Saverne (castled out)

SUNDAY 15 MAY

Our first European swallowtail of the year - at 470 metres!

Eight German lads on a hire boat had turned up in Lutzelbourg on Saturday evening playing and singing along to loud music.  When they tied up behind us, we thought we were going to be in for a raucous night especially as they carried on while drinking up on their top deck.  Every so often one of them would dive into the water for a swim so was either oblivious to or didn’t care about what gets pumped into the water from boats over here.  To make it worse, although canal water is often quite clear, the water for the last few days around here has been murky.  After a few more beers they got ready to go out and we were quite surprised how quiet they were when they returned so we ended up having an unexpectedly peaceful evening.

The weather was due to stay in the high 20s for a while, so before it got too hot we set off for our Sunday destination straight after breakfast .  The scenery continued to be quite dramatic and remote, and we thought any of the lock cottages would have made lovely homes if we were inclined to buy a French house.  As we came out of one lock Nilaya, who we'd seen a week ago heading in the opposite direction, was waiting for us to leave:

At the next lock a hire boat had caught up with us, so we shared it with them:

Being in a steep sided valley meant that the cut was quite bendy:

The piling on one section was being replaced and we noticed that a couple of guys were working on it even though it was a Sunday which was quite unusual.

Work boats replacing the piling

When we reached our intended mooring at Stanbach there were already two hire boats there and their occupants were having an early lunch on the picnic tables provided.  We managed to squeeze in between the boats even though it was next to a sign by a charging point saying it was reserved for electric boats only.  There was a French couple on the boat behind us and I asked them if they were staying, and they told me they were leaving once they’d eaten.  We decided to have an early lunch too and once they’d gone move our boat back to their spot leaving the electric boat space free.

Once again, the boat in front was occupied by a group of German lads and they had a barbecue going on which they were cooking sausages.  They were very friendly and even offered us beers and schnapps.  They set off as we were finishing our lunch, so we were left on our own which was just how we like it.

Alone at Stanbach

We had a brilliant and long walk through the forest on the hillside taking in a chapel in a cave at the top of one hill and a ruined castle at the top of another.  We wouldn’t have been able to do it if most of the walk hadn’t been through the forest as direct heat during the steep climb would have been too much.  There are loggers’ tracks snaking up and down the sides of the hills, but the footpaths take a more direct route with much shorter and hence steeper hairpins.  Each destination is colour and shape coded as can be seen on these signposts that were at the top of each hill:

Every so often, a tree beside the path would have the shape in the corresponding colour painted on it to confirm we were on the right track still.  As usual on our walks we didn’t see a soul on the way up so were quite disappointed to find several couples around the cave.  Karen even asked one of the couples to move so she could get a picture of the pews!

Grotte St Vit

We had stunning views all around and could see three ruined castles on a much higher hill opposite: our target in a day or so.

Next, we found the Château Greifenstein which stood at 360 metres and was built out of the local brown Vosges sandstone.  When we first came across houses built in this stone in this area, we found them rather drab but have got so used to them that we now see them as warm looking even though not as warm as yellow Cotswold stone. The ruins looked quite unsafe and, indeed, the entrances to the towers had been blocked off and there were signs indicating how precarious they now are. 

Château du Greifenstein built in the 12^th century

Unlike the climb up, much of the descent was along a logging track so was gentler and less strenuous, but we were still glad when we got back down to the level canal as was Buddy who went straight for a drink.  We were still the only ones on the mooring and had a pleasant evening and, although we lost the sun behind the hills early in the evening, it was quite a welcome relief.

On Sunday we cruised six km down six locks.

MONDAY 16 MAY  

We had planned to walk up a couple of hills on the other side of the valley to see some more ruined castles on Monday, but the forecast rather put us off.  We don’t mind walking in the rain, but thunderstorms were predicted for two hours during the early afternoon, so we didn’t think it wise to be walking in a forest of tall trees with lightning around.  The wind picked up during the morning and it certainly felt like rain was on its way although it never came to anything and by lunch time the wind had died down and the clouds had cleared.  

