Distance walked 10.3km

This was a short day and I took my time. Col de la Schlucht is 1139m above sea level so I only had about 200m to ascend to reach the top of Le Hohneck.

I started with a gentle climb into light woodland which made a pleasant start to the day.

I was walking slowly and quietly. A Chamois walked nonchalantly across the path

The only other wild mammals that I have seen on this walk have been a couple of squirrels. There are a lot of wild boar in the forests, particularly further north. I wasn’t expecting to see one but I thought I may have seen where they root through the undergrowth. European wild cats and lynx live in the forests but they are very elusive. I emerged from the forest into a meadow. Le Hohneck was just ahead

I sat down to admire the view and noticed that a small tear in the fabric near the front of my left boot had got larger and the rubber rand was starting to split. I can cope with a wet foot for a couple of days but if the boot fails I am in trouble. Hopefully I can get to Thann in 2 days when I will have to make an assessment whether it is safe to continue.

My path lay to the right, circumnavigating the steep sided bowl separating me from the summit. It was a very easy ascent. I have a good view back down the path from the summit slopes.

I easily reached the summit. It was a bit early for lunch but I wanted to sit inside as it was quite cold on the summit of Le Hohneck (1363m). I got some soup and tarte aux myrtilles. I stayed for a while having a coffee and admiring the view.

The path became steep. The lake of du Scheissrothried and the Wormsa valley were laid out before me. Mittlach could be seen in the valley.

Over the last week woodland and alpine plants have begun to flower

I descended steeply, first across the meadow and then through forest, alongside the river to arrive at the lake

The sun broke through the clouds and I was happy to sit on the bank for half an hour watching a fisherman fiddle with his rods. He didn’t catch anything, I hope he had something else for his dinner. Soon the cloud returned and it was time to put my pack back on and head off. I continued steeply down the river, now following a series of short cataracts

I arrived at the lac de Fischboedle as it started to rain

There was a shelter there so I waited for 20 minutes or so it to stop but the bad weather seemed set in for the afternoon. I donned my wet weather gear and set off. Of course, within 10 minutes it stopped raining and the sun came out. I continued down through woodland to Mittlach. After a walk there is nothing better than a barman bringing you a small bottle of wine

Distance walked 18.6km

This felt like a much longer walk than it was, probably because there was a lot of height to be gained and lost. I did have a lazy start, I didn’t leave the hotel until 9am. I walked through the village. Like many villages in tourist spots in the UK, there are at least 30 holiday homes (gîtes in France). There was a butcher that had closed down. A bar that had been shut for a while. Depressing.

I was soon climbing again

I re-entered forest and continued to climb until I came to a clearing by an auberge

After coffee I continued to climb through the forest towards the summit of La Tête des Faux. Now the day became depressing. During World War I Le Bonhomme was on the French-German border. The French massed on the hills on the other side of Le Bonhomme (from where I had descended yesterday) and the German controlled La Tête des Faux. This was an important strategic mountain as it overlooks Colmar,which the French wanted to capture. The French send an elite Alpine force to take the hill. Between December 1914 and February 1915 nearly 1000 soldiers from both sides were killed.

The first site I came to was shortly after my coffee stop, the site of an old German cemetery

The bodies have since been repatriated to Germany

A little further up was a nicer sight, the peaceful Étang du Devin

Shortly after a reminder of the battle fought here, a notice telling me to stay on the path because of the risk of unexploded ordnance

The next structure was the remains of a télépherique used by the German troops to bring up supplies from the valley

There were several overgrown trenches and old blockhouses, which I presume were gun emplacements

Near the top of the mountain there are the remains of defensive barriers

The French have installed a memorial cross and stone at the top

And as you descend from the mountain, the French cemetery

I was reminded of the Eric Bogle powerful song “No Man’s Land.” Listen to June Tabor’s version ( plus “and the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” also by Eric Bogle) And, if you think that the First World War is irrelevant to today, then go review the rise of nationalism (now called populism) in 19th century European politics and compare with today

Sermon over.

Suitably depressed I continued down the mountain to the Col du Calvaire. Of course, being me, nothing puts me off my food and it was lunchtime. There are a lot of small ski areas in the Vosges and they are all struggling with snow cover because of climate change (the minimum winter temperature has increased by 2 degrees over the last 20 years) so they are diversifying. The chair lift was running to bring day walkers and bikers up from the valley, there was a toboggan track (looked fun!), a paintball area and a bar that sold food. Omelette, chips and beer went down a treat.

