EU26_24 Bantzenheim to Kehl

Thursday 16/7/2026
I had a nice Italian meal last night, not fancy, not pasta, but a balanced meal.
Sleep was ok, albeit a bit warm and with regular storms passing through.
I see it is Europe v South America for the World Cup; I was going to watch the match but I fell asleep before it started. Priorities 😊😂
The in-room coffee was appreciated this morning, 3 shot sized cups consumed before breakfast.
Today will be interesting, as for much of today I will be on trails not ridden by me as compared to the last week or so of riding. Another 100km day with, most likely, a storm or two before arrival in Kehl east of Strasbourg in Germany.
I do have to go shopping early in the ride as I have nothing other than a few muesli bars, I may have some of the breakfast to take with me if the hotel reviews are accurate.
I got away by 8:35 which for today’s distance, is about an hour later than I really wanted, but I had to experience the famous breakfast of this hotel, not just from the food perspective, but also from the conversations and yes, the experience lived up to the expectation, it was wonderful.
Back in 2024, cycling towards Strasbourg,. I was actually 10 or 15 km west of this route, still on the EV15, an alternative to this EV15. Today’s route is an opportunity to ride something I have not ridden before, and it’s worked out quite well. Two years ago, clearly I was younger, and I quite enjoyed the lumpy terrain. Besides the age difference this year, It’s all about the heat wave. It’s gone from a red warning to an orange warning at the moment it’s a yellow warning, so much more favourable conditions and has been the case all morning, low 30s rather than high 30s in degrees Celsius.
When I get to Strasburg, I’m taking on an alternative route towards my accommodation rather than sticking to the EV15, mainly because it quite rightly it takes you through the Tourist Centre of Strasbourg; I’ve been there, seen the beauty, seen the mayhem of the crowds, and considering it’s a similar time in July 2024 when I went through Strasbourg, so about the same time as now, and it was so very crowded. I’m quite happy to miss those crowds.
Today has been great, no traffic on this EV15 version along the old canal, which they’re refurbishing the canal locks to reopen in a few years I guess.
I’ve been following a couple on gravel bikes with extremely light packing system. The girl has two large pans on the back and the tent. He has almost nothing other than a small bar accessory bag and a skimpy saddle bag. Not sure there’s an even distribution of the gear between the two. A little further back and they were drying out their tent. They obviously camped last night in and got hit by all those storms overnight. anyway, he has excellent posture on the bike and keeps a cadence of about 90 from what I can count. The girl however, is chugging along with cadence of about 70 and with all that stuff on her bike, she’s got a bit of a twist in her torso to the point where she drops her right shoulder or is it lifting the left shoulder? If coach Poddy was able to talk to her, I’d give her some advice 😂. I’m surprised that her companion isn’t giving advice. Maybe he’s scared to 😆. I’ve been trying to catch them but it’s it’s too hard, even on the horns position, I get up to about 27km/h and I’m still not catching them, so I’m just going to sit on my 25km/h when I can.
I haven’t mentioned the number of fishers along these canals, you can generally see to the bottom when the water is clear, and I tell you what, there are some very big fish in there, admittedly their size amplified by the water, but I just saw one which was probably 40 odd centimetres long, so assuming the magnification, say about 30cm. I see them regularly. Wonder if they take the hook very easily because I have not seen anybody reeling in a fish and given the number of fishers along many kilometres of canal, surely the chance of seeing somebody catch one would be reasonably high?
It’s 1 pm and I’ve just come across a raised section of the canal, just a little bit raised, beautifully lined with very large, (are they oak?) trees. Each tree has a unique number tag on it.
As I said it’s 1 pm so any time from now depending how quick I am I can check in to my hotel, and when I do get there after all the faffing. of getting things off the bike,. unpacked, having a shower, or maybe I’ll just get changed, go down to the bar area and just chill out for the afternoon. I just have to wait and see when I get there as to what reality is that’s my dream reality anyway. (As it turns out, the bar is now closed until 6pm)
I just recorded a short video of a fish swimming down the centre of the canal. The video will give you a perspective on how big the fish is relative to a 25m wide canal, the fish was certainly longer than 60 cm.
I’m now at the hotel, about to shower but watching the TDF waiting for the ad break