As the threatened rainstorm had also disappeared off the radar, we decided to go for our postponed walk anyway.  Once again it was following what we thought was a well signposted track up the steep slopes of a forest.  Strangely the signs disappeared after a while and the map showed that the route we needed to take was straight up a very steep incline where the trees had been cleared for a line of electricity poles.  It was far too steep to be safe to scramble up let alone come back down again so we retraced our steps.  We ended up only walking five km but at least Buddy had a pretend swim on the way back; of course, being a Monday Karen had had a run in the morning as well. 

The river Zorm

Back on the boat we had another look at the map and online and decided that we would move onto Saverne on Tuesday and try walking to the castles from a different direction.

TUESDAY 17 MAY  

We were determined to walk up to the châteaux Haut-Barr and Grand Geroldseck, the two castles, that we never made it to on Monday.  We’d found a different route from Saverne so cruised on down there after breakfast.  It was also more promising than the previous day’s route as it was mentioned on the tourist office’s website. We moored at the entrance to the town just above the lock in the middle where there was a long line of bollards on a narrow section.  Wider boats probably wouldn’t have been happy mooring there but as we left for our walk a hotel boat came out of the lock and made its way past us with ease.

Raymonde with its cabin hydraulically raised just about to pass us

We popped into the tourist office before it closed for lunch to pick up a town trail and then made our way up to the hills.  There were plenty of large, well-kept houses as we climbed out of town that made us think that maybe the owners commuted to Strasbourg as it was only 40 km away.  Once we’d left the houses behind, we were in the shade of the forest on an old stone track that led straight to château Haut-Barr which stood at 470 metres.  You can’t really see how steep it was, but it was a wonderful old track:

These 11^th century hilltop châteaux were self-contained villages in their heyday with surrounding walls and fortified gateways.

The way in to Haut-Barr

The sandstone outcrops were also used as part of the fortifications as can be seen here where a chapel stood on the edge:

Before exploring the inside, we walked around the outside perimeter and had a good view of a footbridge that connected two of the rocky outcrops:

We rather hoped we would be able to use the footbridge, but our hopes were dashed once we were inside.  There were stairs running up another outcrop and they were gated off, so we suspected the same would apply when we found our way to the footbridge.  We were therefore pleasantly surprised when we saw more stairs, this time ungated, that led up to the rock where the bridge was.

Karen and Buddy on the bridge

We had marvellous views of the surrounding countryside from most directions.  Unfortunately, it was just too hazy towards Strasbourg where we should have been able to pick out its cathedral and across the Rhine into Germany.  The next picture is looking west in the opposite direction to Strasbourg.

To the right of centre, the castle keeps we walked to on Sunday can just be seen

Looking down to where we’d been moored for the last couple of days

Amazingly we saw our first swallowtail of the year right at the top and it obligingly posed for us.  Swallowtails are also found in Norfolk but they are a UK only species and are a much richer yellow.  The species we saw doesn't breed in the UK but occasionally migrants are seen on the south coast. 

It looks like a bird has taken out one of the tails

There were also several large specimens of one of the brown family that never settled long enough for a good look, other than to recognise that they weren’t ones that occur in the UK.

What we hadn’t realised was that there was a small hotel and restaurant built in the grounds which rather explained the car park that we hadn’t realised was at the top either.  Other than in the restaurant we didn’t see anyone around the grounds and neither on the walk up so we could still pretend it was all there just for us walkers.

La Haut hotel

Michelin sign in the car park

Our next stop was going to be the second castle but on the way to it we came to another building where an information board explained that it was a Chappe telegraph tower.  It had been really nicely restored and was open every afternoon with an exhibition inside that explained the history of telegraphic communication. Well, it was open every afternoon except yes, you’ve guessed it, Tuesdays.  The towers were built in the 1790s to send messages out from military headquarters in Paris across France; this one sat on the line of 50 telegraph stations between Paris and Strasbourg.  In total 556 stations were built across France and were in use until the 1850s.