I had a fairly steep climb after lunch, taking me high above lac Blanc that I could see through the trees.

A little further on and I emerged from the trees to enter Les Hautes Chaumes. These are areas where the trees have been cleared, originally to provide high pastures for animal grazing in the summer. For the walker, they provide extensive views.

This particular area is the Gaston du Faing. Much of the scrub is bilberry bushes, I can see why Tarte aux Myrtilles is an Alsatian speciality. I continued walking though this landscape for several kilometres. Ahead, I could see Le Honecker, the high point of tomorrow’s walk. A little late lying snow can be seen on its northern slopes.

The peak visible in the distance is Grand Ballon, the highest peak in the Vosges but still 3 days walk away.

I reached the top of Gazon du Faing, 1302m. The path curved round a steep rock face as it led to the next peak on the ridge

This really was a superb ridge walk. It follows the old French/German border and there were many boundary stones with D on the German side and F on the French side

To the south-east I could look down the valley towards Munster .

I crossed the peak of Tanet and re-entered the forest as I started to descend to the Col de la Schlucht where I was spending the night.

Distance walked 27.1km

I got an early start. As well as the distance there was about 1100m of ascent, according to the Cicerone guide. I was out of the apartment just after 7:30. There must be a Saturday market in the Place de la République because traders were setting up stalls. I was tempted by the patisserie by the square that had just opened but I was disciplined. I took the road out of the square and climbed up through the modern suburbs.

I could see the Ulrich and Guirsberg castles across the valley. They may have been members of the same family but the steep up and down between the castles must have limited visiting

As I was about to turn off the road to enter the forest I saw the entrance to a vineyard. Definitely a case of nominative determinism.

The disadvantage of going down to the Alsatian plain for accommodation is the climb up the following morning, Ribeauville is only about 260m above sea level and it was a long, 400m climb to the Col du Seelacker.

I continued to climb up through the forest. At a path junction there was a tree stump and a sign.

The sign means “French pine.” I do not know why this particular tree earned its sign, or what has happened to it.

A little further on there was a memorial to a 26 year old who was killed by a lightning strike.

The climb continued unremittingly. At 938m I arrived at the Koenigsstuhl.

I don’t not know which, if any, king sat here. I tried to take a selfie of myself but it was useless. A couple of German walkers passed me, we would see each other on and off for much of the day. It is not far to the modern French-German border (the Rhine) so there are almost as many German day walkers as French.

At last a rest for my legs as I descended to the village of Aubure, passing another rock outcrop on the way, the Rocher du Tetras.

The respite from climbing was short lived, I was soon on an uphill path but, for the first time, it was through a meadow rather than forest

At the end of the meadow I joined a road. I passed a look out post named after Kaiser Wilhelm Ausblick, built as a lookout post in the First World War, I was surprised the French have not demolished it.

Apparently it was used to observe battles during the war, the view from it is amazing.

The ridge line is more or less my route for the next few days. I continued to climb through the forest but now and again there were gaps in the trees providing a view.

Onwards and upwards! After another 5km I arrived at a shelter at the Pierre des Trois-Bans (1126m), so called because it marks the boundary between three French départments.

I now joined the ridge but there were only occasional views between the trees. It started to snow! It didn’t feel that cold and it didn’t last long, just long enough to put my waterproofs on, and then take them off again. I was overtaken by a group of daywalkers, one of them had a novel way of lightening his load, I am not sure how well it works.

Eventually I arrived at the high point of the day, the Petit Brézouard (1203m). I was above the trees and the view was fantastic.

Now I began a long descent. On the way down I passed a mosaic designed by the German battalion that occupied this sector for most of the First World War

This lay undiscovered until after the Second World War. Amazingly it remained intact until it was vandalised in 1985. It was restored in 2005 and is now secured behind iron bars.

I continued my descent down to the Col des Bagenelles. This area has been farmed so, clear of trees, I could see my route down to Le Bonhomme.

From here it was a 3km descent to the village, nestling in the valley

I was very tired. Fortunately (for me) my auberge was next to GR5 as it entered the village. I was happy to have something to eat followed by an early night.

