Easy Riders on the Marne au Rhin

21/05/15 Strasbourg to Saverne, 51kms

I woke in the night with a shocking sinus head-ache (no, it was not a hang over, or too much red wine...ugh), and after some aspirin and a few more hours sleep, it was no better. Will gave me some Panadol and an antihistamine, which usually does the trick. After half an hour it was ok enough to get up and moving.

Lots of bikes waiting to escape.

We got sorted, cleaned up and handed the keys back to Pascal, who had stopped in to make sure he hadn't made a big mistake letting two weird Aussies into his apartment. All was good, so we headed towards the Cathedral to have a look around. We didn't really know the way, but it was easy to spot.

The little courtyard for our apartment building. 

It is a very pretty old town, and there were heaps of tourists out enjoying it. The cathedral was spectacular, and you could spend ages just looking at it and finding odd little statues and things.

Great view of the canals in Strasbourg.

First view of the cathedral. We'll surely find it.

It is very spectacular. And massive.

So many people! Lots of Americans and older tourists.

Both of us were feeling a little sluggish today, and as we'd spent our evening in the FrogInBar, hadn't looked into our destination for today too closely. So we opted for a coffee and route plan break. (While at the cathedral, we'd spotted a La Poste, so we put some credit on my phone, yay, we are up again.)

We decided that we were big sooks, and felt like a rest day tomorrow and a lazy day today. So chose Saverne as our stop point, as it had a good camp ground that was open, was only 51kms away, and to get there we'd be riding along another canal path. Perfect!

Statue we saw heading out of Strasbourg, what the hell is it about?

Will decided the delicious cereal I'd bought, and we'd had yesterday and today, tasted like cardboard and didn't fill him up, so we'll have early lunch before we'd done anything. I wasn't going to complain, all cereal is yuk!

Eventually, procrastinating completed, we departed Strasbourg around 11:30am, slow as the giant snails we've been seeing, and feeling more contented with our planned day.

Easy riding, sun shining, life is good.

Along the canal was different than yesterday's, less forest, more rolling green farmland, train lines, and locks. Heaps of them. These ones seemed to still be in use. It was still a bit cool today, and I wore my rain jacket open all day. There was some breeze, and occasionally we head straight into it, but mostly we were protected from it.

Cycling selfie, jackets on, it's still cold.

After 30kms, we came upon a bench and table in the sun, so decided to have a break. We didn't have any food, we didn't really need any, but we dried some of the clothes that we washed, and enjoyed the sun.

Drying Will's clothes in the sun and breeze.

Such a typical French view. Steeples and Stolks. They were searching for babies to deliver.

20kms to go, and it was really easy. Lots of people cycling, a couple of roller bladers, and a few boats going through locks. We saw a field full of stalks, and it was a very nice riding day. No crashes or mishaps, so no more bruises. In the little town centre of Saverne, we did some shopping, then head up the hill to the campground. We've got a bungalow, so we can cook, clean bikes and stuff and just relax. It is a lovely area, so we'll try go see some stuff tomorrow.

I passed that boat...yay, I'm not going as slow as I thought.