Munster

Today we intended to visit the town of Munster which sounded like one of the tourist attractions in the area. We left the hotel at 10.45 heading west where we had to do some questionable manoeuvring to avoid some major roads around an out-of-town shopping area.

The sign-posted cycle-route took us through Wintzenheim again and past a very posh looking school called Saint-Gilles Lycee. From here it was traffic-free and followed the trainline up the valley.

While yesterday's hilly riding had only got us to an altitude of just over 300m at one point, when we arrived in Munster after nearly 2.5 hours of continuous cycling we had climbed to almost 100m higher.

Looking around the centre of Munster we were disappointed to find it sorely lacked the picturesque charm of the historic towns we had visited yesterday and was also choking in traffic.

We had been looking forward to lunch at a nice restaurant, but most of the outside seating was next to very busy roads droning with lorries. In the end we found one restaurant next to a park near the station which still offered a direct view of the line of traffic snaking through the city. Food wasn't being served, so we just had coffee and cakes and left after half an hour.

Our route out of Munster took us past the tourist information where we asked about the town's attractions, but it turned out we had more or less seen them all. We did spot a nice-looking café adjacent to the tourist office in a much quieter location, but decided against yet more cakes and coffee.

On our way back down the valley we stopped after about 50 minutes and prepared some lunch on the trangia.

At 4 o'clock we set off again and arrived at the Champ de Mars park in Colmar 45 minutes later, having cycled about 42km today. Here we had some crêpes and then returned to the hotel half an hour later.

Close contact with vinyards

Today our plan was to cycle along a section of Alsace's famous Route des vins and sample some of the locally-grown and fermented grape juice. We left the hotel just after 10 o'clock and cycled along very busy D roads to the historic town of Eguisheim, 30 minutes south of Colmar. It really feels like there should be better cycle paths in a region like this…

We spent about an hour walking around the beautiful circular old town of Eguisheim and had some breakfast in one of the squares.

At 11.45 we left on a quiet road going north towards Wettolsheim, Wintzenheim and Turckheim.

In Turckheim, we felt like another snack and stopped for half an hour at a café. Lisa liked their bent spoons that could be hooked over a coffee cup and bought a couple of them. We left Turckheim after a scenic loop around the historic centre which was just as pretty as that of Eguisheim, but much less touristy.

We followed the decidedly hilly vinyard route which spoilt us with excellent views of the nearby Vosges mountain range.

Via Katzenthal, the route led us to Ammerschwihr which is very pretty and holds a special place in my heart for some childhood memories. Here we stopped for half an hour at a winery and had a wine-tasting.

The next stop on our route was Kientzheim from which some of the area's countless castles can be seen.

From here, we proceeded onto another vinyard with a view where we stopped for about 50 minutes to cook some lunch near Keyserberg.

At about 3.30 p.m. we were speeding downhill to the town of Kayserberg which was also just as pretty as all the other towns in the area. We stopped for another wine-tasting.

At 4.20 p.m. we returned to Kientzheim via the same vinyard across which we had come, but then turned north again towards Riquewihr. After a particularly steep climb I turned back downhill to see how Lisa was doing. When I got to where she was and wanted to turn around, I slipped in the wet gutter by the side of the road and fell off my bike.

I injured my hands and knees and had grazed skin below my right eye, but luckily nothing happened to the bottles I carried in my pannier bag. I decided it was probably a good idea to find a chemist and get some disinfectant. After some asking and searching around Riquewihr we eventually found the chemist which was strangely located on the edge of the town.

We left Riquewihr via the main street which was very crowded with tourists, but just as pretty as all the other towns we had seen today.

The hills along the cycle path were literally dotted with castles, at one point three were visible at once.

By the time we got to Ribeauville it was already 6.30 p.m. and we had done about 5 hours of pretty hilly cycling.

After looking around town we headed downhill towards the hopefully more level cycle path that went back towards Colmar along the plains, enjoying views of the hilly vinyards. After 90 minutes of continuous cycling we arrived back in the notoriously awkward traffic in front of our hotel in Colmar. Today had been 57km of wine-route cycling.

