Verdun to Metz

June 23, 2024

It was a big day of riding for us and we were feeling happy; the weather was great so we didn’t have to do all that complicated pondering at the front of the day about what to put on and where to leave other gear that might be needed if conditions changed.

We were riding to Metz. From a riding standpoint it was a nice but mundane ride. There was very little cycling infrastructure and no identified cycle routes. The day started with a stiff climb out of Verdun followed by a long, boring, straight ride on a busier road. It was Sunday so traffic was only light to medium but the speed limit was 90 kph for most of it and traffic went really fast around us. It also was a rare day where the drivers were not scrupulously polite. We got honked at twice and a few times drivers didn’t yield when I expected them to. We’re still alive so it all worked out.

The circus was coming to Verdun and the roadside posters touted these camels.

There were gigantic fields of these plants which we later identified as sunflowers. These fields will make quite an impressive sight when in full bloom later this summer.

We had amazing clouds all along our route.

About half way through the boring straight stuff we stopped for lunch. In keeping with our ride to Verdun two days ago the little towns were nearly deserted with no cafes/restaurants open and lots of boarded-up businesses. It was kind of sad to see. We pulled into the town of Olley hoping for a bench to sit on for our break. It turned out to be one of our more bedraggled lunch spots of the trip. We sat on the steps of a church that was long abandoned, and not in the scenic graceful way you sometime see. This churchyard had unpleasantly overgrown weeds and a little trash. A large semi truck was parked adjacent to it. I’m pretty sure the pic I took of Dave on the church steps doesn’t do it “justice.” There was nowhere to get extra water so we used the emergency stash in the bottom of my pannier.

Picnics can't always be in scenic locales. Sometimes you just need to grab a seat and eat.

After more straight flat riding we turned of the main road at 46k and enjoyed a much more interesting riding profile, with a lovely uphill and a killer descent down through a forest on small quiet roads.

About 10k from Metz we peeled onto an awesome bike trail along the Moselle river and had a fun ride along with many other people enjoying the fine weather, of which we had seen only a few . On the Moselle everyone was out with their families on a nice Sunday afternoon. The last few km into Metz was a little challenging since there were lots of weird roundabouts that required stops with somewhat ambiguous traffic signals.

Metz and Nancy- where we go tomorrow - are the two large urban centers in what was historically the Lorraine region. Metz started as a Gallic capital, was taken over by the Romans, and then during the early Middle Ages became part of the Holy Roman Empire, with a Germanic culture. In 1552 when Emperor Charles V threatened to occupy Metz, Henry II of France offered to defend it; he did so but then never left (be careful what you wish for…..) . Three hundred years later, during the Prussian-French war Metz was besieged for 54 days, capitulated, and the region swung into German hands again. France got it back after WW1 with the Treaty of Versailles. And, when Nazi Germany marched into France in 1940, it annexed Metz and the Alsace-Lorraine region back into Germany. So the whole point of all this history is: the region feels like a mix of both Germany and France. Dave noticed a town yesterday on our route that had an umlaut in its name- Herméville-en-Woëvre - definitely German. And the food resembles German cuisine, as we found out at dinner.

As we neared the outskirts of Metz we noticed an “Avenue Patton” and a “Rue 18 November 1944.” I looked up the recent history of the region and sure enough, the WW2 Battle of Metz was fought here in late 1944. The US forces were commanded by Patton and they marched into Metz Nov 18, 1944.

The path along the canal & river was wonderful.

But we had to negotiate these steps/ramps to continue on our way.

Metz was busy with Sunday pedestrian action and we had a fun ride through town to our hotel, the Mercure, only to learn that we had gone to the wrong Mercure! We were tired so it was not welcome news but we made our way back downtown to our Mercure located in the city centre.

This is a very nice Mercure (Grand City Centre) and the front desk clerk just wheeled our bikes into a handy side lobby. There were a number of bikes parked here. We were the last to leave in the morning.

We got to park our bikes in this spacious atrium area of the hotel.

We were pretty tired and both luxuriated in the room's fine tub. The hotel feels newly renovated and had a smart tv so we were able to watch our Tour de France series that night after dinner. We booked a table at a place called 100 Patates and for dinner enjoyed being in another region of France, the Loraine, not least because the cuisine has changed. We now get hearty cheese and potatoes, and there wasn’t one duck or paté item on the menu. Hooray for a change of dining pace!

There are tourists here but few native English speakers. It looks like an engaging city and we’re sorry we can’t spend more time here. There is a lot of the world to see.

Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,910 km (1,186 miles)

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