This is part four (out of seven) of our cycle trip from Andermatt, Switzerland northward along the Eurovelo 15 and 5 routes. In this video we cycle from Basel, Switzerland, along the Rhone-Rhine Canal to Mulhouse, and then on the Alsace Wine Route (Eurovelo 5) to Colmar, France.
Hi, I’m David. And I’m Lesie. And we enjoy spending our vacations traveling around the world by bicycle. On some previous trips, we cycled around Sweden and Denmark, marveling at the amazing cycle path there. A couple summers ago, we flew into Paris. We made our way to the Lir Valley and cycled around there for a few weeks. It was amazing. Mostly though, we spent some great time here in Ontario, marveling at the wonderful landscape that we live in. We’re starting this trip at the end of June 2024 and plan to spend about 3 weeks cycling largely north on the Eurov 15. We flew into Frankfurt, spent the night, assembled our bikes, and then took a train to Andermont, Switzerland. where we then cycled down Eurovella 15 through Likensstein and Austria to Basil, Switzerland. Then we cycled a little bit west towards the UVL 5 and cycled through the Alsace region through Strawburg and then cycled back into Germany to Offenberg and then took a train to Luxembourg where we cycled over towards the Moselle River down the Moselle River to Coblins and then back up on the Rine and ended in mines where we took a train back to Frankfurt. In this fourth video from our trip, we cycle north along the Rine out of Basil and cross over the Ryan River and then cycle along the Ron and Ryan Canal towards Mullhouse. We then spend a night there and then head further north through the Elsas on Ural 5 through several medieval towns before reaching the town of Kmar. [Music] Lot there’s people in [Music] there. Leaving Basil. Well, sort of leaving Basil. Looking for the point where three countries come together. Switzerland, France, and Germany along the rine. And then we can start our ride out of Basil towards Mool House. Yeah. Go [Music] back. Didn’t go down. [Music] Making a thrilling video here of detouring in Basil. That’s the reality of these cities. Going through Basel on the water is a major bike highway. Yeah. On this bumpy thing for a while till we get to that. Okay. So now we’re on a little side trail to uh I can’t remember Dre something something something. It’s a place where Switzerland, Germany, and France all come together on the a point in the middleish of the Rine. So we’re now off of Ural 6 and thought we’d visit this on the way out. So today we’re going to Mull House in France uh which will be sort of the beginning of the Alsace um the Alsace area and it’s another sunny day like yesterday. It’s already 20. So it’s supposed to be 31 today. No chance of rain and looks like it’s warming up. Whether it’s from the change in the weather or heading further north out of the mountains, I’m not sure. Seems like a little uh semi Oh, we got a big ship there. Like a little hip zone here. That’s weird. So, we rode through this really cool neighborhood along the river, past the mooring spots for the river cruises and other Ryan activity until we got to the dry lander, which is a monument that marks the tri point where the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland all meet. It’s actually in the middle of the river, but that’s okay. We’re crossing over the Rine from Germany. That’s pretty bridge going to France. Bits and pieces of Basil down there to the left. There’s the that three-point thing. That little spear. Yeah. [Music] Yeah. French words on the side. The land of the [Music] future. There we are. something there about uh pasander group. Here we go. After crossing the Ryan River, we were on Urbelloo 6 for a short period of time before we eventually turned onto the Alsasttoello route, which follows the canal of Ryan and Ron, eventually leading us all the way to Mullhouse. So, this is the Ruda Canal. So, we’re heading northwest away from the Rine on this nice canal path. Dogs and people. No dog on her bike. Dogs and people on the path. Dogs and people not always together. The trail slide photography here. A bit of it. Mostly winter scenes. It’s almost like seasonal. Big puffing. There’s some big baby birds on the path here too. See? Oh, see. Yeah, I think it is a human baby. We have a little snack spot on the canal to house. Seems to be an active canal. We haven’t seen any boats on it yet. We’ve been on this canal path for almost the entire time since Basel. And there’s bike number one and bike number two. Person number [Music] two. We stopped for a moment at the impressive locks associated with the Ron Rine Canal. The canal is one of the important watershed canals of the French waterways connecting the Rine to the Ron and thereby the north sea of the Mediterranean. They were built the canals that is were built between 1810 and 1833 under the direction of Napoleon. There were also some monuments to the battle of the heart forest which took place in late 1944 as US and French forces were trying to displace the Germans from the Alsace. Canal Darun Rine path now heading to Mull House. I have less than 10 kilometers to go. We’re pulling into the outskirts of Mo House. Cute little neighborhood. Sure. Oh, I like the purple houses here. Yeah. 600. Big sharp turn here. Clear six again. Let’s turn here. Okay. Mo Center. We got to our hotel in early afternoon, a little bit before check-in time at our hotel. So, we walked around town and had a nice lunch. We decided to take a tram to the largest auto museum in the world with over 400 cars and specializing in Bugattis. Numerous F1 cars, countless race cars, and