Day 10 Strasbourg, France - Riding along the Canal Du Rhone Au Rhin in the Rain

Tony's View

Before we left Joan got one more massage from the chair at our Airbnb. It was an awesome chair and in fact I had mine right before her. 

What a beautiful day. Temperatures have dropped, and the sweating is down. We started out with a plan based on weather.com. We were going to start out and the first 30+ miles were going to be dry. Then after 12:00 noon the rain would be passed up north. Well, about 5 miles in, it started thundering and lightning and our plan was shot. We found this covered entrance and hung out there until the lightning was gone about 1 hour plus. 

I was soaked at this point, so I switched out cycling shirts to feel drier. This was the first time I wore my cycling raincoat while on the bike in the rain. Usually, it is too hot. I sweat more inside than in the rain, but it was a little cooler, so I wore it. Any of you who have ridden in the rain with me know this is different for me. We took off in a light rain and no more than 1/2 mile down the road we found in the village of Roshein a French bakery. Ooh la la. We stopped, got off in the rain and had some eclairs and cappuccinos. yum, yum.

We got back on the road and ran into these barriers which make it hard to maneuver with our big tandem. They did slow you down to cross the streets though. We maneuvered a total of 9 of these which was a minor inconvenience. 

So, about 8 miles in we started down the Canal Du Rhone Au Rhin

This is where we had 15-20 miles of gravel path in the rain. It made the bike and us very sandy and dirty. There goes my clean bicycle. There were puddles all the way across the path making avoiding them impossible. 

This canal had many active locks, and we watched a boat go through. The first picture shows the boat barely fitting in. The next picture shows the water releasing and the boat going down after the closed the lock behind them. It was fun to watch.

While going down the canal we saw bunkers along the path, which we assumed were from WWII. You could see where they had their guns out. You know where I was getting ready to throw the grenade in. I walked around all the brush, down the hill and I was able to find where they got into the bunker.

Overall, it was a rainy day that got us dirty, but was very cool. Here are some pictures showing how dirty I was and the bicycle. Zoom in to see the sandy mess.

We followed this canal for about 52 miles which was easy riding since it was only 450 feet of climb. 

We found a place where Joan could reach in and get some water out of the canal so that we could start rinsing the sand off the bicycle (and me). It took about 25 bottles, but mission accomplished. 

The last 5 miles were lined with these big, beautiful sycamore trees. They were very old and had a lot of burls in them. Being a woodworker, I could only imagine the cool wood you can get out of those, won't happen. 

We got into Strasbourg, and our Airbnb was right in the middle of old downtown so the pedestrian traffic was a problem along with the narrow streets, see pictures. It really does add to the experience. I had to go through an almost breakout room experience to get the keys for the room. It was five minutes away and you need to follow 5 clues to finally get it. It was a challenge, but I got it. Taking the rear wheel to the bicycle shop tomorrow to straighten the wheel and disc brake out. Hope they can remedy it.

Joan's Extras

So thankful that everything worked out today even though it was different than we had planned. We rode so many miles along the canal without going into any small villages. There were no water fountains, port-a-potties or even benches along the canal. Any of the other hot days we would have run out of water, but because it was a little rainy and cooler, we had enough water for the long length of the canal. Tony was averaging around 12 each 24 oz bottles of water on the hot days and drank only 3 today. 

We passed several of these speed signs on this trip, so today we got a picture. It makes me smile when we get the smiley face because our speed is below the speed limit.

Finally, the answer to yesterday's question is this picture below.