Distance: 69 km
Elevation: 464 m
Duration: 4:42 h
Weather: again very sunny and warm, although the air wasn’t THAT warm, 19 - 27 C
Today I had quite a late start after a home made breakfast in my accommodation in Saint Hippolyte, which was in a house where probably nothing has been changed in the last 50 years and which was full of decorations and fauteuils, even in my bathroom there were 2!
Then I went a little bit downhill until joining the EV5 cycle path which runs through the vineyards at the feet of the Vosges.
Today again was a continuity of small (and not so small) villages with very colorful half timbered houses. Similar to these type of houses in Germany, but much more colorful.
The villages also lie very pictorially in the landscape and as the bicycle path uses mainly viticultural paths, one often gets a nice view on the village before entering it. It feels a little bit like in the medieval ages when wine merchants were visiting the villages for their trade. I am just imagining that the speed of travel of a horse drawn cart and a bicycle (at least when I am riding) is probably quite similar…
Again all these small villages did flow one into another, similar houses, similar gates, some quite overrun by visitors (e.g. Obernai), some very quiet.
And a bit above the restaurant there is a Belvedere with a 360 degree view of the Elsass, the Vosges and the vineyards. And probably also the Alps, weather permitting.
The last few kilometers today were not in the vineyards but instead on a canal that was built specifically for transporting heavy stones to Strasbourg for constructing a fortress:
Tomorrow I have planned a specially short day. Late breakfast at 9:00 and then only 44 km to Lutzelbourg.
The day concluded in a good restaurant in Breuschwickersheim with a “café au liégeois” celebrating the achievement to book a hotel close to Leuven (I.e. Liege) for the weekend of the UCI world championships.
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