This stage is the transition from the French countryside to the mountains of the Vosges. The route starts along canal de la Marne au Rhin and then bends through some villages and lots of asphalt roads, towards the mountains. In the last kilometers the route leaves the main roads and asphalt gives way to forest trails to end in Saint Quirin, at the foot of the Vosges Mountains.
Last night it rained unexpectedly. Fortunately, we brought in the laundry last night and when we got up it was dry again. But because the alarm didn’t go off this morning (an empty phone doesn’t do much…) and the tent is still wet, today’s packing took a little longer than usual. Nothing to worry about, since there are only 18km on the program and the stage is still pretty flat. It will probably be the last flat stage in a long time, because this afternoon we will reach the foot of the Vosges Mountains.
The route begins along the de la Marne au Rhin canal, which by the way, when it opened in 1853, was the longest canal in France with 313 kilometers. Fortunately, we do not have to walk it all the way; after a few kilometers, the route bends away from the canal and we walk on asphalt roads into the French countryside. We pass a couple of villages, some even sleepier than others on this Sunday morning, and we pause in one of them with chausson aux pommes at a picnic bench in front of a small church.
After the break, we walk into a forest, where many border stones can still be seen from the 18th century, when the border with Germany ran here. The border has been redrawn several times in this area over the past centuries. We already noticed that German is spoken a lot in this area, sometimes still useful for us.
When we walk out of the forest a few kilometers later, we have already climbed quite a bit and on top, the Vosges suddenly seems very close. Wow, what a view…
This is the mountain range we will be crossing in the coming weeks. It will be quite a bit of ascending and descending, but we’re looking forward to it!
Around 2:00 pm we arrive at a beautiful, quiet campsite and enjoy our lunch in the sun next to the tent.
The stretch of northern France was beautiful and varied. We got to know beautiful towns, passed through beautiful stretches of countryside and met so many super nice, helpful people. A wonderfully peaceful region to love!
By now, after hiking Belgium, Luxembourg and this third stretch, we really feel like we’ve been on the road for a long time. And in terms of distance, we’ve already walked 1/3 of the GR5! With our legs well trained and our equipment better than it’s ever been, we’re now ready for the real thing: the mountains of the Vosges!
