Blue Skies, more Vines and Apple Orchards: Riquewihr to Kientzheim to Colmar
We started our day today with a stop in the village for a coffee and croissant. The croissant probably had the shortest life in the history of croissants, moving from the oven to the resting place in the CN's mid section in record time.
We fired up the GPS and headed for the hills on our short 20 km ride into Colmar. Another warm sunny morning as we started out and we are wondering when this great weather will change. Hopefully not for a bit although we know it is inevitable.
I relied today on both the GPS and the GTW (the Go This Way navigational aid) today. Both were acting up somewhat. The GPS kept telling me at one point to turn right, turn right, turn right for about one minute or two until I turned down the volume. Problem solved! The GTW, as some of you may know, also has a mind of its own, and was questioning the reliability of both the GPS and the operator. Its verbal input was sometimes simply avoided by pedalling a little harder. Problem solved! It may be necessary to have a team building session between the two navigational aids so that they build some mutual trust and respect to eliminate some of their conflicting directional opinions. (GTW here: I find it very hard to go straight when the Eurovelo 5 sign says 'Colmar, turn right!!'. The CN has no problem with this.)
We took our time this morning stopping to take some some photos and a slow ride through the pretty town of Kientzheim. It is another one of those towns that is passed by by the big tour buses so has an incredible ambience and isn't lined with touristy shops. We both agreed that it would make a fantastic place to park for a week and explore the area. We arrived in Colmar around 1:00 booked into a hotel, stored our bags and went for lunch and a walk through the Old Town.
We are just back from more exploring and dinner. Keith did the narrative, and is now planning tomorrow's route. I am taking over for the photos.
Keith had the cafe and croissant. The croissants were still in the oven and he had to wait five minutes. He ate so much of my breakfast while waiting the server felt sorry for me and brought me more.
Straight up out of town. We went two km at an average speed of 8.5 km an hour. Nice to get that heart rate up first thing in the morning. This is looking back at the town from the bike path.
Beautiful ride through the vineyards, and the reward for the up was the cruise back down. The grapes are being harvested and it is interesting to watch.
Chien of the day. No name as he was enjoying the vineyard while his human harvested the grapes. Perhaps he was even guarding all that future wine but the wagging tail was a dead give away that he was a pushover.
This is a spot we would consider as a quiet base for a hub and spoke tour in the future, using Kientzheim as a base and venturing out each day from there. There are so many hiking and biking trails in this area.
We stopped at an apple orchard where an orchardist had boxes of apples for sale. He gave us a couple and shortly after these two disposed of the apple cores for us.
For Chef Mark. You need to perfect onion tarts and tarte flambé for us so we can feast on these at home. The cuisine here is delicious and heavily influenced by Germany. It will be fun to see what happens food wise as we head into Provence. Despite all the cycling I am worried I may come home looking like a little butter ball!