Distance walked 19.8km

All the towns and villages that I have walked through in Alsace have been very pretty and Chatenois was no exception. The church has a wooden tower called the Tour des Sorcières (witches tower). I do not know how it got its name.

One of the Caminos passes through Chatenois. I had a thought that if I want an alternative to crossing the alps I could head off on Caminos via Geneva through France and Spain. It’s only about 2200km to Santiago from here!

Many of the older European towns were walled in medieval times. Part of the Chatenois wall remains

I climbed up to a road that led between vineyards to the edge of the forest. I joined a forest track that wound upwards round the side of the mountain. Breaks in the trees gave me a view across the valley towards the castles that I passed yesterday

I climbed steadily through the woods up to an unusually shaped marker stone. I couldn’t find out why it has five sides.

I reached the road that leads to the castle Haut Koenigsbourg. I crossed the road and the path now became steep, zigzagging it’s way up the hill and crossing the road several times. I stopped for a sandwich at the castle cafe. The seating area has a wonderful panorama

The Club Vosgien guide says that you can sometimes see the Swiss alps from here. I did think I could see snow in the far distance to the south.

The castle has an interesting history. It is mentioned in documents from the mid 12th century. In the 15th century it was destroyed by robber knights and then rebuilt. It was then sacked during the thirty years war. Then, when Germany took control of Alsace after the Franco-Prussian war, it was rebuilt for Kaiser Wilhelm II, completed in 1908. With its multiple levels it reminded me of the fictional Gormenghast castle.

I left the castle and re-entered the forest. After a moderately steep downhill section it was a straightforward 5km walk to the village of Thannenkirch

Here I crossed the border from the bas-Rhin into the Haut-Rhin. That means the hills will be higher tomorrow.

I walked through the village and then had an easy walk over the shoulder of the hill you can see behind the church. This took me to the three castles than overlook the town of Ribeauville.

The first, and highest, castle is Haut-Ribeaupierre.

There has probably been a castle here since the mid 11th century but this building dates from the 13th century. It was built by the Ribeaupierre family, powerful Alsatian nobles. I am a little confused from my reading of articles on the internet. I think that they only used it as a residence for a short while and its main function was as a watchtower and a prison.

A steep, rocky descent brought me to St Ulrich’s castle.

The fortress was probably built in the 11th century but became home to the Ribeaupierre nobility in the late 12th century. They lived here until they moved down to the town in the 16th century.

Continuing the steep, rocky, downhill path I could look up and see the third castle, Girsberg castle

This was built for a member of the Ribeaupierre family (please don’t give my children ideas!) “Oh yes, getting married are you? I will quickly build a castle for your dowry.” In fact, it was only occupied for about 200 years.

I continued to walk steeply downhill until I came to the old town wall of Ribeauville.

The town expanded during the Middle Ages and the town walls were rebuilt periodically to protect the developing town. I descended to Sinne square, where the size of wine casks used to be measured.

I continued to pass under the butchers gate to enter the “old” town

The butchers gate gets its name from the butchers shops that accumulated at its base. There used to be an abattoir just outside the walls. There is a profusion of old half-timbered houses so, unsurprisingly, the town is a major tourist attraction. It is dominated by the castles above it

In the Middle Ages minstrels were given special protection by Lord Ribeaupierre. Each year there is a festival in the town to commemorate this and there are a lot of minstrel statues.

The emblem of Alsace is the stork but they nearly became extinct in the 1970s. A reintroduction programme was successful and I saw a few nests around the town

I found my way to my apartment, an old house in the old town. A day off before the hard work starts!

Distance walked 25.1km

Andlau was another pretty village with the typical Alsace half-timbered houses.

I had a long way to go today so I did not visit the Romanesque church with is said to have very old and impressive bas reliefs telling biblical stories. I was surprised to see a statue of a bear in the main square.

There is a legend that Richarde, wife of the Western Roman Emperor Charles the Fat (many European monarchs had great names), was accused of adultery and suffered trial by fire. By coming through this unscathed her innocence was proven (sounds like a medieval form of VAR). She was told by an angel that a bear would show her where to build an abbey as a thanksgiving. She saw a bear near the river Andlau so built the abbey there.

