Second Day of Riding the Alsace Wine Route

May 5, 2018

Q We slept really well in the little campground (7 spaces only) on the edge of a vineyard and the village of Bergheim. It was another windy night with fierce gusts, and our Anjan Hilleberg tent withstood the elements brilliantly....and this was the first night of camping this trip, where we didn’t have to wear all of our clothes to keep warm. Things are looking up!

We are keen to get back on our bike and see more of this wonderful Alsatian region. One bit of business we need to take care of today is to find a store that sells the blue cable needed for charging our electronics and bike battery at camp. Today we will go through Colmar and we will forsake any sightseeing until we track one down.

Camping du Vignobles, Bergheim. It is beautifully situated, basic amenities, clean and only €8.70

Barry happy to have his first cup of coffee and also that it feels like we may have a tailwind today!

The neighbour farmer with his son cutting the grass between the rows of grape vines.

It was an adventure checking in here as the only person at home last night was a young girl who spoke no English, and she didn’t understand our French! We finally got there but with much lost in translation.

What a nice start to the day, riding in the valley, with a tailwind and wonderful views.

The signage for the Alsace Wine Route has been excellent.

We really like the roofs that we see here - they remind us of Dijon. The roof of the steeple really caught the sun and it sparkled from quite a distance.

A close up of the extraordinary roof on the steeple.

Bartholdy, the sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty was from Colmar. We had ridden out of Colmar to its industrial and big store shopping area looking for a electronic cable for camping when we saw this statue at a roundabout. It is strange to be riding along and see this nonetheless.

Success! We ventured into a number of stores and the finally the super huge Castorama (like a Home Depot) had one.

Now we are back in Colmar which has a very impressive town centre, but also many tourists. We found it to be beautiful but yearned for the simpler and sometimes more rustic remote villages which had few tourists.

A decorative front for this cafe featuring local beer and wine.

Storks are emblematic of the Alsatian region.

This church lacked a clock tower with a steeple. The clock was on the wall which is unusual.

We met this couple 3 times today. They were riding from Bergheim as well and despite the number of people in Colmar, we kept running into them. They reside in Switzerland and are originally from Vienna.

Colmar has a wealth of beautiful buildings and things to see.

But ahhh, we are back in the countryside where we love to be. We are seeing castles and remains of fortifications on the hilltops.

This stork on her nest was huddled in to the wind. We liked the sight of her “beard” blowing over her beak.

It is har to keep track of the number of wineries we have seen along this route.

Vintners have to be very creative with these challenging hills. The terracing at the top caught our eye.

A grand hotel with its vineyard terraced below.

We found a great campground with good facilities, Le Florian in Guebwiller. Campground have just opened May 1st and there are very few campers -only 3 other sites occupied. As you can see, Barry went for a walk to the store while I finished setting up camp and he returned with a cold supper for us.

And then he surprised me with this delicious lemon tart and fudgy rich chocolate torte.

Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 704 km (437 miles)

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