Day 9 Saverne to Strasbourg
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2008
1
11
47
Trip End
Jul 20, 2008
Strasbourg,
France
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Distance: a measly and wet 40 km
Best bit : tranquil canal (plus my first ever banana and chocolate croissant)
Worst bit: heavy rain all day
The landlady showed me a postcard this morning from an Irish cycling lad who had stayed with her in January. He too had big dreams of reaching Turkey, but having sent the postcard from Austria several weeks after his stay simply vanished. "Do you think he is OK?" she asked me. GIven that he was attempting to cross the Alps by bicycle in mid winter, I though the odds werent great!
Even in April its teh weather not the mileage that is a pain. None of my waterproofs held for more than an hour today... and it rained, solidly. To cap it all, although sodden, I and bike were relatively clean until a deceptively large muddy puddle just outside Strasbourg, which meant that by the time I reached the hotel I was soaking and covered in slimey mud. My chain was crunching like gravel.
I think the biblical storms are against me; a day of snow, a day of ice, floods today. Locust swarms tomorrow?
Apart from my croissant there was one other good thing about today. Before I left Saverne I did a quick jaunt (without panniers) to the ruins of the high chateau, about half an hours climb onto the overlooking peak. It was so foggy up there visibility was only about 10m so I missed the views, but I did have a set of 1000 year old ruins in the fog all to myself. Atmospheric.
(bike note: no map needed today, simply followed marked route into Strasbourg)
