Bikepacking 2023 - Vic-sur-Seille to Mittersheim

Day #

18

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	41.1 miles	km	2047 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	716.5 miles	km	23695 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

We awoke early this morning to the sound of torrential rain, hammering the roof of the tent. Oh dear. Another very wet day, we thought!

But, it turns out that the roof of the tent does a very good job of dramatising even the most innocent of drizzles. After sticking a hand and then a head out of the tent, M2 decreed that "it's not that bad" and that was the official word on the weather we experienced that morning. Drizzle of varying densities but never heavy rain.

We donned our non-waterproofs just for a laugh and headed off, cycling yesterday's hilly detour from our route, but in reverse. This meant that our legs were subjected to some stiff climbs right from the start, before even one pain au chocolat or croissant amandes had been consumed. They weren't over happy at such treatment, but c'est la vie, right?

At the top of the first hill, we both decided that the waterproofs were generating more wet in the form of sweat than they were keeping out the rain, so M2 removed her over-trousers and M1 removed his jacket but kept his over-trousers on. We're not clones, you know! :-)

Early pit stop

On we cycled, through hilly farmland, a light drizzle still falling and a moderate wind hampering our progress.

We were soon in the Parc naturel régional de Lorraine and enjoying woodland and forest along the still rather hilly route. 

In fact one of the hills in this part of the day's ride, we calculate (using internationally accepted units) to be easily two Box Hills in length. But alas, our calculation would be wrong. It may have felt like two Box Hills but checking our route data on Strava, it would appear that it was only one Box Hill in length. Of course, the fact that M1 missed the turn off into the forest a hundred metres or so from the top of the climb so that we unnecessarily cycled uphill for longer than we needed to may have clouded our perception of that particular hill. M2 assures M1 she has forgiven him for his poor navigation and M1 accepts that there is no point further spluttering about rainwater on the clear plastic window into the frame bag that contains the phone he navigates with. No excuses will be countenanced.

Anyway.... we found our turn and headed into the forest on what was initially a tarmac path but which rapidly deteriorated into a rough and difficult to ride, stony and sometimes sandy trail.

Not long after heading into the forest, we encountered a hazard!

This large truck was equipped with a crane that was being used to grab huge tree trunks from the side of the road and load them onto the truck. It really didn't look safe to squeeze alongside the truck whilst its driver was dropping a huge log.

We managed to make eye contact with the driver and crane operator and he indicated that we could pass on the other side of the lorry. But he didn't stop what he was doing and we really didn't fancy the man dropping a huge log right onto us, so we didn't move. He seemed to realise our concern and so suspended log dropping and once again gestured to us to pass along the other side. We got off our bikes and with some difficulty, pushed them by the lorry to the other side, managing to avoid having a log dropped on us as well. A good result, we'd have to say.

We battled our way along the rough track, several miles through the forest. It wasn't a lot of fun to be honest, but as you may know already, such things are All Part of the Adventure. 

The alert reader of this blog may, by this point in the day's tale, be wondering when and where we had our daily pastries and coffee and what type of pastry we had. Pain au chocolat? Croissants amandes? And how many?

But the sad thing is, we didn't pass a single boulangerie or cafe all day. This was a very rural and sparsely populated part of the route which is all very nice, but you pay the price by being in a Pain au Chocolat Desert.

Deprived of the usual sustenance, our legs started to fade after yet more hills and yet more wind. So, we stopped and sheltered in a handy bus stop to eat biscuits and rest for a while. 

Slightly refreshed, we continued and soon found ourselves cycling over a series of lakes, each of which had a kind of land bridge.

It was around here that we saw a quite striking looking bird, which we believe was a Cattle Egret. It was too camera-shy to get a photo, so here's one from Wikipedia. Pretty, no?

About 5 miles from our destination, we rejoined our old friend Eurovelo route EV5!

We'd followed EV5 earlier in our trip, from near Calais to Brussels and a little of the way south along the Meuse where it overlaps with EV19. 

From this point on, we cycled downhill along a canal following it downstream. The gradient was more than you'd typically expect and there were a large number of locks in the canal as a consequence, some of which were in use as we passed, allowing barges to drop to a lower level.

Soon, we arrived in the village of Mittersheim, which the day's campsite is near to. There's a Proxi convenience store in the village but, what do you know? It was closed. So, we continued to the campsite, passing this lovely Stork and its nest on the way.

We pitched our tent and went and had a coffee at the snack bar.

 M1 cycled back to the Proxi a while later when it was open and bought food, including chocolate eclairs and this, cheese of the day, which was remarkably like a Camembert but didn't seem to use this word on its packaging.

Tomorrow, we cycle to Germany!

Fin