Richards did build an abbey here, the church is all that remains, but several years before she was accused of adultery. The legend lives on and the bear is a symbol of Andlau. It is a major wine growing area, hence the bear is eating grapes.

Soon after passing the church I joined a track that entered the forest. Initially this climbed steeply but soon the gradient became less severe. After an hour and a half I came to the Gruckert refuge.

All the refuges I have passed have been closed. The Cicerone guide says they have very restricted opening times. This was a nice place to rest for a few minutes. The trees are a bit more widely spaced than in the northern Vosges so views are more common.

The next 3km to the Col de l’Ungersberg were fairly level. The path then became steeper and zig-zagged up to the tower at the top of l’Ungersberg (901m).

GR5 runs along the eastern side of the Vosges range here so most of the views are to the east and south-east.

I now had a very steep descent down a rocky path. I passed a very oddly shaped sandstone rock

I now descended to a few houses at Sommerain. The path then crossed another hill to descend to cross a road, there was then a more sustained climb to Bernstein castle

The earliest part of the castle was built in the Tenth century. It was then added to over the next few hundred years before being abandoned and left to ruin in the mid-seventeenth century. It has commanding views over the Alsatian plain

There was then a 4km walk through forest before I arrived at Ortenbourg castle.

This castle was repeatedly fought over and rebuilt until if was finally sacked by the Swedes during the thirty years war in the mid 17th century. As we have seen, this war spent the demise of many of the Vosges castles

I now had a steep descent down to Chatenois. At the bottom of the mountain I followed the river for about 2km. I had a good view up the hill to l’Ortenbourg and Ramstein castles

I crossed the river and motorway and then followed to road to my Auberge in Chatenois.

Distance walked 22.7km

Dry weather has returned but it was cold enough for me to set off wearing my fleece this morning, the village is 600m above sea level after all.

I walked back down to the village centre. There was a house that could have come from a Hollywood ghost film

I liked the Mairie

Most of today’s climb was gentle. I ascended through the forest. It was one of those days I was never comfortable with my layers. I stopped to take off my fleece. A Dutch couple who were in the hotel last night stopped to say hallo. They are also walking GR5 in stages. They started at Hoek van Holland in 2018 and do a bit each year. Like me, they hope to reach Lake a Geneva and then decide whether to cross them alps. The problem with the alps nowadays is that you have to book refuges to sleep in, which means losing flexibility to adapt to the weather or how you feel that day; otherwise you have to carry a tent, with all the extra weight.

Every so often there were gaps in the trees with good views

From the clearing I turned north to head for the conventon the end of the north facing promontory of Mount Sainte Odile. Half way along the promontory there is a wall called the Pagan Wall which stretches for 10km around the plateau. Archaeologists do not know what it’s purpose was for, although they have dated it as pre-Roman.

There were impressive sandstone outcrops along the route

As I got nearer to the convent depictions of the stations of the cross had been fixed to the rock face. The monastery is dedicated to St. Odile who is the patron saint of Alsace. It has been partially converted into a hotel but the chapels are still in use. There is a sacred spring below the monastery that is said to have healing properties for eye complaints

The views from the terrace were spectacular

The descent was along the eastern side of the promontory. Along the way there were rocky outcrops offering views to the east over the Rhine valley to the Black Forest. I reached the Pagan Wall which I followed for a couple of hundred metres before crossing it and descending to an unusually elaborate shelter with a balcony.

Another excellent view from the balcony into the centre of the Vosges.

I continued to descend through the forest. Just above Barr I emerged from the trees and entered a vineyard

A sign told me these are Pinot Gris grapes. Nice!

Alsace is an important wine growing area and, as you can see in the above picture, the lowlands are widely planted with vines. Most Alsatian wine is white, although they do produce some pinot noir.

I could have stayed in Barr but that would have meant a 30km day tomorrow so I planned to push on to Andlau. Barr was pretty; cobbled streets and old fashioned buildings

I walked through the village. I then climbed up a hill through vineyards before a section in forest followed by a descent to Andlau.

Distance walked 23km

This is going to be a short report because the weather was terrible.

I had a nice rest day and a half in Strasbourg. I had a wander round le Petit France on Saturday afternoon, lots of old, traditional Alsatian half-timbered buildings. There was a celebration of European Day in front of the Rohan palace, there were lots of stands promoting the work of the EU, I wish we were still part of it. There as also a jazz band and circus performers.

