The Alsace

Friday 31 May

Raining - again.

We were having breakfast with Erika and Knud prior to leaving, having packed (mostly: always hard to squeeze that last bit of luggage into the pannier...), when Steve and Peta, two Australians from Melbourne who we'd met yesterday when they docked their (enormous!) barge at Lutzelbourg, rang to see if we'd like a "lift" to Saverne.

Well, given the weather conditions, what could we say????!!! It is only 10 kms to Saverne from Lutzelbourg and a 9.30 a.m. departure (which is what we had planned) would have had us there in an hour easily by bike, but the weather was so miserable (and was not forecast to improve) that the opportunity to turn a potentially ordinary day into something quite interesting was too good to pass up. Anyway, we were in no hurry as there was little else one could do in the conditions.

So we departed with Steve and Peta as planned at 9.30 a.m. - but this journey took until 1.30 p.m. (4 hours); barging is very slow progress, especially with 8 locks to negotiate over a relatively short distance of 10 kms. These so-called "automatic" locks sometimes don't operate as they should, particularly if a barge moored ahead suddenly decides to "jump the gun" ahead of you, which means the lights turn red instead of green for entry into the lock because the lock sensor thinks the barge that just went in is you. So it was a sloooooow journey, but Steve and Peta were good company, and it was amazing to have a ride on their huge "Rolls Royce" of a barge.

It rained all the way so we were grateful not to be getting sodden: it would certainly have been an unpleasant ride. At Saverne, after mooring, we rode immediately to the station just a short distance away - reluctantly (!) I might add as we had been nice and dry - and  even for this short distance we got soaked. Bought train tickets to Barr via Strasbourg (although initially we had tickets to Basel!!! Something definitely lost in translation at the ticket counter ...).

In Strasbourg, we did a very roundabout journey to see the famous Cathedral - in the rain - as we had an hour before the next train to Barr. The Cathedral is indeed magnificent - it is said to be one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in Europe - especially the Pillar of the Angels and the beautiful rose window.

We managed to get lost getting back to the station and missed the train but fortunately it wasn't too long before there was another. Rode through the rain the 1 km to our very nice hotel; it was now about 5.30 p.m. I think.

After unpacking and laying out our wet gear to dry, we wandered off through the old part of town down through the vineyards and winding cobble-stoned streets to the supermarket for muesli etc. for breakfast (this hotel wants to charge 12€ per person) and after spending about 16€ we had muesli, milk, yoghurt, bananas plus a couple of other odds and sods - enough for 2 breakfasts.

Further exploring brought us back to the old town with its huge town hall and after a drink at one restaurant which we decided to ‘give the flick’ for dinner we went to the one across the road where we had the most superb meal (S'Barrer Stubbel Winstub).

Saturday 1 June : 1st day of Summer!!

It is wet - again.

The plan today was to walk up to Mont Sainte-Odile but I don't think that will be happening.

Barr is very pretty: the Alsatian architecture typical of this region of France is colourful. This shop is amazing!!

We had coffee and cake here whilst reading the paper and writing postcards. The International Tribune (I think we bought the only English-language paper in town this morning) cost 3€! Ooh la la!

La Poste was very efficient - the people working there so helpful; and so convenient being open on a Saturday morning. Can relax now that the post has been done. I have been hanging onto postcards since the UK.

My Friend had a haircut (not particularly cheap at 20€ but the girl was very charming and he is happy; he looks like a shorn sheep - should keep him going until the end of the trip?).

As I sat and  had coffee, I happened to look up and there was la lavatrie was just up the road and opposite; we had been searching for it - now we can do some washing also.

.........

Later in the day - ahhhh! We have just done the washing. Bliss!

The day has cleared so we decided to go for a walk and found (eventually) the path to Mont Sainte-Odile. This is a 3-hour walk one way so we had no intention of tackling this at 3 p.m. but we followed the path anyway and managed to get as far as the ruins of Chateau Landsberg. The entire walk return was about 3 hours so it was good exercise and we enjoyed the forest, although the paths of course were muddy and sometimes slippery.

