Day 21: Bitche Please

Strasbourg to Bitche.

Yaaas Bitche.

The Bitche puns just won’t stop.

I will admit I purposely selected to stay in Bitche because I have the sense of humour of a 13 year old boy. However, glancing through some Wikipedia history over dinner I find it is actually a historically interesting place.

But first: finding my way to Bitche.

I followed Eurovelo 5, along the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, for the first 20 or 30 km of the ride. Like yesterday, it was nicely paved and a scenic ride.

I was actually somewhat excited to get off the straight, flat monotony of the canal side ride after reaching Wilwisheim where I had a lunch of stolen hotel sandwiches (oh, they’re back baby!).

Shortly after, I was wishing I could be back on flat terrain. My body has clearly become accustomed to 0% grade and it was a shock to have to ride uphill. The majority really wasn’t terrible, mostly ups and downs going through small towns.

At a certain point, I followed what Google Maps showed as the most direct route, which ended up being an isolated forest road with some serious slopes. The downhill was very fun, though.

It was kind of creepy because the sky was dark and threatening to rain, and I was in the middle of the woods and hadn’t seen any sign of life in a while (except for the fact that the road was paved, so clearly some human had to have done that at some point). The climbing was intensified with my effort to get out of the forest as quickly as I could – who knows what sort of French axe murderers and cougars were lying just out of sight.

Once I emerged into civilization again, I decided to take a slight detour to stay on more populated roads. I felt more comfortable until I looked at my GPS showing that I had 12 km remaining to Bitche, and an estimated time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Normally, this distance would only take about 30 to 35 minutes… So yea, getting to Bitche was a real bitch.

Fear not, I emerged through a cloud of profanity and near tears a stronger and resilient bitch.

Bitche, itself: Visually picturesque with a massive Citadel towering over the town, beautiful old church, and the potential to be quaint. Unfortunately, this is not the feel it gives off – much like a physically attractive woman veiling her inner bitch. It seems to be a hub for young hooligans to roam around, play loud obnoxious music, and vape. Charming.

I walked up to the Citadel and around it’s perimeter. It was built about 3 centuries ago, adding upon a previously existing castle. It served as a fortress during the siege of Bitche in 1870. It is also part of the Maginot Line. It was largely impenetrable because it was built into the sandstone rock.

Below the Citadel, there is a cute area called the Jardin pour la Paix (Garden of Peace), which is the perfectly manicured and dolled up face of Bitche. I strolled through, bought a drink, and read my book. The loud mouth French elders sitting near me, the screaming children, and the bellowing sheep on the slope made it somewhat less peaceful than hoped.

Dinner options were few. Either an exorbitantly overpriced meal at the hotel or a pizza pie at one of the three or four pizza pie places in town. I opted for pizza pie. It was pretty good, mostly because I was very hungry after today’s hike.

So, like most run-ins with a bitch, I was first enticed by its appearance, but after getting to know it I am left somewhat underwhelmed by its inner character.

Tomorrow I am off to Germany –  Saarlouis to be precise!

SOTD (Sheep of the Day)