Saint Marie aux Mines to Munster

Woke to the sound of driving rain. Oh no! I lolled for a while then decided to do a bit of packing. Then lolled some more, packed some more, watched some TV. Eventually conceded defeat and ate my left over baguettes, quite bloated. Finished packing, had everything on the bike. Watched some TV, stared out the window. Really did concede defeat at 9 am.

It was spitting lightly, not too bad, so I went to get some supplies, including my first pain au chocolate. It had STOPPED raining! Phew, I hope this holds. Then set off up the Col. It was very misty and quite warm so within a couple of K's I had to stop to take the jacket off. Still no rain.

The first climb, Col des Bagnelles, is the longest one of the day (I hope) as it starts at the lowest altitude. The climb was quite consistent, after an easy start it seemed to be pretty much around 7% for the entire climb. As I got higher the road actually started to be not exactly dry, but less wet. By the time I got to the top there were even a few sunny patches visible. Cool!

The next Col, Col du Pre de Raves, was pretty easy. Just a straight forward climb, a little easier, maybe 6 %. This was the highest Col for some time so I was hoping it would be just undulating from here for a while. That was pretty much the case to the Col du Bonhomme. It was funny at the Col du Bonhomme, a group of motor cyclists turned up, all very excited and went in for a beer at the bar there. It didn't seem much of an achievement to me :)


Anyway no rest for me, got to get more Cols up before Paul arrives. Next up was the Col du Louchpach, again pretty straight forward, a bit of a climb and then a descent down to the Col. Then a fairly significant climb to the Col du Calvaire, which is the highest pass I have been over so far this trip. There is a Ski resort here! I really must be fairly high up.

Don't worry I'm not going to upload pictures of every Col!

After this there was a long descent and then a very easy, not even the granny gear, climb up to the Col du Wettstein and then another small descent and another easy climb up to the Collet du Linge. There was no sign here :(

Done! 7 Cols in one day.

Finally, the reward of the day, the huge descent down to Munster, it was in the SUN! It was a really lovely descent. I got a good view of the valley for a long way down. It had nice sweeping bends and a good, dry, road surface. Very pleasant.

I eventually got to the camp site at 1.50 pm. Of course it was closed :) But they told me to set up and come back later. It's 16.40 Euro a night here, pretty steep considering there isn't even toilet paper (or a toilet seat). Still way cheaper than a hotel. (But maybe not a Gite.) I plan to stay 3 nights.


I went for a walk in town, picked out a place for dinner each night I am here. I got a post card to send to work. Wouldn't want them to think I have forgotten them :) Oh yes, there is this odd clicking sound in town, it is actually the sound of storks clapping their beaks. They have nests on the top of various buildings around town, quite interesting.


Dinner! I'd picked a place with a four course menu today, I'd earned it. I decided to have a Kir with dinner, it's cheaper than a Coke! Very nice. The entree was a local salad, lettuce, tomato, oodles of cheese, and a local sausage (almost like Devon). The main course was duck with sauerkraut and potato, pretty much like choucroute. Then a local cheese with bread and for dessert two slices of chocolate cake and a scoop of sorbet. I was so bloated. Did I mention the seven large pieces of baguette? Hey, that is one for each Col :)