Blog 4.3 - Alsace; the Wine Road Villages

Monday 11th September 2023

Having escaped (no, it wasn't that bad a place; just a duff aire) Soufflenheim, and made it past Strasbourg, this is where the more famous Wine Road villages begin to pop up.

We have several highlighted on the maps, and this morning, having left our wonderfully peaceful forest park-up, drove the short distance to Barr, parking close to the centre.

To say you get a little jaundiced would be an unfair reflection on these beautiful places. They are universally lovely, and old, and quaint, and all those things, so sadly one can become a little blasé. That's not a reflection on them - more on me.

Every village or town we've been recommended and passed through or stopped in has been gorgeous. But - they are also busy, somewhat commercialised, and can be a bit pricey.

However, if you pick and choose, you can do things reasonably, if not cheaply.

Early this afternoon, for example, Walking through the middle of Barr looking for coffee, and not having much luck - although the village itself is gorgeous - we'd just about given up and were drifting back to the van, when, voila, there was a perfectly fine-looking Bureau d'Tabac type of place with a large well-shaded outside eating area, serving Turkish grills and general French specialities too.

How could we say no?

I just love a Turkish mixed grill, and this was fabulous, as was Admin's chicken platter, and the coffee was excellent too.

All for 36 Euros all in - and I could barely walk afterwards there was so much of it!

And there I was saying how busy these villages are!

It was just a short walk back to the van, thankfully, but on the way there was a Carrefour, and we've been looking for ice...

And they had some! So few of the supermarkets here seem to sell it, which I find strange, especially given the current heatwave. We grabbed the two remaining not-very-big bags, and treated ourselved to icy-cold drinks on our return. Lovely! The three-way fridge is struggling in this heat, not surprisingly. Maybe the next mod I make will be to add in-and-out fans to the vents. That seems to be a popular modification, and apparently helps a lot by shifting the hot air out of the cavity behind the fridge. Makes sense, anyway.

The next stop was the Camping-Car Park aire at Dambach-la-Ville (a hybrid German/French name if ever there was one), and this proved to be a vast improvement on the last one, with spacious flat, but slightly sloping, hard pitches in a semi-rural tree-lined area. We were early enough to grab an end pitch with open countryside views.

Nice.

Hot though, but that's the way it is just now.

Tuesday 12th September 2023

We decided to make it a two- night stay, and have a walk into Dambach - but first move the van into a just-vacated slot which enabled us to have the awning/sitting area on the shaded side of the van; a vast improvement on the direct sun of yesterday afternoon.

The village is about a twenty minute walk from the aire, and, on balance, worth a look.

Like the rest on the wine road, it is well-stocked with old traditional buildings, but there're very few establishments other than wineries - of which there are many, mostly seemingly specialising in Crémant (sparkling) wines.

However, we did manage to track down another Tabac, serving coffee in an air-conditioned environment, which was very welcome indeed. We even picked up Soleros and cold drinks for the walk back.

Back, via the remaining gate of the village's remparts.

This evening, the wind is picking up a bit, and it's definitely clouding over somewhat, and much cooler - which makes a lovely change!

We have forecast of about 20 degrees and thundery showers all day tomorrow, and I'm quite happy about that...

Warming up again and dry the following day though, allegedly.

Tomorrow will be a relatively early start as we need to call in at at least one brico to try to find some kind of step to replace yet another naff, broken folding plastic one. The last one was supposedly rated to carry 300lbs. It lasted a week before the flimsy hinged joints gave out. I know I carry a bit of timber with me, but at about 230 pounds I don't think I was actually overloading it! Humph. 300 pounds indeed!

Following that, hopefully successful, mission we're intending to visit a chateau that's been recommended to us, before resuming the hunt for somewhere suitable to lay our heads for another night.

Wednesday 13th September 2023

Much cooler today, as forecast, and evidence of a little rain overnight (it's agood job I got up and closed the Heki - it's right over the TV!).

