Challenging hike due to it’s length and many steep ascents and descents. Wonderfully varied route through forests, along grape fields and it passes some beautiful ruins of chateaus. The stage ends in the small, charming village of Scherwiller.
The alarm clock goes off at 6:00 am. Phew, it does feel early, but we have 32 kilometers ahead of us today with about 1000 meters of ascending and 1000 meters descending. We’ve had longer stages before, but with these altimeters, this is a first.
The first kilometers are flat, at least, that was the intention… We walk out of the village and enjoy the last half-timbered houses of Barr for a while. We had hoped to find another open bakery, but here too everything is closed on Whit Monday, unfortunately… Luckily, we have enough food with us.
Just beyond the village, some signs indicate a detour from the GR5. We need to choose: follow a nice path along grape fields, or the main road indicated by the navigation. No, let’s take the detour, it’s a bit quieter. But also uphill… Our legs have had enough rest for the last two days, so we don’t care (yet). The first kilometers we hike between green grape fields and through small villages. After about 6km, the trail turns onto a forest path. Here begins the “real” hefty climb of the day. We go from 200 meters to 900 meters altitude in about 7 kilometers. The paths are wide, so it’s easy, but nowhere on the slope is it possible to rest the calves for a bit. Most of the sections are quite steep, what makes it quite challenging. We are glad when we reach the top and are rewarded with a beautiful view of Alsace and, above all, a picnic bench where we can take off our backpacks and eat a baguette! We are not the only ones who have braved the mountain. Don’t ask us how they do it, but we see trail runners, mountain bikers and even people on dirt bikes coming up the mountain. We sit and watch in amazement….
After a good break of about 45 minutes, we set off again and now the difficult part of the hike begins; descending. Walking uphill is sometimes hard, but it helps when you put your mind on ‘zero’ and just keep on walking. But descending is a bit different, especially with a backpack of about 17 kilos it’s very important to watch where you put your feet on paths with loose stones and tree roots.
Today it’s noticeable that it’s a bit busier because of Pentecost, we meet quite a few groups of people and have nice conversations. After the descent, the trail continues uphill for a bit, then downhill again. In this final descent, the trail passes Chateau Bernstein, a 12th/13th century castle that legend has it was built on a rock where a bear family lived, hence the name. It is one of the oldest fortresses in Alsace. It is not the only medieval structure on this stretch, a little further on there are a couple more old chateaus in the slope.
By now we are starting to feel our knees and feet pretty badly, so we are relieved when we arrive at the bottom after all the descending, and can continue our way flat. It is another 5km to the campsite; we wouldn’t have minded if it had been right here, at the bottom of the mountain.
We are out of water and the sun is shining brightly, but when you need help the most it is never far away; we walk out of the forest and see an orchard full of bunches of dark red cherries. How lucky we are! And with our belly and hand full of cherries, we walk the last kilometers to the campsite. The campsite in the village of Scherwiller is permanently closed, but on Google Maps we see that there should still be a small campsite à la ferme. It turns out to be a nice spot in the backyard of a wine grower with, yes, even more cherry trees!
We pitch our tent, and in the evening we enjoy one of the tastiest backpack meals ever: oriental spiced rice with falafel balls, in small tortilla shells with green asparagus. Yummie!
