Apart from a slight squeaky bum moment when Isla's bag didn't appear on the carousel for ages all travel to Basel went to plan. We stepped onto the Western Front Way at 1225 on Saturday 17th March and once we reached KM0 shortly thereafter it finally dawned on us that we were actually on our way, walking (and probably crawling at moments) along The Western Front.
Leaving KM0 behind we headed towards Danmarie in beautiful spring sunshine, spirits high until we hit The Road To Nowhere; a straight(ish) tarmac cycle path that seemed to go on forever and was actually very hard on the legs and our soft and as yet blister-free feet. It was an energy sapping introduction to the WFW.
We finally arrived at our home for the night, Auberge Tisserand which exceeded initial expectations. It covered the basics well-the food was outstanding, the shower powerful and hot, and a nice clean bed. What more could we ask for? As it happens-a decent breakfast and that box was also ticked!
KM0 Marker Post
With some rolls filled with local cheese and meats from breakfast made up for our lunch, looking like a couple of stiff OAP's we set off on Day 2. Back onto tthe towpath from hell we headed north to Eglingen, only to stop cold in our tracks some 500m further on when we spotted what we thought was the worlds largest water rat....on closer inspection (glasses on) it turned out to be a really tame otter.
Finally over the dreaded towpath we turned to the Vosges Mountains: both of us have been feeling somewhat anxious about crossing these. On first seeing them properly we felt like Sam and Frodo on the trek to Mt Doom.
Mr Otter out for a sunday stroll
Day 2 was a much better walk, apart from some unfortunate chaffing (JP). The tracks were good and once again the WFW App made navigation simple. We arrived in Cernay, slightly footsore, but had a morale boost on discovering that our hotel had a bath...bliss! We finished the day with 2 enormous pizzas and 2.5 litres of Origina in the only open eatery in Cernay, fortuitously right next to the hotel.
The path to the Vosges
A final thought: As we entered Cernay we were starkly reminded that ground over which we had walked saw significant violent fighting. This cemetery alone contains over 7000 German soldiers killed in this sector of the Western Front between 1914 and 18. Sobering.
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