Cloudy with a shower or two 11-20deg, 80km, av. 16.1km/h, (tot. 837km). Light rain for the first 5km getting out of Strasbourg then fine with sunny periods.
The hotel at Sarrebourg was an absolute gem, with aircon (so you can close the window to keep the noise of the drunks (who don't have inside voices) and the soccer hoons out) lovely room, friendly and welcoming staff and a superb breakfast .
Lucky we had fueled up as it was a fairly tough day due to the head wind, (for 80km) hills, (for 30km) and a busy road (only the last 4km). We usually plug along at about 20km/h, but today with the head-wind we were struggling to maintain 16km/h. However we both survived to pedal another day. Most of the first 50km was spent on a canal (Canal de-la Maine au Rhine) path but this time a fully operational canal with lots of barges and recreational boats coming and going, so really interesting. The locks were a great chance to see the boats up close.
Some nice villages on the way too, Saverne, our coffee stop, was particularly old and pretty. It was situated right on the canal.
Sarrebourg on the other hand doesn't have much going for it at first sight. We were hoping that due to its location in the Moselle Region it may have a few wineries and stuff, but alas no. The town centre itself (which we explored briefly on the way to our motel) was fairly ordinary with many shops permanently closed down. Maybe another victim of the GFC?
Anyway only overnighting and as we were dining at the in-house restaurant for dinner and breakfast we didn't have to go to town again. The hotel, Ibis Styles, is a little out of town. It can't be all beautiful, the world unfortunately is not like that. And neither is it flat so we found out today!
Only the two of us in the restaurant initially so really good service. Wendy had the second good fillet steak for this trip Greg enjoyed his grilled fish.