Where we have to watch out for marauding tractors now as well!

Sélestat is quite a different place when we emerge with our bikes this morning. There is a market on – a bit like the Heathcote market, but on steroids – and people are everywhere. I don’t know who would think of buying a bed at a street market, but you can here in Sélestat! It would be a challenge to carry home on a bike.

We need some things from a pharmacy, but the lines are long – after two days of everything being shut people are out replenishing. There’s probably a statement on human character in that, but I’ll just move on.

Sélestat’s main attraction is the Humanist Library, which according to marketing blurbs is “a fascinating journey, from medieval manuscripts to rare printed works 15^th and 16^th century, in a magnificent architectural setting.” If I was here on my own it would be a place to visit, but for me to visit means Neil would need to watch the bikes, and that wouldn’t be fair on either of us. Next time.

We spend a little time walking the town, but escape when the midday witching hour starts as children start going home from school for lunch. Something bad must have happened in the school today as we see several children throwing absolute tantrums, screaming, lying down on the ground. The poor mothers. Just the poor mothers.

I wonder how it works in places like this where school lets children out to go home for lunch. Maybe in the small villages there aren’t two working parents? Or maybe parents can be there because after they’ve worked for a couple of hours, they get let out to go home for lunch too?

Either way, we escape the screaming children and set out for Strasbourg.

After travelling through a bit of farmland and forest we find ourselves riding beside the Canal du Rhône au Rhine for about 30km of the route. This canal is one of the most important canals of the French waterways, connecting the Rhine to the Saône and the Rhône and thereby the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Now that’s quite a stretch!

The section we’re riding is the north branch, which pretty much connects Mulhouse to Strasbourg – you can ride this most of the way from Basel to Strasbourg, though we took the detour to Colmar and stepped away from it or a while.

I think the canal might only be used now by recreational boats, and it looks like a clean up is happening ahead of the “the season” with locks being maintained and a canal cleaning boat/machine operating. Either way, the banks of the canal make for a pleasant bike ride to Strasbourg.

The last section when we leave the canal and have to head into the city streets to get to where we are staying is a little more challenging. There is lots of bike infrastructure, separated lanes, marked lanes, but when you are trying to figure out where you are going, and there are dozens of bicycles whizzing around, knowing exactly where they are going, darting in front of you, it is hard work! Give me a levee beside the river any time!

Strasbourg is a familiar place. We were here only three years ago, and spent time with Jacques, who came down from Luxembourg for the day and showed us around. After a clean up we head out for our beer and to find some dinner. Neil did a lot of research – bless him – to find somewhere in this meat-lover’s paradise where I can get a decent meal. We end up at Brasserie des Haras, which is set up in an old Royal Stable, and which has clearly-marked vegetarian meals on the menu. Hurrah! I feast on a magnificent asparagus ravioli dish. They certainly love their asparagus everywhere we’ve been around Europe this trip, and I’m very happy with that.

We finish the night with a disgestif at a bar in a lovely cobbled street. We have a very short riding day tomorrow so resolve to spend some more time exploring Strasbourg in the morning before setting off to Drusenheim.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 51.49km
• Climb: 82m
• Average speed: 17.9km/h
• Average temperature: 22C
• Moving time: 2:52:36
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at a bar situated alongside a small canal. It features a brown beer and a stranger I couldn’t angle out.

Along the way today:

Click on an image to scroll through the gallery at full size.