A wonderful first day of 5 walking by the vineyards and lower slopes of the Vosges hills in Alsace in France.

Date walked: 16th April 2018

Distance: around 10 miles

Map used: IGN No 122 Colmar, Mulhouse/Bale covers the area but at a scale of 1cm to 1 km but it is really not good enough for following the footpaths. I subscribe to an App called IGN Outdoors and this allowed me to download and plot each days walk onto my phone at a large scale (4cm to 1 km).

Arranged through: Sherpa Expeditions, who chose the route, selected and booked our accommodation, arranged luggage transfers and provided detailed walking notes and large scale map extracts for each walk.

Getting there

I was making this trip with Bob; readers of this blog will be most familiar with his backside. Our nearest airport was Basle (in Switzerland) and amazingly we found flights (him from Manchester, me from Bristol) that were scheduled to arrive within 10 minutes of each other. Even more amazingly, they did.

Looks like we were in space

Bob had arranged our train tickets (though sadly omitting to claim our over 60’s discount). From the airport we caught a bus to Basle SSB station  (tickets purchased at the reclaim baggage place) and from there just one train to Colmar where Bob had also arranged for a taxi to take us to our accommodation.  It all worked perfectly and we arrived at the Les Portes de la Vallee hotel in Turckheim in plenty of time to admire its colourful Easter- decorated exterior before heading out for supper.

Adventurous colour combination

It seems that the festival of Paques (Passover) is longer here  than our Easter and more fun; we were to come across decorated houses, fountains and shops throughout the week.

I think that bunny has been shat on

We had nice big rooms (though a bit stuffy – the air-con didn’t seem to work) at the hotel with smashing bathrooms. The only downside was that it was in the suburbs of what turned out to be a very pretty town.  No matter, we were happy to have the 10 minute walk in the very warm early evening to the Auberge du Veilleur at the entrance to the old town.  Here Bob sampled the Alsace regional speciality of Tarte Flambe (think pizza on a very thin crispy bread base but not as nice) served in 4 quarters with different toppings and I had the house burger. The “burger” part of it was a thick goats cheese slice and nice but not what I was expecting (My French Fail).

My bun was nice

We choose a house Riesling served in pichets. which was good but I would have liked it more chilled.  As you can see the salads were really just a garnish. The puddings were unmemorable but both being cheese lovers we ordered a cheese course between us. What came was not the fully furnished cheeseboard that we have enjoyed on previous trips to France but two pieces of the local Munster cheese which I didn’t much take to, not being too keen on smelly cheeses.  OK, not the best of starts, eating-wise. On returning to the hotel the Easter decorations had a night-time dimension.

Sadly no Easter Egg fairy had visited our rooms

Breakfast at the hotel top-notch with everything one could wish for, though I did wish that the woman on a nearby table would switch off the very annoying clicks on the game she was playing on her phone and maybe read the paper if her husband was that boring.

Preamble

Plenty available 2nd hand

In 1993 my Uncle, Nigel Buxton, published “Walking in Wine Country” (Widenfeld and Nicholson). My mother had passed her copy over to me some years ago and it was only after I had booked this trip did mum remind me that he had included a chapter on the Alsace. It’s a small section but I was really pleased to see that his walk from Kintzheim to Turckheim covers much of the same territory as Bob and I are to pass through over the next three days, though Nigel was travelling north to south and we are doing the opposite. Nigel could fairly, I think, be described as vinophile and much of his writing concerns visits to wine producers and swapping tasting opinions: “Qui. Belle acidite, belle charpante” (good structure).

I would not know a good structure in wine if it hit me in the face. But I did read something that may well help guide Bob and I in those all important choices, which is that Nigel reports that In Alsace the wines are known by the name of the grape used and that the grapes are not blended. Now, I can’t comment yet on whether that has changed in the last 25 years, but I am looking forward to seeing if I can form a view about the relative merits of Riesling, Tokay d’Alsace, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Muscat, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir. This may require a change of approach of ordering our wines by the glass.

