After the storms of last night, the day started dry and about 18 degrees. Within minutes of getting our legs over, we were crossing the Rhine and entering France. We hadn't gone very far when we came to a roundabout, on the other side of which, was a Sherman Tank and located near the entrance of the village of Rosenau. I just had to investigate. The tank is there as a memorial to Lieutenant Jean de Loisy. It's rare to see such a memorial dedicated to one guy. Obviously a special kind of hero. I took a pic, then we continued on our way.
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| A big tank in front of a real one! |
Our journey continued at a leisurely pace, through lots of nice coutryside and villages, before we reached Mullhouse. After Mulhouse, things started to get interesting and quite a bit colder! I hadn't realised we would be heading up into the Vosges mountain range. In fact, I couldn't even have told you where they were, so it was a bit of a surprise. They are no different from any other mountain range we've climbed this tour, that is, getting to the top involves lots of twisty roads. As with most we've been on, these were very popular with bikers. We were overtaken by many. I'm at an age now where I just let them get on with it, waving them past. I can do without them up my arse when I'm concentrating on my lines through the bends. Nevertheless, we were both enjoying ourselves. Having reached the summit of some col or other, I thought we'd be coming back down. A look at the map at our stop though showed we were travelling their length. Our stop for coffee came at the Col de la Schlucht. The approach to and the road away were swamped with cars and motorhomes. I woindered if this was in prep for the Tour de France. Sure enough, we passed a sign saying the road would be closed on 22nd July. That's next Saturday and these people are already grabbing their spaces to spectate from! Crazy French!
We had a coffee at the Col, to warm us as much as abything, as the temperature had dropped to 12 degrees. Given we were riding along the range, we both decided to put a warm layer under our jackets. That did the trick.
Eventually we came down from the mountains, where at another roundabout, we came across a replica aircraft, from the pioneering age of aviation. There wasn't a chance to stop for a photo, so I've borrowed one from the internet.
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| A pioneering aircraft |
It wasn't long after this we stopped to remove the warmer layers we'd put on. The temperature by now was a very pleasant 25 degrees. That's so much more comfortable than we've had of late.
Before long we were pulling up at our hotel, a tad early but we were still able to check in. There's no dinner option, so I popped out to reccy the area. There's very little in the way of eateries, so basically the choice boiled down to McDs or BK. McDs won, because it is closer. If we can't find anywhere else, tomorrow will be BK!
My reccy showed me that the tram I had planned to catch tomorrow, isn't running for some reason, from either the nearest two stops, so we'll either have to jump on the replacement bus or walk a bit further to a stop on a different line.
Whislt out and about I couldn't help noticing the heavy ethic population. Nor could I miss the broken windows in quite a number of the buildings. I wondered if this was part of the recent riots. A quick google showed it was an area affected by riots. I'm somewhat relieved we weren't here a couple of weeks back, that being the case.
Tomorrow we'll be doing a bit of sightseeing in the city and obviously I'll be reporting back on that tomorrow evening.
Wildlife Watch - not been too much to report recently. It's all just birds I'm afraid. Yesterday it was mainly Kites, today it was some storks, in a field with a couple of herons. We've still not seen a squirrel since Berlin, Day 4.
Till tomorrow then.
Bon Nuit
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