Monday 10 August 2015
| Distance (km) | 22 kms | |||
| Distance (time) | 5 hrs | |||
| Climb / Descent | 500m / 430m | |||
| Hard / Soft surface | 70% / 30% | |||
| Landscape |
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| Weather |
 →  27° 3 Bft
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On Saturday we packed in Vic-sur-Seille to move our base camp to Abreschviller. On arrival there we inspect the small camping site and the first thing we notice is that there is hardly any shadow which is not so nice considering the temperature. We cannot immediately spot the reception and on the information panel we read that we have to report at the door at the top of the stairs of the gite next to the camping site, but after 17:30. We really don't want to wait that long so we carefully try to see if the reception might be open. And indeed, the door opens. Inside there is a hardly dressed couple behind the computer and as soon as we open the door the woman jumps up, crosses her arms in front of her body. giggles and shuffles to the back claiming she still has something to do. The man looks disturbed and asks not too friendly what we want. Dude, if you decide to watch dirty pictures on the computer together then make sure you lock the door instead of being grumpy if somebody enters!
We explain and the man points out where we can pitch the tent: a very narrow strip next to the hedge in the plain sun. Apart from the burning sun our tent won't fit there and so I ask if we can pitch it somewhere else. No, that is not allowed, the other spaces are for campervans and caravans, not for tents. Ah, and the laundry machine is not available because it is part of the gite and the gite was rented out this week. Now in principle I don't consider that a problem, but then don't advertise there is a laundry machine at the camping site if it is not part of the camping site. Summarizing, we get a too small space in the plain sun and we cannot do laundry. Do we want to stay here? I know there is another camping site in St.Quirin and we can at least have a look there? Lupita is not impressed either by the camping in Abreschviller, also because of the weird situation when we entered the reception. So we go to St.Quirin, which is only 6 kms from here and also along the GR5. The camping site there is almost the opposite: spacious and lots of shadow. There is no laundry machine either, but hey, that is not the most important and in the end it is only a simpel municipal camping site. There is no owner present but on the advise of some Dutch who are already there we just pitch the tent. Even before finishing the caretaker of the town hall arrives; a very friendly man who introduces himself and gives some tips on where the closest supermarket is for instance. Such a difference with the other camping. And so our base camp is not in Abreschviller, but in St.Quirin. After a hot Sunday the night to Monday we have a heavy thunderstorm and when we get up it is still raining. With the expectation it will improve we drive at 6:45 to Abreschviller to park the car at the town hall and take the 7:00 bus to Sarrebourg. We arrive in Sarrebourg just before 8:00, but the bus to Gondrexange doesn't leave until 12:20 so we have to kill more than 4 hours here? At the taxi stand I see a taxi and the driver is smoking outside, so I decide to use my best French and ask what it would cost to go to Gondrexange by taxi. The friendly lady calls the taxi central and tells us it will cost 28 euros, but she won't be able to bring us until 9:15 since she has some reservations. Oh well, 9:15 is better than 12:20 and so we agree to meet here again at 9:15 and we're first going to have a coffee at the pub across the railway station. Close to 9:30 (the taxi was 10 minutes late) we have our taxi to Gondrexange and at 10 o'clock we can start walking. By now it is more or less dry so that's good. And of course in Gondrexange we immediately cannot find our way. We see a GR5 sign at the bridge....and that's it. We use the map and take the first side road along the canal. That proofs to be not entirely correct but in the end we do join the route. After a short piece along the canal the tarmac road climbs to the busy N4 that we have to cross. It's a bad place to cross: due to the position just below the summit of a hill we cannot see more than 50m from the crossing on either left and right side so it is a matter of closing the eyes and run for it.On the other side we can already see the next village: Landange. To get there we have to seriously descend and then climb again. In Landange there is supposed to be a bar which is good because we both could use a bath room. But the bar apparently is history because there is nothing at all in the village. In the meantime it starts dripping again and with the relatively high temperature we get more wet from sweating than from the rain. We mostly walk tarmac and the village just chain up: Aspach (nothing), Fraquelfing (also nothing) and Niderhoff. Ah, in Niderhoff there is a bar/restaurant that is open....but by now we already visited the forest just after Aspach and a bath room is no longer needed. After Niderhoff it just goes on over the tarmac but at least it is dry again. And while entering Heille we actually see some blue sky allowing the sun to come trough for a moment. And then after 12 kms tarmac we will take a forest track! It is a steep climb to get into the forest and then....ahhh....forest track. Well, almost, it is gravel track in the forest. And just above St.Quirin we're back on a tarmac main road that we follow a short piece before we shortcut a large hairpin in the main road with a bloody steep piece of track. But then we enter St.Quirin....and leave it again over the camping site. That is good, we literally pass the tent. So we grab the chairs and take an extra long break to eat and drink something. In the end we do have to go to Abreschviller because that is where the car is. So we walk into the forest again for a steep climb to Deux Croix. From here it is almost flat until a nice viewpoint over Abreschviller before descending steeply towards the camping site of Abreschviller and our car. |
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