Sunday 2 June

Cloudy. But not raining - yet!

We will cycle the Route du Vin today (more about that on the next ‘post’). At least, that is the plan. It is the 60th anniversary apparently so we expect there will be lots of people but no cars (for some of it).

We returned to the same place last night as the night before for dinner and had one of the specialties of the region: Tarte flambée is an Alsatian dish composed of bread dough rolled out very thin in the shape of a rectangle which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thinly sliced onions and lardons.

It is one of the most famous gastronomical specialties of the region. It was yummy...

On "Linquenda"

Tues 28 May

Am tucked up in bed in our cabin with a cup of ginger and lemon tea perched between my knees writing up this blog after a lovely meal of lasagna and some nice French red wine (one is the same as the one we had when we were on board 4 years ago) on board Linquenda as guests of Erika and Knud. My Friend is asleep - Happy Wedding Anniversary (lol!).

What a day (I seem to be saying that EVERY day!). We left Saarbrucken (eventually) at about 1.30 p.m. after much pfaffing about by My Friend looking to buy a replacement battery charger cable for his camera because the other one had got damaged - some how.

So, having missed the train, we had to wait an hour for another (still minus a cable) and finally started cycling along the Canal des Houilleres from Sarreguimines (we are now back in France) about 2 p.m. in lovely sunshine, only to run into a storm as we approached Sarralbe about 20 kms later.

It had been lovely riding on an excellent (in some places, new hot-mix) bike trail with canal on one side alternating with river, wetlands or lakes (further along near Mittersheim: these were the Etang de Mittersheim - huge!) on the other.

The storm broke and we were shaken by huge claps of thunder and flashes of lightning which seemed to crash almost in the canal next to us as, by this time, we were "sprinting": a verb used loosely here given we are riding German-engineered hybrid bikes that are cycling's equivalent of Sherman tanks, complemented by huge panniers; we really have a HUGE amount of stuff given that we have winter and summer gear, rain gear, and walking boots from our walk in the UK. Believe me, we are a sight to behold, and the idea that we might in any way be in for line honours with the 'Man from the Isle of Man', is not one to be reflected upon too seriously.

Nevertheless, we made it to shelter under a bridge in pretty quick time (exchanging queries - as we went - with each other about the likelihood of being zapped by lightning: My Friend said we'd be OK as our tyres are made from rubber - always a fountain of information...). 

We stayed parked here for about half an hour with a family of 5 (including 3 little kids) who were on a week-long cycling "holiday " - camping ?! You'd have to be fond of cycling - right?!

When there was a break in the weather, we made 'a dash for it' and were hit again by a storm about 10 kms later. This time we sheltered under the eaves of a house of the éclusier at one of the locks. Another break, and we set off again for the next 10 kms - actually, really pleasant and pretty riding along the canal path (when it wasn't raining). 

A call from Erika & Knud advising they would be near Lock No. 2 gave us something to aim for although, being only at Lock No. 14 was somewhat disillusioning, as my butt sure was sore!! I started counting down locks in French in my head and aiming for any bits of hot mix to minimise the number of bumps, ouch!!.

We arrived near Lock No. 2 only to find NO BARGE and, looking at the map, we saw there was a split in the canal back at Mittersheim. Quelle horreur! But all was fine for, as we were checking our map, Linquenda came into view down at the end of the straight sweep of the canal. I was soooooo relieved. 

But apart from that, it was a truly magical moment as Linquenda came into full view, making strong progress along the canal towards us. She really is a magnificent boat.

Wednesday 29 May

Good night's sleep and a bit of a sleep-in. Phew! Recovery time. I could take a week of this!