Spoiler alert: we were quite hopeless in this endeavour for the entire trip only drinking Riesling and Pinot Noir but we did enjoy both. And we didn’t call in at a single winery.

Quite how Nigel walked at all with the number of glasses he seems to sample in a day is beyond me; and he thought nothing of buying a couple of bottles to put in his rucksac! (though he was also inclined to a post picnic lunch sleep). His impressive constitution is, sadly, not something I can now ask him about, but I will light a candle or two in his memory, and raise him a toast.

Our route

I wouldn’t strain your eyes on this but it serves to show that we were walking south to north right on the edge of the lower slopes of the Vosges where vineyards meet the forests.

Our route, took us back though the town, the view of the pretty glazed tile spire of the church set off rather nicely against the surrounding vineyards.

We passed through the Porte de France….

Note the stork on top of the tower; this is also a regional feature – more to come

… pausing whilst Bob did some static star-burst exercises.

We wandered slowly through the town, admiring the many half-timbered buildings….

…. and quiet side-streets.

The Hotel Des Deux Clefs (also three stars like ours) had a wonderful front door with an Easter-egg wreath.

From near here we had a better view of the church spire….

The flag is helpful in case you think you are in Germany

…. before leaving the town via the Porte Du Brand, where Bob decided to obstruct traffic.

From here it was just a few minutes gentle climb before we were close to our first of countless vineyards of the week.

The vines had not yet broken into leaf so we could see very clearly how each vine had two shoots bent over and tied into the supporting wires. The vineyards extended up the side of the steep hill we were climbing, only stopping where a small wood contained a large stone cross on a brick pedestal.

Love the lines that the rows make

Having climbed to 427 metres at Col du Brand (Turckheim is at 236 metres, so not that taxing a climb) we had sight of our next village of Niedermorschwihr (these are not very French names, unsurprisingly, as the Alsace has spent much of its history being part of Germany).  A few minutes walk brought us into the quiet village.

The Eglise Saint-Gall has a rather fun, twisted spire.

There was also, a very pretty Marie (place where the Mayor hangs out) ….

…..and hoards of other nice buildings, many wearing their Easter decorations.

Bet that attic room is cramped

Some were very brightly coloured and elaborately adorned….

We passed a lot of Caveau and not a one visited

… others were simply making the best of their architecture…

Heathens live here

…. but Easter bunnies abounded.

Spring had been advanced by a warm spell and there were several beautiful magnolias in full bloom.

There was no place to stop for coffee even if we had wanted to, so we were soon looking back on the village as we climbed again through the vineyards.

People were working amongst the precariously steep slopes in ones and twos, tying in shoots or fixing new stakes.

At the brow of the next hill we could see our next village visit of Katzenthal.

Its stark-white painted church of St Nicolas…

Quite stark

…was very plain inside……

Candles for lighting but no matches

… but in the graveyard was a short avenue of toadstool-shaped Yews that had been cleverly pruned to cover the trunks in the green needles – I had never seen this done before.

Wonderful!

NB the very clean public toilet was clean out of paper; just as well I ways have a roll in my bag for such eventualities.

From Katzenthal we had a gentle climb again, affording us a nice view back to the village….

…. and out to the plain of the Rhine river.

Just a mile or so further on, Ammerschwihr was our next destination, and we agreed that a coffee stop there would be in order.

The lines of vines varied as to what grew between them. Sometimes it was bare earth, or weed-killed grass, but the prettiest were those with carpets of dandelions.

In the verges flowers were not abundant, but there were violas, lamium…

At least I think this is a lamium

….and dotted around the blue muscari.

I loved a swath of tall reed-like grasses that we found in a wet spot as we approached the village.

On the outskirts of the village we passed a fairly ghastly wayside shrine (our notes described them as oratories but I am not sure that this is right)…

… and then the restored remains of a chapel from a hamlet called Meywihr…

… which very considerately had an explanatory plaque in French, German and English.

