Selestat to Mulhouse

What a topsy-turvy day today!

Got up and it was raining. Oh L I decided to have breakfast at the hotel. Actually the rain wasn’t the only reason; it is also Bastille Day today so the supermarkets may be closed. (They were!)

It was a great breakfast, all the usual things and they also had crepes. Feeling a bit stuffed I went back to my room and read until almost 10 am, the rain had finally stopped then so I finished packing, paid and set off around 10:15.

Due to it being a bit overcast it was a bit cool outside, especially when the sun was behind a cloud. I pondered putting on the short sleeve thermal top but decided against it. The route went straight into the wineries which was nice and it wasn’t long before there was an uphill and I warmed up.

I think I had a tail wind for a while; I was really clocking up a good pace and was keeping up with a road cyclist. He’d drop me on the hilly bits and then I’d catch him on the longer flat bits. In the end though there was a rather long climb, plus a couple of places where I had to check the map and I just couldn’t catch him again J

The area around Colmar turned out to be a bit of a trap; there were so many little towns right next to each other and a scarcity of signs in some places. It took me about 90 minutes to get from 5Ks north of Colmar to 5Ks south. I suspect it would have been easier to go straight in and then straight out again. Oh well.

Remember the storks on the roof in Munster last tour...

Around 2pm I was getting near the area where I was going to have to turn off the wine route (VV11 by the by) and head SE to Mulhouse. I stopped at a nice restaurant in Rouffach and had, of course, a 3 course lunch. I got a 750ml water and ate two baskets of bread as well! The entrée had me really puzzled…

Even after the first mouth full, then I realised that it was cheese! It was called a Cylindre du Vigneron.

Next came the main, Choucroute with 4 meats, and a not very sour sauerkraut. It is fully as bloating as it looks J

Dessert was humungous! I couldn’t eat it all, too much cream for me. The cherries were delicious and there were heaps of them.

Not long after Rouffach I turned off the route and then followed a couple of D roads. The D38 and D47 headed almost mainly east and were lovely quite roads (perhaps because it is Bastille Day). From there I headed south towards Mulhouse. I just followed the D201 to Battenheim and then got on a marked bike route (VV12 as it happens) which got me very close to my hotel and, for a big city, was very easy to follow.

The hotel is a narrow 2 star and I’m on the third floor (no lift L). The lady was apologetic about the size of the room but there had been some issue with my credit card validation so she’d let the better room go; however she gave me a free breakfast! The room is very basic and there is just enough room to turn around in the shower (so think London), but the TV works!

I got in fairly late, just after 5, so I watched the end of the tour and showered before heading into the main town. It is Bastille Day so I was expecting something to be happening and there was! The main square had a large circus set up, think trapeze and the like, there were little stages set up all around the town, some of them with performances and some of them with people pretending to be on holidays!

I had a good walk around town and then had dinner inside a small bistro. I wasn’t that hungry (after the huge lunch) so I thought I’d have a small salad… Ha ha ha ha ha ha…

It wasn’t my fault it was so large. I was a bit bloated after that and a coke so I headed back to the hotel. At the Chinese restaurant next door a tour bus had just pulled up and a Chinese tour group was just getting out. I’d thought of eating there but they didn’t open until late.

Back at the room I didn’t wash clothes, didn’t do the diary and didn’t watch TV. Being a bit tired after the longest day of the trip so far, 95Ks, I just read for a while before bed.

Oh I forget, I spent quite a while trying to get a hotel in Annecy. There is very little left (aside from $1500 and $2200 per night). I ummed and ahhed about one at $300 per night then decided I may as well. But it had gone! Oh no… Nothing left. Even the camping is full…

Bed.