Day 50 – The Vosges (Saturday 1st June 2024)

Every couple of years the Tour de France visits the Vosges Mountains either very early or very late in the race. Since we were so close in Strasbourg we thought it would be good to take the opportunity to explore this region that we’d seen do often on many late nights in July.

At the Sixt office at the Gare de Strasbourg we picked up a little Peugeot 208, almost new with only 7,321kms on the clock. Michelle at the front desk was very bright and very helpful. We found the car in an adjacent garage and, after seeking some assistance to change the navigation system to English, headed off in the direction of Colmar – the gateway to the Haut-Rhin and the Vosges. The application that controls everything in the car was not as easy to understand or manage as the one in the VW Golf. Points to VW. Fifty kms later we reached the outskirts of Colmar to be met at the first roundabout by a one quarter size replica of the Statue of Liberty in the centre. Colmar is the home town of Auguste Batholdi, the chap who built the original in New York. After carefully picking our way through the streets we found ourselves at the Parc du Champ de Mars, right in the heart of town. Convenienty located under the park is a large carpark so we ducked down there to park the car for a quick look around Colmar. We’ll be back in Colmar on Monday on our return to Strasbourg. We had a 2:00pm appointment at our accommodation somewhere up in the mountains. There was enough time, however, to visit the tourist office to help with planning Monday’s visit and a coffee at a cafe nearby. To Kerry's dismay the beautiful carousel in Pacr du Champ de Mars was not running.

 

 

Out of Colmar we drive with the town of La Bresse as our destination. The route is only 49kms long and was meant to take an hour to complete but you never can tell….. Across the flats we proceeded to the town of Munster (which I thought would have been much bigger than it was) where the road suddenly headed for the clouds – both figuratively and literally. Almost in the blink of an eye the weather turned from OK to terrible. Clouds were hiding the surrounding mountain tops and suspended in the valleys below. Rain came and went as we traversed the winding, slippery road. All the way along the route were brave cyclists betting the mountain, the road, the rain and the fog. As we travelled further along the names of some of the places we passed began to have a familiar ring to them. We hand entered “Tour de France” country. A wrong turn (blame the driver, not GPS-girl this time) took us up to a mountain top where cyclist and hikers by the dozen had gathered - La Bresse-Hohneck perhaps, but I can’t be sure. This whole region is a favourite locality for family-friendly skiing holidays in the winter and hiking and cycling in the warmer months.

GPS-girl now received instructions to the precise location of our apartment rather than the general ones we’d given her in Colmar so a u-turn prevailed and we were soon back on the “main” road. Eleven kms later we arrived on the outskirts of La Bresse in the “suburb” of La Cure a few kms from town. All that’s there is a few houses scattered across the green hillsides, a Hotel/Restaurant and a few more houses by the creek, one of which was ours at 6 Chemin des Champis. We arrived with 15 minute to spare.

Just after 2:00pm Gerald, the property owner, arrived to hand-over the key and show us through. Gerald spoke very little English and you all know the extent of my French but through the magic of Google Translate we typed our conversation on our phones in our native languages and the message got through, albeit rather slowly due to bad typing on both our parts. The outside of the building belies the apartment itself. Old and decrepit on the outside but the attic apartment three floors up is new and modern and spacious and comfortable and warm. Everything one could want is provided even a well as a washing machine – real winner. The only things not provided are wifi, bed linen and towels. Strange, you’d rightly think, but it seems to be the norm in these parts. It thinks it’s because these places are booked for extended skiing/hiking holidays, not folks just passing through like us. We’d only booked this place 48hrs before we arrived. Nevertheless, for €30.00 extra Gerald provided the bed linen and towels and the place was still a bargain compared to other places in the region.

After a coffee we went for a drive into town to get some supermarket supplies and a new poncho acquired from the local Intersport store. Our other one was left behind in Salzburg in a couple of pieces. We ventured down the road through the next couple of towns, find a lovely church in one of them.