Ammerschwihr was as pretty and as quiet as the preceding villages, with some interesting buildings…

… some of them richly painted in sandstone red.

There were cobbled streets…..

…. Easter decorations,….

….it even boasted a Porte Haute, complete with storks nest…..

The stork was hiding

… but cafe was there none.  In protest we sat by the Porte Haute for a bit and had a snack.

Kayserberg was no more than a mile or so further on.  A little climb through the edge of a wood on a quiet road….

White blossoms of cherry

….and then a crossing of the quite busy D415 below a fortified house….

….. brought us to a very quiet main street.

There were, though, shops and cafes open and though we were happy to sit in the Place de la Marie and have a modest lunch from our bags (Bobs staple lunch being a can of anchovies with whatever else was to hand, mine a piece of fruit with a “healthy” snack bar), we treated ourselves to a coffee afterwards. Big mistake to order Cafe au lait. It was a horrid milky drink that came in a glass; we should have just ordered a grand cafe avec du lait.

We had a bit of a wander, enjoying the pretty streets and buildings…

….but decided against visits to the tourist attractions suggested in our notes, taking the old gateway at the back of the Place de La Marie (toilets on left) and then climbing up through the vineyards to the Chateau de Keyserberg. 

The main attraction of the chateau was its intact keep; the climb of which (111 steps – Bob counted) was irresistible. From its top there were fab views of the vineyards…

….. and over the town.

Our path continued to climb for nearly 400 metres – by far the hardest bit of the day (it was mentioned in the notes). It was warm and we were slow and half way up we took advantage of one of the welcome benches to catch our breath and take in the view.

It was good to be walking in the dappled shade of the young oak woods. They had not yet broken into leaf, so we could still enjoy the views through them to the surrounding hills.

The Rocher des Corbeaux was near our top at 621 metres.

Just past there a crossroads of tracks gave us a good excuse to have a sit and check our directions.

I wonder if someone has done a book on French waysdie shrines- they put them everywhere.

This one was rather sweet

From here is was a pleasant descent through the woods….

…. until we reached the vineyards once more……

……and had our first sight of Riquewihr.

In “Walking in Wine Country”  Nigel describes Riquewihr as one of the prettiest wine towns in the world but invaded by tourists for most of the year.

Our approach took us by a genuinely amusing front garden….

… and by a children’s playground…

…. before entering through the Porte du Rempart Exterieur.

It was certainly very pretty.

And it was bustling with tourists, too, though not so many as to amount to an invasion.

The town was also well-adorned with Easter decoration.

I claimed my first (absolutely yummy) ice-cream of the day and we sat watching the world go by near the main square.

It was shame that our hotel was actually outside the old town but it was only a further 10 minutes walk to reach the Hotel Le Riquewihr set back from a busy road on the edge of the vineyards.

Our bags were waiting and we received a friendly greeting and were shown to our very pleasant rooms. (No kettle. In fact the only room that had one was the first night so I was glad to have packed a travel kettle for my pre-breakfast Green Tea With Ginger ritual).  Bob very kindly gave me the choice and I had one at the back with a bath. Time for a snooze.

Although we were half-board, the hotel did not cook in the evening so we were presented with a voucher and directed to go back into the old town to eat. I was pleased about that but when we told the waitress that we would like to sit outside we were told that we could not, even though there were plenty of tables. I mustered my most assertive and simple French and stated again that we wished to be outside, which led our waitress to consult with the owner. She came back saying that on this occasion we could but explaining that  they do not make much from half-boarders; well, we certainly didn’t tip. We received a set menu of indifferent quality but again enjoyed our pichets of Riesling.

From where we were sitting I was able to zoom in to take a picture of the resident stork.

The town was even more pretty by night.

After supper we adjourned to a hotel bar where Bob had a few more beers and I substituted whiskey for beer. A lot of giggling ensued. An excellent first day.