On Sunday I joined a walking tour to learn about the history of Strasbourg and Alsace (Happy walking tours, if you are ever in Strasbourg). The tour guide confirmed my thought that the bilingual signs are in French and Alsatian. Lots of interesting facts as well. Did you know Gothic architecture was designed to make you look up to heaven? He made one thought provoking comment. If you were born in the 1870s and survived both world wars your nationality would have changed four times as Alsace switched between France and Germany.

Afterwards I went to see the astronomical clock in the cathedral

Today started off dull and colder than the last few days. I took the early train back to Schirmeck and headed up the hill to the site of the old castle. Schirmeck is in the Bruche valley which was an important pass across the Vosges. The ruins of the castle have been reconstructed and there was a good view across the valley to Le Donon

I continued uphill on the footpath named “Human rights and memory road.

The aim is for walkers on the path to learn from history to build a brighter future.

When the Germans defeated France they built a concentration camp at Struthof (the only one in France) and victims would arrive at Schirmeck on the way to the camp. The camp is about 5km from the town and is a chilling sight.

I was unsure how much to write about the camp in a ealkingblog, there was plenty of truly awful information on display. About 52 000 prisoners were held here of which 17 000 were murdered. ( as the Allies approached prisoners were moved to concentration camps in Germany since more may have been killed). I think that the camp was mainly used to house French resistance fighters. Jews were transported from other camps for experimentation on or to be killed and dissected at Strasbourg university which was under Nazi control, primarily to show they had smaller skulls than the Aryan race. I mention this because the BBC news web site reported this week that a Reform councillor has been suspended for tweeting that White races have bigger brains than other races. Draw your own conclusions.

You can Google struthof.fr for more detail.

As I arrived here the rain started and by the time I had got my wet weather gear on it was torrential. There was a shelter by one of the information panels. Not the nicest place to shelter. While I was sheltering here two thoughts occurred

Firstly, after World War II the politicians said this must never happen again. However, within 30 years the Khmer Rouge were carrying out similar atrocities in Cambodia.

Secondly, between the wars this area was used by the French for hiking and skiing. There was a view across the valley, such a beautiful place in which so much evil to have occurred.

I gave up waiting for the rain to stop and combed up through forest to the Champ du Massin. This is a clearing on the top of the col. the views are probably amazing, all I could see was cloud. I didn’t linger.

After a couple of hours, I stopped in a shelter for lunch and the rain stopped. I set off again and the heavy rain started and did not stop until this evening. I climbed to the Col du Champ au Fer. Again, nothing to see but cloud. I descended the mountain as fast as I could. There is a detour to a cascade, I did not take it. I think this is about the worst rain that I have walked in. I arrived in Le Hohwald rather bedraggled hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Distance walked 9.1km

Not to much to say about today’s walk. Just a simple descent through the forest to Schirmeck. I passed through a pretty village called Wackenbach where I had a good view of the way ahead

At Schirmeck I took the train to Strasbourg for a day and a half rest.

Distance walked 25.9km

This was the hardest day so far and, I think, the hardest of the trek. As well as the distance there was about 1000m of ascent as well. The weather was excellent, making a perfect day.

Many thanks to the owners of the Hostel St Florent. This was a lovely old building in Oberhaslach. My room was great, last night dinner was excellent. There was an asparagus soup as an amuse bouche which was the best I have ever had and my favourite pudding

I wanted to leave early and they kindly provided me with a full breakfast at 7am. I was soon on the road and left the village by the fish pond.

There was an easy 3km walk through woodland to the next village called Urmatt. GR53 passes through the edge of the village, then I started the 760m ascent to the Rocher de Mutzig.

The initial section was through forest with very gentle gradients. There were a couple of sculptures in the woods

After about 4km there is a cave in a sandstone rock by the side of the path

This is the grotto du loup. There were no wolves about today. I turned off the forest track on to a path. The gradient got progressively steeper. As I ascended, the path became more rocky and it felt like a proper mountain path. There were some mountain bikers coming downhill, somehow managing to dodge the larger boulders. There were gaps in the trees allowed views across the plain towards the Rhine.

