A beautiful sunrise, looking out our back deck, towards the vineyards, and Germany’s Black Forest.

The weather forecast…hot, hot, hot.

We needed food, having had only coffee, and the local bakery not yet open. So we set off at about 6.45 on our day ride. It was 24C already.

This Air BnB is great, but the second B does not exist.

Today we would ride through many villages in the Alsace region of France. Half timbered buildings with incredible history, rolling hills, vineyards.

There are so many villages, and I’m sure to get photos wrong. We rode through … Husseren-les-Chateaux, Enguisheim, Wettolsheim, Wintzenheim, Turckheim, Ingersheim, Katzenthal, Ammerschwihr, Kayserberg, Riquewihr, Hunawinr, Ribeauville, Bergheim, Rorschwihir, Saint Hippolyte, Bergheim, Bennwihr, Colmar and Obermorschwihr.

Phew…I knew there were a lot of them!

Here is our route map.

We went straight into a climb up to Husseren-Les-Chateaux. No warming the legs up.

This was at the top of that climb.

Nice views, although the air quality was not great in the distance.

The first half of the ride today, we went up, we went down. Good to do 6 of the rated climbs before it got unbearably hot.

There was a common theme. Cute villages, quirky features, half timbered, cobbles, narrow streets, all around ‘centerville’.

The approaches to the villages was excellent.

We found food in Kayserberg, and we sat in a shady spot by the river, that I knew about, as I’d sat there in 2019 on a solo ride ( I was visiting Ben and did a day trip to this area).

Back then, it was crowded with tourists, but today the tourists had not yet arrived! So we enjoyed 30 minutes in relative peace.

The photos, just going to roll with them.

We made it into Colmar. It was now in the mid 30s. We’d had a few stops for drinks along the way but needed more liquid.

Neither of us had peed since leaving, a sure sign we still were not drinking enough. We were using rehydration tablets as well.

So a large supermache appeared by divine intervention. Liquids were consumed plus quite a large quantity of lemon gelato.

Sparkling water is a favourite.

Colmar was busy. A larger version of the smaller villages with heaps more tourists. We took photos then Tony said ‘no more’.

Pushing and slotting the bikes through crowds who have no spatial awareness is stressing.

The heat was overbearing.

So I present Colmar.

From Colmar it was about 10 km back. We did the first 6 km ok, then the last 4 was all climbing back up the hill.

With one km remaining (the steepest part), we stopped at the fountain in Obermorschwihr. We wet our heads, necks, chest, back with the non potable water.

It helped.

We made it to the top. My Hammerhead said 45c ( it was not that hot but the direct heat onto it was unabated with no trees).

It was a great 75 km loop today but the heat is not tolerable.

We have sat inside in the air conditioned unit and got ourselves ready for an earlier start for our final day.

It’s going to be another hot one!

We knew today was likely to be tougher, courtesy of the extreme weather forecasts in France currently.

We are not hot weather riders, period!

We had a nice French breakfast hosted by our lodge owner, a really friendly chap who has tried super hard.

He saw us off still smiling, surprised that we were turning left, not right.

Left goes up to Col de la Schlucht. We had to get over the Vosges to get back to Switzerland.

So we started climbing and kept climbing for 19 km. The first half far gentler than the second half.

Here’s our graph.

The weather was already a warm 21c.

The start, just a few hills at the back.

We climbed past this confectionery makers place.

Agricultural fields.

Forest.

A video Tony took early on.

Climbing comfortably.

Nice little church.

The first half were gradients under 5%. I could see from the graph that the second half would be tougher as the graph was yellow and read, so 5-10%.

The road was in good condition.

About 2 km from the top you reach a large junction, we turned left.

There was a shady spot and it seemed to be where all the cyclists rested before finishing the climb.

The last few km were easy and here is the sticker infested sign. A real shame you can no longer read it. It is at 1,139 metres. Certainly not as high as the alp climbs, but a 19 km climb and still good altitude.

We stopped at a cafe buying cold drinks and glasses of ice.

It was now 28c.

Over the road, a variety of outdoor activities including toboggans.

An awesome descent on an even better seal. Lovely Vosge valley views.

Rock tunnels.

Tony taking photos at a lookout.

Getting low now.

Munster is the first larger town. Lots of cobbles that were not laid on a flat surface. Terrible rollercoaster through one section that rattle your teeth.

Some nice buildings in town.

A big cow!

Further on we pulled into Turckheim and spent about an hour in a shady spot we found.

We could not check into our accommodation until 3 pm. Bit of a quandary given the heat forecast. We trimmed our ride back 20 km or so to minimise the impact.

After an hour, the sun was hitting our legs, and a pigeon had schat on my head. Tony’s aunt tells me that is good luck!

We rode on through a few villages getting closer to our destination.

The village of Wettolsheim was quiet.

So quiet, it has a silence office!

Riding in through vineyards to the next village.

Eguisheim is larger, cobbled, narrow and dead end alley ways but some lovely buildings.

At the church, there are a few strategically located stork nests, with the chicks peeking out.

Here I am in the shade. It is now in the high 30’s. We are only about 5 km or so away but a hill to climb. No avoiding it.

Back through more vineyards.

Climbing up the 150 metres ascent in 38c. It is very hot in the open with no shade. Tough little climb.

Thank goodness. I could almost sit under that water.

We have more time to kill so check out the village of Vœgtlinshoffen. The bakery has closed, and the only thing around are wineries. None of those seem open to buy non alcoholic drinks.

Dinner is looking sparse. How many snickers bars and nuts do we have?

3 pm we check in. The unit is air conditioned and cool. We shower and use the washing machine, drying our clothes in no time.

I go over Internet maps and see the possibility of a pop up pizza van at 5 pm, but alas it did not appear.

The owners tell us it should be there at 6 pm. It is still stinking hot as we walk up the short hill for the second time.

It was there and we ordered two pizza and four drinks, had to collect 30 minutes later. A third walk up the hill in the heat.

We ate half the pizza and the remainder tonight, but hopefully can bring some other food back that won’t spoil.

We have now ridden 3,121 km, two days remaining.

We are likely to modify the rides and start times to cope with the continued heat warnings.

Thanks for reading.