I listened to the sounds of Knud steering the barge out of port;  then breakfast followed before we sailed along the Canal de Saar up to a T-intersection: we turned right to Nancy (and the port of Port-Ste Marie where Linquenda has been tied up through the last winter); then left to Strasbourg, the direction we will now take. We are now on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

We will do 30 kms today to K.248 near Niderviller. No rush - 8 kms/hr is the max. here anyway on the canals. Makes a lovely change from the UK where the driving was horrendous - it didn't matter whether you were on the motorways or tiny back roads: everyone was in a bloody rush, lots of people travelling over the speed limit, sometimes on quiet single-lane roads, and so aggressive!

Have just passed Gondrexange, then onto Xouaxange (a pretty little canal hamlet).

Morning tea: coffee and toast with cheese, jam. Yum!

We are now moored near Hesse so poor Erika can ride through to Sarrebourg for some supplies - in the rain!

Spent the rest of day reading, chatting, doing The Age Weekend Magazine puzzle, a short walk along the canal, more reading, delicious dinner, early to bed.

Friday 31 May

It's sunny! What a cracker of a morning!

We set off through the Tunnels of Niderviller - 45 minutes of tunnels: no talking, no moving.

Phew! We are through. Actually, it is very difficult piloting as the barge keeps drifting left and right in the tunnels. A little more sailing along - all very relaxed up to the Plan Incline de Saint-Louis Arzviller.

See this youtube video:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=4M8jqoLb2co&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4M8jqoLb2co

We were the first barge through for the day and as soon as we exited the Incline at the bottom, it stopped working! It took the VNF a while but they got it working again - we could see the apparatus going up as we sailed off after morning tea. 

We are now sailing through to Lutzelbourg via 4 locks (3 kms) - it took 2.5 hours by the time we waited at the locks for other traffic to go through and one lock which had the red lights on which wouldn't turn green and Knud had to ring for the little white VNF van man to come and fix it.

The sun is out only intermittently as the clouds are rolling in - but we are enjoying it when it IS out! The weather forecast for the next few days through to Sunday is NOT GOOD.

Lutzelbourg is very pretty and we had a nice walk UP to the ruins of the 12th century chateau overlooking the town - surprisingly without getting wet.

A visit to the nice boulangerie/patisserie and lunch and a walk (for Erika and me) down the canal path to the next lock (and we got very wet!); some more reading of newspapers and some blogging; and drinks with another Australian couple who own a barge.

Tomorrow we leave "Linquenda" and ride to Barr. At least, that is Plan A. However, the weather forecast is very bleak. Plan B is to cycle to Saverne a short ride away and perhaps take the train to Strasbourg and either cycle from there (weather permitting) or continue by train all the way to Barr. 

We'll see.

UK-France-Germany in a day - now on the SAAR Canal

No, we haven't been sucked into the English Channel... We have been without wi-fi for a couple of days.

So, Sunday 26 May, we rose early at 3.45 a.m. (Yes, a.m.!) and drove the car into Kathryn's place in Oxford, dropping me on the way at the bus station with the bags. It was freeeeezing - 5 deg C. 

By the time My Friend walked in from Kathryn's, my feet were nearly frozen off. I didn't dare move away from our bags - there were a number of unsavoury types that I was surprised weren't tucked up somewhere warmer. Anyway, the bus trip into London took the advertised 100 mins and we got out at Marble Arch and plodded past those less fortunate who spend the night on the streets (there seems to be a number of them - and it is sooooooo cold!).

The check-in to the Eurostar is much like an airline one - and this one was very efficient (and unlike a lot of the customer service in the UK) friendly and helpful as well! 

The train left on time at 08:19 an d the trip across The Channel to Paris was straightforward apart from my "losing" my purse which had my Euros - only to find it under the feet of the passenger across the aisle ???? Thank goodness I thought to check for it...

Things continued to proceed as planned - this was after all a BIG day of travel and one would expect something to not go right. We managed to navigate our way around The Yellow Ticket Machine at the station Gare de l'Est in Paris and successfully printed out all the tickets for the 3 of the 4 trains we had take to Saarburg in Germany.

We even celebrated with the time left over by having a drink in the square outside the station (and the sun was shining!!) while we waited the hour for the first train to arrive, which it did so on time, depositing us at Metz-Ville just over 2 hours later. 

