My Biking Blog: #arbreschviller

Sunday, 14 June 2015

100 Cols Stage 2 Abreschviller to Hurecourt

This was a great day to cycle in the Alsace forests and the Col du Sonon was our first challenge. The campsite at Hurecourt was on top of a hill overlooking the valley with many farms having rolled bales of hay. The early morning mist in the valley was very unusual. The campsite was able to supply cold beers (not sure if he had a liquor licence but nobody asked any questions)! These were much appreciated by many of the riders. The proprietor certainly made a good profit out of our group.
A cool dry night helped many dry their clothes and get a good rest. French military pilots were doing "wheelies" in the sky above our camp tonight. There is an airfield near here. Click here for maps of the route on Garmin Connect
Abreschviller Cycling by peterjkemp at Garmin Connect - Details

Lakeside lunch stop

lunch stop

Marek and Franc enjoy a coffee

rolling hills in Alsace region

Joergen at Senonnes

Senonnes Erik, Tim, Joergen and Ken

Hurecourt campsite Eddy, Damian, Margi, Tim, William, Lex, Gerhard

100 Cols Day 1 Obernai to Abreshviller

This first week is a “warm up” for what’s to come on the remaining stages. In total there are 34 days of riding and about 8 rest days. After a long trip from Sydney involving 2 international flights, two regional flights and a short train hop from the Strasbourg AP to Obernai, I arrived in at Hotel de Colombiere in a pretty tired state. A quick shower to freshen up and I was off to the hotel underground carpark to unpack my bike and re-assemble it for tomorrows departure. Once the bike was assembled and checked I headed into town to eat. The local speciality here is “Tarte Flambe” which is a flat round bread covered with local cheese and diced bacon along with champignons and your choice of other ingredients. This is baked and it is delicious. It is not recommended to refer to it as a “pizza style dish” as the locals will be most offended. They see it as an authentic and original dish with no connection at all to the Italian dish.

At 8am on the following day the group of 45 riders posed for photos in the town square and then headed west toward the hills. There were a couple of “off-course” moments which saw me heading off in the wrong direction but fortunately my riding partner for today Mark Robertson managed to call the errors and get us back on track. The route was scenic and through several ridges covered with dense pine forest. Although nowhere near as tough as what is yet to come this day was a preview of the level of difficulty for the days ahead.

A navigation problem on my GPS on the last 5 kms on my journey took me off into a gravel road on through plantation timber forests. Once I reached the end of the gravel road I was able to find my way back to the campgrounds at Abreschviller without losing too much time. An added bonus from this detour was passing a military cemetery high on the ridge. I took a photo there at a road sign with a planter box attached to it. Dinner at camp was a local variation on meat and vege stew. Three meats (pork lamb beef) were included along with carrots potatoes onions and broccoli. The campsite was very basic, however we were all able to get showered and enjoy a very filling meal served up by Jaap and Aneke.

After a brief walk through the town of Abreschviller I returned to camp for a well-earned rest. Click below for the Garmin Connect activity link which includes map of the route.
Obernai Cycling by peterjkemp at Garmin Connect - Details