Now we are in France there are croissants for breakfast ... excellent. After filling our boots, we retrieved our bikes from the most awesome bike shed you have ever seen (Grand Designers would kill for it) and headed off to the Carrefour for some shopping as there was to be a lot of canal side cycling today. Cream cheese, Parma ham and more croissants, and chocolate croissants too, all reside on the rack for the next few miles. We set off in fine bright sunshine with the temperature approaching 20C - just perfect. Poor French (OpenSource) maps prevented detailed routing, but signage was excellent so we soon found our way to the Canal du Rhone & Rhin which we followed for nearly 60km all the way to Strasbourg. We diverted briefly at Marckolsheim (key player in the Maginot Line) for a coffee, but otherwise kept to the canal path which was excellent quality blacktop throughout on which we could cruise comfortably at 20-25 kph. We had chatted with two Portuguese ladies on Bromptons at breakfast, who we'd seen the previous day, only to find that they are doing the same epic tour as us on their folding bikes. The cycling is so easy that this is eminently doable and they are planning on roughly the same timing as us. A picnic stop at a bench in the sun was a welcome refuelling stop but otherwise the trip was uneventful and the scenery quite variable with pretty stretches, industrial stretches, and overgrown 'wildlife' stretches. And the odd pillbox thrown in along the way to remind us of the war! Strasbourg was reached finally and we checked in to a fine hotel (besieged by tradesmen for refurbishment), showered, changed and headed off to explore the city and to eat! Beware beer prices here: €6.50 for 1/2 litre ... fine if you're a Eurocrat on expenses! Now back at hotel booking accommodation ahead - Anne's head is spinning, it's getting late and it's a long day tomorrow!!
74.7 km; 18.9 kph avg; 03:56 moving time; 61m ascent
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