a massive collection of cars from the 1920s to 1940s. It was unbelievable. Additionally, there were dozens of cars from the late 1800s on display. There were also some hands-on activities, probably meant for kids, but big kids could do it, too. You can try again. As Leslie mentioned, the museum does specialize in Bugatti. There’s over 120 there. the brothers who started the museum in the 1950s made the first purchase of Bugatti and they also have a lot of modern [Music] ones. As usual, we ended the day with a nice glass of wine. In this case, from the Elsas. [Music] [Music] [Music] We left the Hotel Bristol around 8:45 a.m. in overcast rain and it lasted for several hours. We made our way out of Mole House, which seemed to take a very long time, but eventually we found ourselves in the foothills of the Voj Mountains. So, we’re 20 km into our so far rainy ride. from uh Mull House to Kar today and we have opted to do the Elsa cycle route which I downloaded this morning. Just took us past a lovely Bonjerie and uh we are now largely heading north along the cycle route. should take us through some towns and wine areas. Mostly it just been agricultural thus far. And the Voj mountains are sort of visible in the distance. And looks like it shouldn’t be raining, but it is. So yeah, looks looks Yeah, it definitely looks looks wetter up ahead. There’s two of them. Oh, yeah. There’s one over there, too. I see it. Yep. Up a little hill with grapes on either [Music] side. See the grapes on the bottom? A little bigger than the last time we were seeing grapes. quite a few vines up there right now. Most of the route today and the next day or two is essentially on Ural 5, which is between the Boge Mountains, which you can see here, and the Ryan River, which is to the right or to the east of this. We decided to take a couple day break from the Urbella 15 and cycle on the Urbal 5, which is a nice alternative to staying on the Ryan River and gets you a chance to see a lot of the small medieval villages and wine regions of the Alsace. This section of the Urbella 5 that goes through the Elsass is also known as the Alsace wine route. We’re going down to it. I think you’re right. That’s a bank turn. Heat. Heat. [Music] I’m going to go straight here. I think that’s where the bathroom is. Oh, it’s a nice little town here. [Music] This little fountain here is pretty sculptures. A cute little town. Throughout the Alsace, we seem to go from charming little town through vineyard access roads and grape vines and then back into little medieval towns. It was definitely pleasant cycling. Most of the grape vines we were passing were either Reisling, Gwiner, Pino Blanc, Penogree, a little bit of Sylv and a few others. Very few red grapes in the Als. that’s mostly white and uh they are delicious and you’ll see in the videos um from here on out there’s a mixture of grape lines on flat terrain but also some extremely steep terrain on the valley side of both the all south region but also the Moselle since David was doing all the filming we rarely got him on his bicycle so every once in a while I’d grab my phone and try to snap a couple videos. Okay. Big church. Nice cobbles knocked. While cycling through Europe, you definitely develop a lovehate relationship with cobbles. They’re pretty to look at, but really a nightmare as you’re bouncing along these roads. So cute. Let’s go right here. Car back. Oh, yes we are. Oh, yes we are. [Music] just right in front of us. Seems like we should go past the cathedral. What do you think? Not without pain. If you can get some [Music] [Music] [Music] Iguashim, France is a picturesque village in the Alsace, renowned for its colorful half-timbered houses and concentric cobblestone streets that spiral around a central castle. It’s often considered one of the most beautiful villages in France and it’s won awards for its floral displays, wellpreserved medieval charm, and everything that an Alstatian village has to offer. It’s at the heart of the prominent wine producing region. And so, it made sense for us to stop here for lunch, which was a delicious pizza and a beautiful glass of local wine. [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] [Music] Yeah. Yeah. [Music] [Music] Oh yeah, the so much [Music] better. Another 30 minutes of cycling through vineyards from Iguashim is Turkenheim, which is known for its old city gate. [Music] We arrived in Kmar, France, where we plan to spend two nights. We were taking a break off the bikes to explore the beautiful town. When we woke up the next morning, we walked around the town and went to the market for breakfast. We visited the Underland Museum which had an interesting set of collections including alter pieces, glass and ceramic and metal works from around the region for over the past 500 years. There were also a few interesting paintings including Monet and Picasso all housed in an old convent and church. One of the highlights was a Roman mosaic that was found in a town nearby. We stopped by Dom Martin for a wine tasting and we learned about the wines from the region and what the grand crews were which we didn’t know but we kept passing them on our bikes. Those are all on southern facing hills well drained and highly prized. We really like the Kreml and the Pogree. And after that we wandered around for a bit more before taking a boat ride along one of the canals in the town. It was totally cute even though it was really touristy. [Music] After the short canal ride, we walked around town in the early evening and then went to a restaurant for the regional specialty which is called a flaming which is a thin pizza. [Music]