I continued climbing up to the east end of the summit ridge that extends all the way to La Donon. There was an unusual sandstone pillar with a naturally occurring opening, La porte du Pierre (the stone door)

There followed a fantastic ridge walk which took most of the rest of the day. While there are a lot of trees there wetevviews to the north and south.

About 2km of fairly easy ridge walking brought me to the first summit of the day, the Rocher de Mutzig (1008m)

The ridge in the mid-ground is a continuation from Rocher de Mutzig which curved round to the right. There were quite a lot of walkers and bikers on the way up and at the summit. Very few continued west along the ridge. The path stayed on or just below the top of the ridge and the walking was excellent. After about 4km I heard voices below me. A group of walkers were on a lower path. I retraced my steps. About 100m back there was a path that dropped off the ridge that I should have taken. Back on track, I followed this path down to a col at La Baraque Carrée.

The path once again dropped off the top of the ridge. I followed it through the forest to the Col de la côte de l’Engin. Here GR53 ended, about 160km from Wissembourg and I re-joined GR5.

There are car parks here and at the Col du Donon so there were quite a few walkers around. I followed a steep rocky path up to the summit of Le Donon (1008m).

There has been human activity here since prehistoric times. Archaeologists believe that there was a Celtic sanctuary here and the Romans built a temple to Mercury. There is a “Roman” arch here but it was built in the mid 1800s

Sadly, I am never far away from conflict on this walk. There was a fierce battle here in the First World War.

I descended to the Col du Donon where I had a bed booked for the night.

Distance walked 12.7km + extra

Today was meant to be a short day but….

It had rained overnight but it was dry when I left Wangenbourg. There was a lot of low cloud. I was climbing the Schneeberg (snow mountain) and I hoped the cloud would lift by the time I got there so I would have clear views.

I left the village by walking up a short cul-de-sac and climbing some steps to arrive on GR53 in about ten minutes, it would have been so much quicker if I had found the path last night! There was now a continuous climb from the village to the mountain, not challenging as Wangenbourg is set on a plateau about 400m above sea level. I didn’t hold high hopes for the weather though.

The climb was straightforward at first. I had left the hotel with a Belgian couple out for a day hike. They stopped to get a picnic and caught me up as I reached a junction with a forest track. I stopped for a drink and they set off up the track. As I started to follow them I saw a red waymark indicating a narrow path up the mountain. I knew they were climbing the Schneeberg but didn’t know their route. I nearly called out to them, wish that I had.

I took things slowly now, in the hope the cloud would lift. I arrived at the Col du Schneeberg and it looked like the sun was going to break through.

The cloud came back in as I climbed up to the summit. The Belgian couple arrived, they eventually walked back to the GR53 route, I felt bad not having called out to them. If you tell a Belgian that you come from Manchester they invariably say something like “Kevin DeBrune.” I pointed out the new hero is Jeremy Doku.

I had a rest but the cloud didn’t lift so I headed downhill. There was a path diversion so I followed the red rectangles. Then I must have missed one because I ended up on a different trail. Fortunately I could work out where I was. I continued downhill where I picked up another way marked path. I then lost these waymarks but found my way along forest tracks back to GR53. No harm done except for extra distance and time.

My happiness was short lived. I was following a path when there were several trees that had been cut down and were blocking the path. I climbed up around the trees and descended back to the path beyond the obstruction. The path switchbacked back to the felled tree trunks. This time there was no way through so I had to climb back up the hill finding my way through the forest.. A lot of energy and time wasted. Eventually I arrived back to the forest road, returned to the place where GR53 left the track and saw “deviation” painted in big letters on a rock. How did I miss that? Feeling chastened I followed the diversion and all was well. Again, extra distance and time.

I headed downhill and reached the ruined Nideck castle

This has the same history as most of the other castles I have passed. There is also a legend that a giant lived here. A summary is that his daughter brought a farmer back to the castle to use as a toy but the giant made her take him back to her farm. It is meant to be a moral story about how we should care of each other. You can look up the full tale on the internet.

Now came the best part of the day. I continued down the hill towards the Nideck waterfall. I could hear the waterfall and see the gorge but the fall itself was hidden from view.

A series of steps led down to the base of the fall.

I now had a very pleasant, easy walk through the gorge and down the valley to Oberhaslach