We then had another trip to Forbach, which left 20 mins LATE but fortunately they kept the next train waiting until we arrived so we made our transfer to Saarbrucken. 

I must have known luck would run out as I hadn't pre-purchased the ticket for the last leg to Saarburg. Indeed, the train arrived in late because of the one that had left Metz late, so I bought the tickets for the next train and we finally got in to Saarburg by about 6:30 p.m. (having lost an hour when we entered France).

By now, the weather was truly miserable (again!) and we were pleased to get into our hotel and shower off the journeys of the day. 

We had a lovely meal at the biergarten at the hotel and wondered about cycling in the rain tomorrow...

Monday 27 May

The day is fine! That is, it is not raining. We were up early and walked into the attractive old town with its waterwheels and waterfall. The town also has an old castle on the top of the hill overlooking it - it is one of the oldest mountain castles in western Germany (964 - that's old!).

On our way back to breakfast, we went via the station to check out what was involved in buying train tickets from the machine. 

A quick breakfast and then onto the 8:33 a.m. train to Trier to be there at the 9 a.m. opening of the Radstation so we could get our rental bikes and start our riding A.S.A.P., as we had a long way to go today. 

This all went well but we missed the 10 a.m. train back to Saarburg which we sort of expected would happen so we spent the time making sure things were "ship-shape" with the bikes and finally were underway by the time the 11 a.m. train arrived;  by 11:30 we were back at Saarburg and on the bike trail to start the lonnnng trip to Saarbrucken along the Saar Canal (have you noticed everything is called "Saar"?).

Well, what a day! We have arrived at Saarbrucken after about 70-80 kms of riding (not a brilliant idea to ride that far on Day 1, given we have been off the bike for a month now - I definitely fell down in the planning department with that one).

The day was sunny, even hot at times; the trail for the most part was well-marked; we had some dirt (and muddy) tracks - the bikes are now FILTHY; there were lovely woods, a huge meander, long stretches with just the canal and grassy verges, and some wetlands with lots of birds. There were heaps of riders (especially in the afternoon); and we stopped a Mettlach (home to Villeroy & Bosch).

We also passed by the fascinating UNESCO World Heritage site: the Völklingen Ironworks. (Note to self: must come back here one day!)

My butt is sooooo sore - I think I need Compeed blister pads (except that there wouldn't be any big enough - ha! ha! just thought I'd get in first!). Oh for some paw paw ointment! And my legs and feet are tired and sore.

We have just had a nice dinner at a pub and are off to bed. Saarbrucken is a pretty town - what we've seen of it. Will have to see what the morning brings ...

Tuesday 28 May - wedding anniversary

We are in such a lovely hotel here in Saarbrucken - have indulged ourselves this morning with a small sleep-in, a nice chat with Dave back home on Facetime, lovely long shower, more paw paw ointment, and now a nice slow breakfast.

Our room is a terrible mess - you wouldn't believe it. We were soooo tired when we got in last night, we just reefed everything out of our panniers in the search for everything from clean undies to Panadol to paw paw ointment.

We have investigated the idea of taking the train to Sarreguemines which will cut off 20 kms I think from today's ride (otherwise another long ride which I think my butt won't stand for) and this will allow us more time to explore Saarbrucken before we go.

Seems like a good idea to me.

When we get to Sarreguemines we will ride along the canal until we meet up with Erika and Knud to spend 3 nights with them on their barge. Possibly no wi-fi until after that unless My Friend buys a card.

........

Yes, nice morning. Walked to the Castle which is very old but it has been destroyed many times and rebuilt. Nice views over the city.

Will pack now and leave on next train to Sarreguemines (meaning "confluence into the Saar") to meet up with Erika and Knud along the canal somewhere - and then we will be back into France.

So pleased in fact to be on the Continent. There is something just unfussed c.f. the UK; and in Germany particularly: so stolid - it's quite reassuring: solid buildings, solid bridges, solid people; let's face it: solid currency and business (no wonder they are about the only country left standing in the EU!).

