Alsace Cycle Tour: A trip through the woods to Mont St Odile Monastery 768m

Castle Haganau a long way up and then it was 'entree interdit'

Nidderviller to Saverne with Lucy and Miles - The best part of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin

The days are slipping by and we seem to be either cycling, walking or collapsing in a heap.  I especially want to record our lovely three days with Lucy and Miles who were great company.  They threw themselves into the canal boating life with their usual gusto and were also perfect guests.

In fact so perfect that I didn't really do much in the way of cooking, housekeeping or helping on board for the duration.

We chose a route to cruise with them that started and ended with a nearby train station and that included two tunnels (one of them over 2km long) and the Arzviller Inclined Plane. As well as part of the Vosges Mountains.

The Inclined Plane. Not the most attractive structure! It replaced 18 lovely locks.

It was a little bit gloomy as we descended.

Basically we were floating in a large box full of water and we descended down on large metal cables.

When Lucy and Miles arrived we had had torrential rain.  What bad luck we thought apologising as we met Lucy and Miles from the train station.  Not a bit of it, Lucy was looking for puddles and that is just what she got!

In the lock. Miles pushing the rod to start the locking process

Anyhow, that made things a whole lot better and in fact the weather picked up fairly soon, although it could never be described as warm.  On the last day in Saverne, we wanted to cycle together but we only had two electric bikes (which are fantastic), and two fold up bikes, which are not.  Poor Miles suffered the worst of the fold up bikes for most of the journey, on the basis that he was the fittest.  Lucy and I developed a system of alternating one on electric and one on fold up.  I helped pull her up the hills by her hanging on to the back of my rucksack.  She helped me by extending an arm and pushing my back.  It took some refining and we had to work on riding extremely close to each other, but it worked - sort of. Wish I had a photo, but in fact it rained on the way back and by then we were in no mood to stop and take any.

Miles and Lucy securing the ropes whilst in the lock at Lutzelburg

The deepest lock in France!

Yes this monstrosity is the deepest lock in France near Rechicourt le Chateau

We went for a walk along a path that took us past the 4 or 5 locks abandoned in 1965 and we speculated as to why when commercial traffic was in decline and tourism had not yet taken off on the canals, this new colossal lock was built.

Fisrt of the old locks where modern waterways splits

New lock in distance across a lake

 We are now moored at a village with the unpronounceable name of  Xouaxange.  The navicarte boasted of the impressive chateaux ruins!

Woo-hoo! as Rachel would say.

Back on Quercy

Here we are back on Quercy again, currently moored at Lagarde on the Canal Mane au Rhin (which will probably mean nothing to you unless you have been on it - not very near the Rhine and who knows where the Marne is. Well I do actually but it's not like the Seine which everyone knows is it!) so lets say half way between Nancy and Strasbourg ( I'll just nip out and take a photo as the weather has cleared up and the sun has appeared 8pm.)

The port at Lagarde, near erm... nowhere

If you were to look Lagarde up on a map you would be hard pressed to find it, as it really is in the middle of nowhere. Agriculture in the form of wood, cattle, sheep and a few crops are the staples.  It is a watery area and so lots of fishermen line the banks of rivers and lakes; watersports are the main tourist activities.  The countryside is attractive, but I look longingly at the mountains, and I'm anticipating the next leg of our trip where we meet our friends Lucy and Miles and we go through the foothills of the Vosges.

Julian and I have been pondering, as we often do, on the differences between the English and the French.  (We must soon add Germans to the mix.  As often as not German is spoken rather than French around here).

During our 37 mile bike ride today, we enjoyed lunch at a lakeside restaurant finished off with the usual (for me) tea rather than coffee - also as usual this comprised of a Lipton tea bag with a glass of lukewarm water (the French drink their tea without milk so the milk comes only if you make a point of asking for it, and you must stipulate 'lait froid' or it will arrive warm)

The French also have a strict table setting etiquette, so you must never sit at a table laid for a meal if you just want a drink, you need to look for tables not laid up.  Yesterday early evening we wandered into the restaurant at the port which is in a super spot looking out over the boats. As we were only having a drink, and despite the restaurant with the views being almost completely empty were offered a table in a cheerless alcove at the back with no view what-so-ever.  We ended up sitting on the equally empty, but chilly terrace, looking longingly at all those empty chairs and tables inside in the warm. Am I being a grumpy old woman? should I just shrug my shoulders and mutter 'c'est la vie!'? - definitely not - after all, I am English!

Our second night on the boat - are these Ash trees suffering from Ash Dieback, or are they Walnut trees not yet in leaf?  Further investigation necessary.

