My first view of the Alsace Valley
Although it is hard to tell it from the still image
The wind was blowing at 25 mph and it was raining
Today the weather was worse than yesterday, although still not really bad: It was dreary, it rained lightly on and off during the day, and the wind blew gustily from 10 to 20 mph out of the north all day. I rode north-west most of the day, so I usually had a side/head wind coming across the road, slowing me down and making the wind blast from large vehicles more of a problem. I didn't mount my camera for the first twenty miles because of the light rain - just enough to mess up the images because of the water drops on the filter protecting the lens. I removed the camera from what was left of the mount - more on that - thirty miles later and only took a few images after that because of a somewhat heavier light rain. Despite the wind and the rain, it was a more enjoyable day of riding than yesterday.
Looking back at Mountbeliard from D437
Mountbeliard wasn't bad either - I only got 'lost' once and then I was lucky enough to run into a no-bicycle sign - not literally, although I did lean my bike against it
Once out of town, I stopped to mount my camera, then stopped again because something was making funny sounds. It was my cable lock which had fallen down and was swinging into my bicycles rear wheel. Then I climbed on out of town and headed north west on N437
Leaving a roundabout on N437 north of Mountbeliard
I had leaned my bike against a rail fence and placed my helmet over the camera when I stopped. I make the mistake of removing the right side front bag first, which unbalanced the bike enough that it fell over on its left side.I grabbed it and pulled it back up against the fence, and broke my camera mount when the helmet hit the fence rail. I broke off the modified plumbing fitting that hold the filter and protects the lens. I've glued it back on tonight (with Goop - don't leave home without it!) and it will likely be just fine tomorrow, but that meant my camera mount wasn't working properly for the rest of this day. I did have the camera mounted, but I had to use the lens cap to protect the lens and the lens extension mechanism while I rode. I also use the lens cap, and the cord which attaches it to the camera body so I don't lose it, as part of my mounting, so the camera moved around more and was not as secure when I had to use it to protect the lens.
Shortly after N83 crossed the autoroute, I left it for D25. N83 joins E54, a busy expressway, not long after that, and the resulting mess parallels the autoroute in Belfort. I didn't want to go there! D25 is great and very popular with local bicyclists. I met a couple of them almost as soon as I got on it in Trevenans.
One of the towns on D25
Vezelois, with fields and tractor - that is the Ding-Dong sticking up in the middle
Yet another town with mountains,and rain, to the north from D25
Looking across the junction of D25 and N83
It was not bad getting back on my old friend N83. The riding definitely wasn't as good as on D25, but it was nice not to have to worry about getting lost. To be fair, I don't really worry about it - I just accept it as inevitable and not a big deal. Life is like that in France.
The last picture I took before putting my camera away
It was exciting seeing the first sign for Thann, a town on the Alsace Wine Route. Even before that I saw signs for Ballon - in the mountains I had been seeing in the distance and a place where my daughter Adriane toured last fall. I had made it to another significant part of this tour; Alsace. In a few days I'll be seeing my daughter whom I haven't seen in almost a year. Before that I will be visiting a touring friend whom I've never met and who greatly helped me with my routing in France.
It was only half a dozen miles on N83 till I left it to head towards Thann on D34, but the rain started again several miles before that. I had to put my camera away because of the rain, but, otherwise, the rain made little difference in my riding. I zipped up my wind vest when the rain was hardest - it was never very hard - and rode on into the wind. The wind was much more of a pain than the rain.
Near the beginning of D34
OK, I'm impressed!
I rode north from Cernay to Soultz on D5. After stopping a supermarket for supplies in Soultz, I decided to go back to N83 since there is no good D route to Eguisheim, my planned destination for the day. I couldn't get there because of a no bikes sign on the access road, so I had to ride back west a bit towards Geubwiller then east again to Issenheim, before I could get on N83.
N83 was a lot busier and faster in this stretch than it had been earlier in the day. It is a divided four lane expressway with little or no shoulder and moderate to heavy traffic including big trucks. I don't think I'd attempt it unless I had to in the States, but in France, why not? I rode hard for about ten miles on N86. That took maybe 40 minutes. Then I got off before Eguisheim and did some riding in three other wine route towns: Hattstatt, Obermorschwihr, and Herlisheim. None of them had functioning hotels although they all, and especially Obermorschwihr, had lots of wineries. I was a little worried that I might have to ride into Colmar for the night. When I reached Eguisheim, I realized that that worry was groundless.
At the entrance to Eguisheim is a big sign announcing that it won Grand Prize in the French competition for flowers in the town in 1981 and again in 2001. That is a big deal in a country where towns compete for flower display. As I rode on, I realized that I was in the tourism center of this area. The flowers are beautiful and there is some neat old stuff - maybe I'll get some pictures before I leave tomorrow - and there are lots of, moderately expensive, hotels and other service for tourists. Not surprisingly given how close the border is, most of the tourists are German.
I did try to straighten the bike up before I took the picture!
when the rain started again - coming to the top of a hill on N83