4 days left in the UK

Wednesday 22 May

P.S. I have been advised to avoid the "MF" abbreviation as it could be mis-interpreted ....

Having a relaxed start to the day. We went early to the car park down the road to feed more coins into the meter and wandered back past the "busgate" which we drove through illegally (although not deliberately) yesterday and is manned by CCTV & for which we are sure we'll be fined. Still, as I said to My Friend, as long as we don't kill anyone, then we just 'wear' these things. [Postscript: MF was fined £66 TWICE!! ].

Will depart Bath in about an hour and drive to Stonehenge enroute back to Oxford. Weather grey and cold, again!

.............

We ended up 'ticking a few boxes' today: went to Stonehenge which we expected to find underwhelming but wasn't.

We stopped for lunch at The Antelope Inn at Upavon - picked at random as we drove down narrow country roads, the little car dwarfed by the hedgerows on either side. The publican was quite a character (aren't they all?) and he suggested we go to Avebury. 

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles & contains the largest stone circle in Europe.

The nice surprise was that Avebury Manor is the one that was featured on the 2012 BBC series entitled The Manor Reborn starring Penelope Keith which we watched with my mother when she stayed with us at Xmas & which we found quite fascinating; in this series, The Manor underwent a major transformation. Unfortunately it was closed today but it looked lovely from the outside especially as the sun had come out.

We then returned to the Cotswolds, specifically to Lower & Upper Slaughter: two picture-postcard villages, bathed in afternoon sunshine making everything even more attractive.

By now it was almost 6 p.m. We still had to drive to Oxford and then to Northmoor where we are staying the next 4 nights. 

We dropped Kathryn and Regis off and fortunately we had Kathryn's GPS but the navigation was still difficult, meandering along narrow country lanes to Rectory Farm. 

We passed a bunch of cyclists enroute looking very serious. There were marshalls on some corners; and the cyclists were wearing helmets (hardly anyone does here). So it must have been an event.

Forecast is for some rain tomorrow; and Friday is forecast to be worse: freezing in fact (max. for the day 9 deg C)!!!!! In fact, the Giro d'Italia news is:

"Snow, rain and cold conditions are forecast for the rest of the week in northern Italy, with a cold front expected to dump snow on the Dolomites and force race organisers to cut several of the legendary climbs scheduled for Friday and Saturday".

Thursday 23 May

We had another 35-year reunion today. Trevor & Barbara from York, with whom we caught up at Birdlip in the Cotswolds, were on the same overland bus trip in 1978 we did with Janet & Neville.

We are meeting up with Janet & Neville today at Windsor.

We drove down in the morning and spent a few hours touring Windsor Castle, before meeting up with them for High Tea - very English! The Castle was great, especially the State Rooms.

Windsor Castle (built by William the Conqueror in the decade after 1066) is an official residence of the Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today. The Queen uses the Castle both as a private home, where she usually spends the weekend, and as a Royal residence at which she undertakes certain formal duties.

The weather (oh, surprise! surprise!) was grey and miserable today, with showers. So it was nice to walk the grounds without the rain and then cheerfully look outside at the rain and the poor sentry getting wet whilst we were inside in the comfort of the magnificent Reception Room, St George's Hall, the Waterloo Room and the Grand Vestibule. The Chapel was really lovely and a simple stone slab holds the tombs of Henry VIII, Charles I (beheaded by Cromwell's forces, after the English Civil War) and Jane Seymour (Henry VIII's third wife).

It was lovely to catch up with Nev and Janet. Janet was one of the 4 American girls who had been teaching in Australia prior to joining the trip in Kathmandu. Janet had met Nev who went through Uni with My Friend - how amazing is that! AND they both worked in Occupational Health and Safety!

We have been sharing news through Xmas cards and letters for years so it wasn't too difficult to pick up the threads of lives lived many miles/kms apart. And Janet has an aunt who lives in the same suburb of Chicago where Regis grew up (in Naperville!); and her grandparents lived there. Small world!!