Bauzemont Chateau Turrets c. 1065

The largest Salt mines in Europe along the canal at

Dombasle-sur-Meurthe

Some very grand former Salt works buildings as well as modern workings.

Lilacs are at their peak now.  These are growing wild in the grounds of a very ornate former salt works building alongside a ruined atrium or a sort of grand bandstand.  Three chandeleirs still hanging from ceiling of the shell of this building.

Cute Sophie pics!

When you've got a grand daughter as cute as Sophie, you can't help wanting to tell the world just how cute she is!

We had some interesting times in the garden and we visited Nanny in Exmouth

It's hard getting on to a seat

..and annoying when you fall off!

Exmouth carpark

St Piran's Well walk, Tintagel

Add caption

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

    Agreed to have a battle;

For Tweedledum said Tweedledee

    Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,

    As black as a tar-barrel;

Which frightened both the heroes so,

    They quite forgot their quarrel.

A very unusual sight

Sophie and Sian are usually spotlessly clean - what happened here!

Very interesting Spring hedgebanks

Sophie still tearful - not the last tears that day St Nectar's Valley resounded to the sounds of them.

She can say Moo and Daddy and lots of other words, but she can't say 'Mummy'

Old E-bike Goodbye to the Whisper

Wisper and KTM 

It's time to upgrade my electric bike.  The battery is going and having been on Julian's with the Bosch crank it is immediately obvious that my bike is old technology and that the Bosch crank is going to take me places where the Wisper can't.  The Whipser has good points though.  The throttle is just wonderful if you just want to sit on a flat road and not bother to peddle.  It's like a mini moped.

Traditional Wisper crank and Bosch behind

So I'm going down to Take Charge bikes in Exeter this morning to look at new bikes.

Magnolias end March

Mark Jury

Magnolia Mark Jury with Mackie the dog

Mark Jury is a large Magnolia that was in full flower when we saw is at Marwood Garden near Barnstaple on last week.

Marwood Spring

Marwood Spring the other stand out Magnolia.  I was about to purchase the last one but was pipped to the post by a chap who wanted it for the collection at Windsor Great Park.  What bad luck.  But it was a happy day with Deborah and her mum Francis.

De-cluttering our house and our lives - starting with the house

GAP years usually happen either when you are very young or rather old - now that we have our laptops we can take our jobs with us and go now - well soon.  We need to do a bit of preparation and planning first.

If we are going to up sticks for a year, and rent our house out, we must get rid of 'stuff'.  This is notoriously difficult. There are whole books written about it - TV programmes devoted to it - people who can't stop buying and who cant bear to sell, give or throw away... anything.

When we moved into our current house, the most significant plus point in our family's eyes was the very large loft.  Our grown up children coveted this space as a handy storage area and immediately began to take possession of it.

Books, papers, clothes that 'might be handy' one day, baby clothes and equipment that would do for the 'next one' or a friends 'next one'. I am equally guilty. Art and craft equipment and accumulated sewing fabrics; the loom; the spinning wheel along with breadmaker, spare duvets, most of the contents of our former holiday cottage, even the previous owners floor tiles and curtain poles are up there. In fact the only person in the entire family not guilty of chucking any items surplus to current life requirements up there is Julian.  A modest photo album and CD collection are the sum total of his excess possessions.

Bikes Boats and Dreams - 2018

Planning a trip
Taking a year 'out' for a prolonged spell away from home and regular commitments is an idea that has been growing on us.  The dream of setting off (without a return ticket) and travelling wherever serendipity (or housesitting assignments) takes us.  Experiencing new cultures and ideas, getting out of our little world and seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling the wider one - not just for two weeks or a month, but for as long as we want to.

Yes we have all the trappings of modern life that suck us in, and pull us like a magnet to our home, family, grandchildren, community and most important of course, the garden!  If only we had two lives we could spend one devoted purely to children and grandchildren and the other doing exactly as we want! It's funny how the mind can in one moment convince you of the importance of family over all else, and the next the importance of taking opportunities and fulfilling dreams.

We have decided to break the pull of this magnet, for a while at least, and travel where the fancy takes us. We will travel by train, boat and bike.  By boat we will be limited to where the canal and river banks take us, by bike by what our energy levels allow.  We also want to do some housesitting.  As we have had the benefit of others housesitting for us and the experience has been very rewarding, we hope that we will find and be accepted for some housesitting assignments.  Our dream is to spend some time in Australia where remember Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, and in Tasmania where I vividly remember seeing a Kiwi (in captivity) when I was about 7!