Oberehnheim - Saarbrücken 170 km

My thighs didn't feel like it this morning. They told me so, clearly! With every little climb they howled, whined and caused pain. What I flew up a few days ago, I had to do today sitting on the highest hill. And that was just the beginning. There was a mountain in front of me, I had to get back to the other side of the Vosges, but it didn't help. The mountain was mentally building up into a mountain range. My app didn't help either, it suggested a path with a 24% gradient. When I wanted to be a bit more specific about the route, it told me that the road was not passable by bicycles. So nothing helped, I had to take a closer look. Before we set off, I had a croissant and coffee. Ordering in French has become really fluent, I even got a compliment from the waitress. And then I was standing on the mountain. I told my thighs to come 600 metres of altitude, that's what we trained for last year. A bit more than the Weiße Stein or the Königstuhl. Pfffff they replied, but started cranking. And it went quite well. Not fast, not painless, but steady. I even reached the top half an hour earlier than I had calculated, and then? The white or red Saar spring. Both, contrary to what the app claimed, were passable by bike. I decided on the White Spring and set off. What a beautiful descent, no traffic, no rolling gravel, no ruts or potholes, not too steep with a braking headwind. I was doing a nice 50 km/h (if it had been possible I would have "allowed" more today) when I sped past a sign. 150m to the spring. I gave up the walk and roared on down. It was wonderful, and the temperature was right again at the bottom. I first changed to the valley of the red Saar and then to the Eurovelo 5, the Saar Canal. This morning I would have laughed out loud if someone had told me I was coming close to Germany. But along the canal it went, 100 km in about 4 hours riding time, that's okay, isn't it? The canal, is phenomenal, great cycle path, more boats than cyclists or pedestrians. No cars until Saarbrücken. I don't know exactly what I'm doing tomorrow, I still have 2 days to go. Probably first in Saar to the Moselle, but then? Check it out, in this sense good night