Area: Vosges, France
The brutal heatwave dissipated with thunderstorms overnight and it was cooler and drizzly as I left the motel and had breakfast at a nearby patisserie to avoid Strasbourg's rush hour. My target was the Col de la Schlucht but this was a surprisingly long drive through lots of pretty Alsatian villages. The col was a great place, with dozens of cycling and mountain options open to me, all very tempting. My basic concept this trip was to alternate bike outings with foot outings, so embarked on the locally famous Sentier des Roches from Schlucht. This was great, a bit like a poor man's Via Ferrata! It takes a narrow and almost level footpath below the escarpment and is a little exposed in a few places. It was continually interesting, weaving between rock towers and taking little rock walls via some ironmongery. It eventually gives way to more open ground at a surprisingly impressive open cwm containing the Hundmissbach stream, the Martinswand crag, and a little hut (cash only). The route then climbs quite steeply to a col and the Schaeferthal. Then came open moorland to the top of the Petit Hohneck, like a British moorland top, and views down the big valley leading to Munster (La Fecht?). Then came a further loop, nicely runnable, to a welcome spring and then a further climb up to the Hohneck, the area's principle summit (which is actually driveable). A further trot then led to the lip of the cwm I'd been below earlier, and a good view of what i took to be the Martinswand crags. A final trot down through the woods led back to the col and refuelling on the full Alsatian, tomme au poivre, salad alsacienne, kassler fume with spatzle and a dark licorne beer.
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