Day 52 – Strasbourg – Lutzelbourg, 76kms

Today saw us finding our way out of Strasbourg with no major issues.  A little bit of circle work when the six of us missed one of the “Velo route” signs but we ended up only about 500m out of our way, so no harm done. But the mighty garmin on Phills bike saved the day again.  It has certainly been very helpful this year.

Our cycling was mainly on the bike path adjoining the Canal de la Marne au Rhin which we joined just out of Strasbourg.  The riding was mainly flat, often with large trees along the route providing us with some shade, which was appreciated as it was quite a warm day.

We rode through a number of little villages along the route, then into Saverne which was a real surprise.  Not expecting much, we were pleasantly surprised at the feel of the town and the streetscape.  We were met by a local who walked us up to the tourist bureau – the service we get from the locals is great.

The Chateau de Rohan, the imposing building in the centre of the town was a former Episcopal residence was restored by Napolean III and converted into barracks after 1870.  It now houses a cultural centre, a primary school, the local youth hostel and a museum. Unfortunately Tuesday is it’s day of rest and we were unable to visit any of the public areas.

A beautiful building, Maison Katz was another feature of the town.  Highly decorated and built by the local tax collector in the early 1600’s.

Next stop was “le plan incline” at Arziller.  This structure is also known as a “shiplift’.  It was built in the 1960’s to enable barges etc to bypass 17 locks.  The sophisticated design consumes little energy by using the weight of upstream water and two counter weights which are enormous blocks of concrete loaded with cast iron pigs, each weighing 450 tonne.  The travelling lock, which encases the boats, is connected to the counter weights by two groups of 14 cables.  This enables the boats to be transported in a transverse manner about 128 m up or down the incline.  We were all very intrigued.

We were close to the campground, so set up camp, then headed into the small village nearby to get supplies for dinner.

For some reason some campers in France have a habit of camping as close as possible to you.  The last couple of nights we have been camped in quite spacious areas, to return and find our neighbours are VERY friendly and like to share our space too.