The forecast was not good today and we awoke to steady rain.

We decided to go to Obernai, which is a touristy town, so we could look around shops etc and not get too wet.

We travelled via a village called Mittelbergheim, which is supposed to be one of the most picturesque in the area. It was very scenic with many artisan craftsmen. There were many vintners as usual.

Obernai is a lovely town and, due to the rain, it was not full of tourists. We are staying overnight and start our journey back to the ferry tomorrow

It was a crisp morning and we had a walk round Bergheim and then had lunch at the Hotel just inside the main gate to the town. We had a lovely meal, but it took 2.5 hours and most of the day!
We then drove to Chatenois, about 7 miles up the road and parked at the aire. We then walked to Kientzheim. Unfortunately the tourist info office was closed. We walked back on the old Roman road, which is now a cycle track and back to the van. We were so full we couldn’t eat any tea and had an easy night in front of the telly.
SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER
We said goodbye to our hosts the Meyer family. It had been an excellent stay at Voegtlinshofen and this France Passion site was the best we had stayed at. We were made very welcome and bought some excellent wine.
It was a dull morning and we drove to Turckheim, another beautiful, medieval walled Alsacion town. It stared to rain, so we got the brollies out and went into town. There was a very Germanic faire with nouveaux vin, german band, market stalls and flame kuchen.
After lunch we drove to Niedermorschwihr and had a look at the famous jam maker Christine Verber’s shop. At 7.50 for a small pot of jam we were lucky it was closed!
We then set off for Riquewihr where we thought we would eat at the Michelin star restaurant La Table Gourmet. The town was full of tourists, which was such a contrast to the other villages we had visited, probably because they have a coach park. The restaurant looked at bit too pretentious for us and the menu was not very inspiring. The cost may also have influenced us!
We decided we could do much better at a less touristy place. We remembered a lovely town, called Bergheim, that we had visited 2 years earlier. We parked up just outside the walls and walked in. We had flame kuchen and frites for tea, marvellous!
We found a really nice restaurant for the next day and then back to the van to watch the Grand Prix. We had found a satellite channel that had the race on a loop, so Bill and I spent a nice couple of hours planning our New Zealand trip and watching the race.

We decided to walk to Eguisheim, through the vineyards. We walked via Husseren les Chateau and then down a steep hill to Eguisheim. The vineyards were laiden with grapes, which had yet to be picked, and which were very sweet. It was a very scenic Alsace village. We went to the shop of the vintner Leon Beyer.
We then walked back up the steep paths, through the vineyards, to Voeglinshoffen. We walked about 9 miles and were exhausted when we got back, so it was an early night for us.

At Thann we got up early and walked up a very steep hill to some old remains of a fortified chateau. It was a beautiful morning and we had marvellous views accros the Rhine Valley, up towards Colmar. We were surprised how large Than and its surrounding area was.
We drove to the local L'Eclerc and filled up with provisions and then on to Soultz haut Rhin. We parked up at the wine museum and walked into town, where we enjoyed a coffee at the same cafe that we went to last November.
We had decided to have a BBQ in the evening so set off to find somewhere for the night. We drove to Pfaffenheim and found the France Passion site to be full. They offered to make space, but we decided to travel on to Voegtlinhofen. The roads were extremely narrow and it looked unpromising. However, when we got to the site we were very warmly greeted by the owner and he ushered us in for a wine tasting. The wines were really excellent and we decided to have a think about what to buy. We then had a BBQ in the dark. It was a beautiful warm evening and we sat out late in the dark. The Rally of France had passed by earlier in the day, so it was a shame we missed it.

THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER

We drove to Thann via Cernay. We had a good shop at L'Eclerc and then spent the afternoon in the town. The aire was pretty good, but quite tight and on a slope.

We drove to Baume les Dames. It had an excellent tourist info office and we loaded up with lots of maps and info. We went to the camping/aire along the canal, which was a really interesting place. It was really quiet, but in the summer it would be a hive of activity. We chose not to go on the boat ride as it appeared a bit like something out of the 1960’s.
We then drove to Montbeliard along a lovely road alongside the River Doubs. We parked up and then had a walk round the town and back for a birthday meal for Carole
TUESDAY 2 OCTOBER 2012
We walked to the Citadel, a fortress overlooking the old town of Besancon. There are many museums and a wildlife park and it would be good to come here again and spend a day here.
We then walked back into town and had lunch at a typical French restaurant in town. We thought we would have a coffee at Le Vin et l’Assiete, but it was closed.
In the evening we went out to a pub in a bohemian area and enjoyed a few Belgian beers. The beer was a wheat beer and cloudy and was delicious. It was Carole’s birthday the next day, so we had a bit of a celebration.

This morning we walked into Arbois and went to the cheese factory. We were able to taste a number of cheeses and bought a very large chunk of Comte and some Arbois cheese to bring home. We also bought some of the local cheeses for ourselves.
Bill wanted to buy some vin jaune, a very expensive local wine tasting just like sherry. We went to a place in the centre of town and tasted the local wines. They are very much not my thing, but Bill and Carole liked them and bought some vin jaune and a local aperitif wine.
After lunch we drove to Frederic Lornet at Montigny, where the wine we had with our meal was produced. We tasted a wide variety of the reds and whites and we bought the savagnin nature, the wine we had with our meal, and some chardonnay.
We then drove to Besancon, a reasonably sized fortified city. The aire is just by the River Doubs. We visited the restaurant Le Vin et l’Assiete and Poker d’As and had a good walk round town. They a laying a new tram system and half the town was being dug up. When it is finished it will be marvellous, but there is still a lot to do

After filling the vans with water and emptying out we drove to Bistrot de Port Lesney “Le Pontarlier” and had our lunch. It was a real bistro and quite informal. The manager was larger than life and explained that he knew Raymond Blanc quite well and that he had been there many times.
We had a lovely lunch, not quite to the standards of Loiseau des Vignes, but very nice all the same. We decided to go for the local wine Arbois made from a Savagnin grape, no relation to the sauvignon grape, but actually related to the traminer grape, used to make gewurtztraminer wine. The wine was delicious and as it was used to make vin jeune we thought we were on to a new chapter in our understanding of wine.
Late afternoon we drove to Mesnay near Arbois and stayed on an aire. In the early evening we walked into Arbois and found some of the vintners open, so we did a couple of wine tastings. We thought we would try the savagnin grape again. Well, it was not my taste at all and had a taste similar to sherry. The wine man explained that we had had a “Nature savagnin” which was made completely differently from the usual savagnin wine. He told us where we could taste the Nature Savagnon, so we walked there and had a taste. It was much better, but not as we had had at lunch time. I think I am going to stick to the chadonnay, merlot, Riesling and muscat and forget the rest. We are learning a great deal and seeing some lovely countryside.
Tomorrow we are going cheese tasting and then on to Besancon