Marckolsheim – Colmar

In the morning we did some shopping to stock up on food and sunscreen because my fair skin had proved too delicate for yesterday's sunny weather.

At 10.40 we were heading back south to the path along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. 40 minutes later we turned west to follow the Canal de Colmar to our next destination. Straight ahead of us we could see the apparently snow-capped peaks of the Vosges mountain range.

After another 30 minutes of cycling we passed Muntzenheim where we found a bakery with cosy outside seating next to an intersection. We stopped for a 30 minute breakfast.

Yet another 30 minutes later the Canal de Colmar meets the river L'Ill and the cycle path turns south parallel to the river before joining a major road into the city. Since this was the 6th day of our tour it was supposed to be another rest day, so we were happy with the 24km we had cycled today.

The cycle paths in Colmar are uncharacteristically patchy for France and it was no fun at all to make our way into the centre. With the help of my special cycle sat-nav we arrived at the central tourist information at around 1.15 p.m. and spent half an hour trying to decide on a place to stay for the rest of our holiday.

As we had noticed before, gîtes were mostly available in rural areas, but only rarely in cities. After our positive experience with the Montemps budget hotel in Strasbourg we finally checked into the budget ibis at 1.50 p.m. The hotel was located next to a very busy, multi-lane one-way street that was pretty difficult to negotiate by bike and didn't feel very safe at all.

The room at the budget ibis was a disappointment in comparison to the one we had enjoyed in Strasbourg – there was no dining table, instead of a separate bathroom there was only a shower cabin and the bed wasn't retractable and took in practically all the room.

We spent the afternoon walking around the centre of Colmar and had dinner at a restaurant where tiny tables were squeezed onto a narrow footpath next to the road.

Strasbourg – Marckolsheim

We had breakfast in our cosy and practical hotel room with some bread from a bakery and left at 10.40.

Today our route lead us straight south out of Strasbourg along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. It was fun to compete with the boats on the canal.

We were now cycling through the large plains bordering this part of the Rhine river on either side and the landscape was very different to the hills of the previous days. The spring blossom made the trees look particularly beautiful.

We passed several nice looking restaurants along the canal, but they were all closed. After two hours, we stopped for an hour at a rest area beside the canal.

In Schwobsheim, we turned off the canal to look for a place to have lunch, but didn't find anywhere.

So after another two hours of cycling, we stopped for 45 minutes to cook pasta on the trangia next to the canal just before Marckolsheim.

In Marckolsheim, we checked into our gîtes for the night just after 5 o'clock, having completed 53km of cycling today.

Saverne – Strasbourg

In the morning we had breakfast at a café that we had selected the previous night. By 10.45 we were back on the cycle path towards Strasbourg, still following the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.

At this point I had the impression that we were entering the Alsace region properly and the towns and villages started looking the way that I had come to expect from this region. At Waltenheim-sur-Zorn we decided to divert from the canal path to look around the village. It was a collection of farms, barns and residential buildings, almost all of which were old with a wooden structure. Some newer buildings appeared in between the old ones.

At 12.45 we started to feel hungry again, but a promising-looking place near Moulin-des-Moines wasn't open for business on Easter. We turned off the cycle path in Vendenheim where two restaurants were marked on the map, but at 1.20 p.m. none of them were open. Consequently, we stopped just outside Vendenheim and used our trangia stove to have some pasta at a bench next to the canal. It was windy and cold enough for the fingers to hurt. An hour later, we were on our bikes again ready to tackle the remaining distance to Strasbourg.

From here, the canal passed through built-up area, leading past the European Parliament before circling around the centre of Strasbourg. In order to get to the centre, we had to leave the canal and ride along roads for about half an hour. We stopped for a coffee and to find a place to stay for tonight which took us about an hour. At 5.50 p.m. we checked into the Montemps budget hotel right next to Strasbourg's central train station. The hotel turned out to be newly built with small, but very practical and reasonably equipped rooms. Today's ride had been 53km.

In the evening, we admired the historic wood-frame houses of P'tit Paris and bought enough cheese to last us for the rest of the holiday.