Day 40: Saturday, 18 June 1983

Start: Campground, Seltz, France

End: Field along the road, Soultz, France

Colder than yesterday and the wind still blowing in my face all day. I end up riding about 75 kilometers without getting anywhere.

Up early to look for the grand ouvrages, the big Maginot Line installations. Even my detailed Michelin map not much help, so I basically just cruise around and make repeated inquiries -- Ou est le grand ouvrage de la Ligne Maginot? -- but get conflicting answers from everyone. Finally discover the place I want is Schoenenbourg. I ride there. It's only open for one or two days each month, but tomorrow is one of those days. Excellent!

I want to make sure I have it right. The sign gives me some more info, so I pedal to Reichsoffen to find Monsieur Damm, curator and president of the Restoration Association. No problem except for wind and hills. I easily find him. He's impressed that I've travelled so far by bike to see the Maginot Line. His son speaks English much better than my French, so we conduct a fruitful conversation. They give me some seriously cool books. I definitely don't need any more weight on Bob, but I can't possibly turn them down. I'll have to mail them home. The Damms direct me to the campground nearest the ouvrage so I can get there easily in the morning. Unfortunately, when I reach the campground I find it hasn't opened for the season.

So I buy some food and start circling around the area looking for a good place to stay. I find a likely field, check with the locals to make sure it's okay, and pitch my June Bug in a corner of a meadow, with the wind still blowing hard.

I hunker down to read my new books, then study my travelling maps. I have several tentative outlines of possible routes sketched out for the rest of the expedition, including Denmark and Sweden and Norway, before I need to get to London. Airline ticket back to the States must be used no later than 7 August. I add up the mileages and calculate that even if I can average 80-100 kilometers each day for the remainder of the trip -- no rest days -- I can't possibly do all that in time. Damn, monsieur.

I spend the rest of the evening in the tent with my flashlight calculating and re-calculating routes and trying to decide if I want to do more jumps by train.

Conditions 

Distance: 75 km  

Weather: Cold, strong headwind 

Road: Good 

Traffic: Light 

Terrain: Hills 

Mechanical: All is well 

Physical: Right knee a little cranky