Nicely restored but closed Chappe télégraphe tower

We were back in the forest on another old track for a little way until coming out at château Grand Geroldseck.  This had been like Haut-Barr and covered a wide area but was now mostly in ruins.  There were plenty of signs of painstaking restoration going on though, which was good.  Again, there wasn’t another soul around, so we had the whole place to ourselves.

The keep at Grand Geroldseck

What was advertised in the tourist office as being about an eight km circular walk actually turned out to be nearer 12.  So, when we got back down to town, we went for well-deserved beers in one of the many bars and decided to leave any exploration of Saverne until Wednesday.  Just looking at the houses around the square we were sitting at rather whetted our appetite for the town trail in the morning.

Our view from the bar

On Tuesday we cruised three km down two locks.

WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 

At least being in a large town we would be able to find a La Poste that was open so, before starting our town trail we called in there to buy some stamps so we could post some letters that we’ve been trying to send for ages.  On the way we walked along the river Zorm that runs parallel with the canal through the town.  We thought it the most likely place to find a lavoir and sure enough we found quite a nice one on the banks of the river.  The station stood opposite the post office and was a rather pleasing pink colour with a UK telephone box outside. We’ve come across telephone boxes and post boxes that have been swapped with a twin town before and have also seen twinned French post boxes in the UK.

Saverne station

The port was almost next to the station which was fortuitous as it was the first stop on the trail, so we went for a look around.  There were plenty of private boats moored up and at one end a hire boat base.  It was here that we saw our first electric hire boat.  We’ve only seen two charging points on our travels, so we did wonder how long the batteries lasted.

Electric hire boat, in green and white rather than the usual blue and white

The château des Rohan was overlooking the port and made quite a stunning view.  Built in the 1800s as an episcopal palace it now houses an arts centre, a school and a museum.

Château des Rohan

There were several churches in the town but the only one on the trail was one built in the 12^th century at about the same time our castles of the previous few days were first constructed.     

Romanesque church

We were looking forward to visiting one of the tour items, a rose garden.  We’d read conflicting reports of the number of varieties of rose that were growing there ranging from 550 stated in the town trail guide to 1,300 mentioned in the canal guidebook.  As our luck with visiting places in France continued, we never got to check the numbers as it was closed!

Closed rose garden

It seemed that most of the trail consisted of modern sights such as the swimming pool and an adventure playground or places a long way out of town that we’d already visited on our journey down.  Consequently, we couldn’t read up any of the history of the many pretty timbered houses we saw around the town. 

A couple of the houses

We also couldn’t find out why the window boxes on the blue house were full of silver birch logs.  At the rear of the château des Rohan we came across one of its rear entrances.  An information board outside explained that this part of the château had been built in 1738 on what was left of the Roman town walls.  It also explained that one of the towers on the wall had been used to form the front entrance and that the building has been used as a criminal court since 1800.

Saverne criminal court

The war memorial being modern looking was different to most, but we found out later that it had been erected in 1956.  Sculpted from the red sandstone of the Vosges mountains it was simply inscribed with the dates of the four major wars France was involved in during the last century.  It depicts a woman holding a dying soldier both representing the loss of the onlooker.  The woman could therefore be a mother, wife, sister, daughter etc.  Likewise, the dying man could be a father, husband, brother, son etc.

Another item not on the trail – the war memorial

One of the churches not on the trail looked like it had a Burgundian style roof from the distance.  When we were closer, we decided that the tiles had been laid by a trainee roofer who was still learning how to use a single colour.   

A friend had recommended a restaurant in the main street so went in search of it at lunch time.  Unfortunately, they didn’t allow dogs and as it was far too hot to leave Buddy on the boat, we had to give it a miss.  We then spent the rest of the day around the boat trying to keep cool.

With temperatures set to continue around 30 for a few days yet we’ll probably set off for our next destination early on Thursday morning.