Day 4 began as day 3 had ended, with a ham and cheese sandwich, washed down with more water. When planning this walk, we had not fully appreciated how difficult it would be to find a meal at this time of year in Alsace/Lorraine. We knew that many places in France are closed on Sundays and Mondays, but we didn’t expect it to be like the ‘zombie apocalypse’: walking through villages we have barely seen a soul, just the occasional dog or farmyard cat (also looking hungry!).
Legs screaming, we had a murderous descent into Linthal, followed by an equally murderous climb up to the Col just below the Petit Balon. And when we say murderous, we mean that we were down to 15/20 steps before taking a 10 second breather.
After crossing the col, having had lunch, yes you guessed it- another cheese and ham sandwich, we began our descent into Munster. Once again we passed yet more physical evidence of the Western Front; this time a German fortification dug into on the lesser peaks north of the Petit Balon.
The closing of the days walk, was down a steep ‘goat’ track, where both of us felt every one of our 50+ years in our knees. Into Munster – Stage 1 complete: 88km / 55 miles / 130,927 steps / 2573m climbed.
At least it does not appear to be raining!