It was just a lovely afternoon.

Friday 24 May

Well, guess what? Another cold, miserable day!! In fact today was just about the WORST we've had since we arrived in the UK. I don't know where the wind was coming from, but it was icy. And it was wet. And we got chilled to the bone.

We had a Plan A, B, C - and in fact, a Plan D. We managed some of these but definitely did NOT do Plan A: a walk along the Thames. It was bitter!

So we started off by driving to Iffley and having coffee in a cute cafe. We then managed (somewhat miraculously) to find a parking spot in central Oxford - no mean feat I can tell you in a city that has a Park-&-Ride scheme to discourage driving; we spent an entertaining couple of hours in the Pitt Rivers Museum which cares for the University of Oxford's collection of anthropology and world archaeology; the shrunken heads were pretty interesting...

Our next visit was to Christ Church, one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford. It has produced 13 British prime ministers and has been used as the setting for parts of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, as well as Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and, more recently, J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series: the Great Hall was replicated in the film studios to create Hogwart's Hall.

Mid-afternoon, we finally succumbed to the cold and drove out to Northmoor where we are staying (about 20 kms west of Oxford). Enroute, we ended up at the Rose Revisited right next to the Thames where we had a lovely meal.

The sun even came out between rain squalls to offer some lovely photo opportunities.

Saturday 25 May

The sun came out! Yay! We went for a quick walk before breakfast around the fields of Northmoor village. Kathryn and Regis (who'd had the car overnight) picked us up and we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, to see a production of As You Like It which was excellent.

Stratford is very pretty and afterwards we walked around admiring the buildings in the afternoon sunshine and then had a wine and a ploughman's platter at a local pub.

On the way back to Oxford, we called into Blenheim Castle (as you do) - birthplace of Winston Churchill. It is set in the most beautiful grounds (landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century) and it would have been lovely to spend more time there. But the day was getting on (it was already about 6 p.m.) and we had to get back to pack as we have an early start in the morning.

It is our last day in the UK today as tomorrow we leave on the Eurostar for Europe. It was very sad saying goodbye to Kathryn and Regis. She now has until the end of September to write up her dissertation and Regis leaves Nairobi at the end of June to take up a new posting in Panama.

Day 11 Last day on the Cotswolds - phew!

Tuesday 21 May

Cold Ashton to Bath (16 kms)

Where are those crackin' mornings you get in Australia?? Have woken up to yet another grey, damp day ... Last day of walking - I will be glad to get in but in the meantime I'm sure hoping this mist lifts!

..................

Well, I am in! I have arrived in Bath. I have walked 100 miles & am 'done'. Yay!!!!!!

It was a lovely walk. Beanies on again plus jackets. Kathryn, Regis and I set off just after 9 a.m. across the escarpment on yet another grey day, BUT it didn't rain!!!!

One big up and down through St Catherine's Valley. The rest went through fields; across an old battle-ground (Lansdowne - part of the Civil War).

We avoided being hit in the head as we criss-crossed a golf course; we admired the black-faced &and black-legged sheep; beautiful views across to the south and to Bath; through beech woods; buttercups in the green meadows; cattle with udders full of milk; people walking dogs; stinging nettles; and finally a descent into Bath; then a meandering track through the quieter (but very hilly!!) back streets of Bath over Primrose Hill and into the Royal Victoria Park where we met Our Friend who had managed to get himself completely lost in the car. 

We had lunch in the park and wished Regis "happy birthday" with a cake MF had bought.

MF now out to it on the bed (3.30 p.m.) - what a life!

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Later, we went for a wander around Bath. What a pretty city! Such wonderful Georgian architecture.

The River Avon flows through the centre and a number of attractive bridges span it. There are lots of nice shops and we enjoyed walking around with the sun eventually emerging from behind the clouds around 5 p.m. bathing everything in warmth and brightness. We visited the Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery established in the 7th century. It is very beautiful.

For dinner, we went to Jamie Oliver's. It was great. Tasty, fresh food, beautifully presented.