Day 21 – Mon 30 Jun 14, Strasbourg to Sarrebourg (France)

Forecast: 10-22 deg C, cloudy with some showers; Listed distance: 77km; Actual distance: 80km; Cumulative distance: 822km; Av speed: 16.1 km/h; Strasbourg: 14 deg C; Sarrebourg: 18 deg C; Wind: headwind 11-18 km/h; Start time: 7:55am; Stop time: 3:30pm; Ride time: 5h11m

The hotel at Strasbourg was an absolute gem, with aircon (so you can close the window to keep the noise of the drunks (who don't have inside voices) and the soccer hoons out) lovely room, friendly and welcoming staff and a superb breakfast including scrambled eggs and little sausages.  Left just before 8am and it started raining soon after.  So, we stopped and donned the raincoats and shower caps (on the helmets), however the rain didn't last that long.  The headwind, however, did.  It didn't seem to matter what direction we were traveling, the wind changed direction just because it could!  It was also uphill all the way.  We usually plug along at about 20km/h, but today with the head-wind we were struggling to maintain 16km/h.  

Mornos, after 48km, was a very strong cup of coffee at Saverne at 10am.  We didn't eat anything as we were still full from breakfast.  It was probably about another 10km later when we decided we should have something to eat, so stopped beside a lock just as a boat was pulling in.  Another 10km later we came into Lutzelbourg, found a diet coke, sat beside a war memorial / monument and had our lunch, again appropriated from the breakfast bar this morning.  Most of the first 50km was spent on a path beside the Canal de la Marne au Rhin; a fully operational canal with lots of barges and recreational boats coming and going, so really interesting.

It was only another 30km to go after our lunch stop; and it was about this stage that the path got steeper and steeper. At one point, we went through a village and the path was the local road and it took us up a monster, although relatively short, hill that we both had to walk up.  Eventually we made it to Sarrebourg after taking a few wrong turns here and there, and on a very busy road for the last 5km. The hotel was another 2.5km out of town.  As it was still early and we couldn't check in until 4pm, we wandered the streets of Sarrebourg looking for an ice-cream and didn't find one.  Sarrebourg did not have much going for it at first sight.  We were hoping that due to its location in the Moselle Region it may have a few wineries and stuff, but alas, none to be seen.  The town centre itself (which we explored briefly on the way to our motel) was fairly ordinary with many shops permanently closed down.  Maybe another victim of the GFC?   Given we could not find an ice-cream; we decided to try our luck for an early check in and arrived about half an hour early but the room was ready.  The hotel (Ibis Styles) is undergoing renovations and our room looked quite new.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for hotels in Nancy and Metz and finally booking.  Hotels with aircon are a must at this time of the year mainly so you can close the window and not suffocate while you keep the street (mainly yahoos) noise out.   Even the 3 star hotels are expensive, but it is better to have a good sleep.  After updating the blog, Greg went for a walk and found some cherries which were a delicious entrée.  Had dinner in the hotel's restaurant which was a bit expensive but both meals (steak and fish) were really yummy.



Lutzelbourg


Our room - 110 Ibis Styles


Canal boat just outside Strasbourg

The shower cap is a realfashion statement!

A tight fit

A Porsche dealership

Escargot - yummo!

World Cup soccer  sugar

Cafe in Saverne

Le boat in le lock!

Entree


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