for shopping! She also led me astray  (again!) so we now have 2 extra pairs of shoes to fit in our panniers.

When  we got back to the campsite we met up with a couple of Dutch bike tourist we had spoken to at Saint Louis a couple of nights  ago and have been doing our  bit for  Visit Scotland, we might  be getting a few visitors after this trip

Day 13 Saint Louis to Strasbourg

We had a leisurely start this morning as we wanted a look at the nearby Plan Inclině, a French version of the Falkirk wheel which raises and lowers boats 46 metres from one canal  to another. It was pretty  impressive.

We then set off along the canal towards Strasbourg.  The first ten miles  were really good as the canal wound it's way through the Vosge mountains towards the beautiful town of Saverne where we stopped  for lunch.

The next 30 miles were much open and into the wind so with tired legs from yesterday it was quite hard going despite being flat.  We initially  had a bit of difficulty navigating through Strasbourg but soon found our way to the campsite about a mile from the  city centre only to find big "site full " signs all over the reception windows. However as soon as they realised we were on bikes they soon found space for us on a part of the site normally used for permanent tents but which was currently closed.  A few other bike tourists have since been directed to the same area. It's beginning to look a bit like a refugee camp.

We went for dinner to the old centre of town which was absolutely beautiful, The half timbered buidling were like something out of a film set and there was a good atmosphere about the place.

I realised last night that I had miscalculated how many days we had left, we actually have one more than I thought.  So we now have 4 days to do a distance we would normally do in 2.  This might be quite handy as we are heading onto the wine road tomorrow.  Alternatively we might find a wee bonus loop somewhere  we'll see how it goes. 

Saarbrucken to Saint Louis

A very hassle free  day today starting off with easy navigation back onto the riverside cycle route with a handy bakery on the way for breakfast. There was still a bit of industry at first but we were very soon out into the countryside following the river and canal and avoiding the occasional snake on the cycle path.

We covered an easy 40 miles or so before arriving  at Mittersheim around lunch time.
The first cafe we found wasn't serving food but they said there was another restaurant just along the canal.  Sure enough at the next lock we found the restaurant and were delighted to see  the car park filled with white vans.  We have discovered that this is a sure sign of a decent lunch in France. (We're back in France again).
3 courses for 12 euros later we were back on the canal path for another few miles before cutting off over the hills to Sarbourge and to join the Marne- Rhine canal.   Shortly after Sarbourge I was a bit surprised that we kept on climbing as the map showed our route following the line of the canal.  The only problem was that the canal went through a tunnel!

We are now on a great wee campsite at Saint Louis which has an area specifically set up for bike tourists with covered seating areas and charging points for phones and gadgets.  The couple running the site were extremely welcoming and obviously realised that bikers are fuelled by beer and wine.

On our way to dinner at the excellent neighbouring bistro we got chatting to a Dutch couple who were also bike touring.  John and Corrie had started in the north of Holland and, like us, they were also heading to Basel. However they are then carrying on through Switzerland to Milan, Monaco and ending up in Avignon, a trip ofor 6 to7 weeks.  We were dead jealous!  (John is over seventy!)

Doing 65 miles today means we are now at the gateway to Alsace and for the first time on our trip know how many days we actually need to get to Basel, Luckily for us it looks like it can be done  easily in 3 days and we gave 4 left so we should be able to take it easy for the last part of our trip.