The first job on leaving the aire was to try to find a step/stool to replace the busted one. 6km down the road at Selestat, we found a big Leclerc Brico. Having parked a couple of hundred metres away due to the car park having a ridiculous 2m barrier, we found - nowt. We were just about to drive to another Brico when we spotted, just across the way from the van, what looked suspiciously like some kind of Home Bargains type of place.

In for a penny, and whaddyknow? They had exactly what we needed, and rather more sturdy-feeling than anything else that we've had in plastic, anyway. I won't mention the steel one that I cleverly mislaid on the first morning of our previous Euro-tour...).

As is always the case in these places, we also came out with a shower head and a set of scales too. Typical.

Anyway, that chore under the metaphorical belt, we then set off to visit Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg, high on its lofty perch.

It's a popular place, even on a midweek September day, and the nearest we could park was a twenty minute walk uphill.

Still, it was worth it, and it's worth all of the 9€ entry fee too.

The castle itself was lovingly renovated back from a neglected ruin in the very early 20th century, and you have to say they made a wonderful job of it.

And the views from the top? Incredible.

We finished off with a lunch of crunchy baguettes, washed down with coffee, and then walked back down.

Not so many calories burnt in this direction, but we sure shifted a few on the way up and on the many flights of steps around and in the castle.

Our Euro-trips always seem to throw a spanner into the Pioneer head unit's works, and today was that day.

The satnav decided to do its swede, getting totally confused, and requiring a full reset.

This is always challenging.

Not doing the reset, per se, but trying to sort out the aftermath of inputting all your preferred settings, and even worse, trying to get the reversing camera working.

What a bind. So frustrating, as it just won't hold its settings, and won't even display when you select reverse, and even if it does, it then decides not to cancel when you need it too, while simultaneously losing the guide gridlines.

Grrr.

Still, by the time we got to our next destination, Ribeauville, it seemed to have sorted its knickers out of their twist, after trying to make us do some crazy 20+ km detour on a five or six mile leg.

Thankfully, Admin's phone Google Maps did the trick for us.

I detest Google Maps' satnav, but occasionally it has its uses.

Must try Waze again.

Anyway... Ribeauville.

Another Wine Road town, but much, much busier than the previous couple.

So much so that the many businesses in the old town centre were open quite late, and the restaurants and Winstubs were all doing rather well.

We decided to make the most of it too, and went the traditional Alsace route of Choucroute (Sauerkraut) and five pork.

Filling, certainly, and pretty good, but not a patch on the German an eastern European varieties I was brought up on.

Bleddy filling though.

That out of the way, and washed down with coffee, we retired back to the van, parked as it was in a near-deserted car park near the edge of town. Home for the night!

Thursday 14th September 2023

Well, that was a very peaceful night. Apart from one van turning up, quietly, we barely heard a peep. It's a fairly busy road right now (7.45am), and a few vehicles are starting to pull in, but it's certainly a 4 Star stopover. (Oh, and the new step is a success too. It certainly feels far more solid than any we've had before so it might just last the trip!).

We moved on, after breakfast, and contemplated visiting Colmar - which is probably on everyone's itinerary, but on checking on Park for Night there appear to be very few suitable car parks (many height barriers). It was only going to be a fairly brief wander around before striking off west anyway, so we decided to push on, leave the wine road instead, and head for Belfort.

We'll stay the night here on the free aire, which has all the requisites free too - black and grey dumping, fresh water, and bins for everything, having arrived at midday, and will have a good look around the centre as the battery recharges slowly in the watery sun. Yes, it's much cooler!

Well, it was cooler - but by the time we'd walked into town, the sun has his hat on again and it was very warm.

Never mind though. Belfort is worth it.

It's aptly named being a fortress town which has withstood many a seige, and the old wall and associated fortifications are extremely impressive, including the Arsenal, high on a bluff,

and fronted by a huge statue of a lion. It was well worth the walk up the many steps and the one Euro entrance fee to the terrace there.

The town centre itself is one of

several squares, not too busy, and perfect for relaxing with a beer or a coffee (both of which we did!).

It's a place we're very glad to have made a last-minute decision to visit.

Mileage so far: 782