This morning everyone was feeling a lot better about things
and that the troubles with the van were over.
We had all appreciated the quiet of the convent and the simple yet
comfortable nature of the convent.
After breakfast and loading luggage in the van Ken, Juerg
and I headed up the hill towards Sarrebourg.
It was a short climb and soon we were on the main road into town. As we approached Sarrebourg there was a long
and steep downhill. There was a fair amount of traffic with parked cars along
the right hand side and I was keeping an eye out for the cars while watching my
speed on the steep hill. In all of this
I missed seeing one of the memorials I had earlier identified as one which I
wanted to see. It contained the remains of
20,000 French soldiers who had died after being captured. They were buried were they died and then
their remains had been repatriated back to this cemetery after the war.
There were a few lefts and a few rights and before we knew
it we were through Saarrebourg and back on a little country road. We passed over a bridge which had row upon
row of flowers planted in flower boxes along the hand rail. The bridge was over a rail yard which had a
bewildering array of overhead wires and rails. It was quite a sight so I
stopped and took a picture.
A few kms down the road and we got to the point where we
joined the canal path. For the first 8
kms along the canal path the grade was quite steep and the canal had been
abandon. There was a lock every 50-100
meters of so and it was probably too expensive to keep operational. Once on the main canal the water way was anywhere
from 30 meters to a 100 meters wide. It was unbelievably beautiful along the
canal. The sun was reflecting off the
water and the odd boat was motoring along.
The canal had a paved bike trail on one side or the other but the Garmin
kept us on the paved side so all the work I had put in to make sure we were on
paved path way paid off.
About the 67 kms mark we came to a little town and although
it was only a few kms in to Strasbourg we decided to have lunch. We went into a little store and I grabbed a baguette,
a package of ham and a pear. We then
rode back and sat on a bench in the sun beside the canal to eat. Wow this was a little piece of heaven.
Rolling into Strasbourg was not very easy as a lot of turns
and my Garmin gave up on giving navigation so I had to follow the blue
line. Once into the center of the city
it was hectic as there were thousands of people walking and riding in every
which direction, however we worked our way through and arrived at our Airbnb. We are staying with the Coburns while the
Williamsons are staying with Juerg for our rest day. Our condo is on the fourth floor with a large
circular stair case. It overlooks the
huge cathedral on downtown. What an
amazing place.
It was a very pleasant day in the sun gliding down the bike
path. With only 81 kms and 238 meters of
climb it was an easy day.
Terry
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