Again a clouded sky, but the patches of mist swirling through the treetops on the surrounding hills are breathtaking.

It just the same routine as even and Derk leaves around 8.30 AM to go to Strassbourg. De sun is shining nore and more and the circumstances are really good, apart from those hills… Even de camper has a hard time getting up these steep roads, how will Derk do?

Halfway the first real climb we await Derks passing through. When you look at the steepness of the road behind us, it almost looks impossible to keep into motion…
Suddenly, out of the blue, Derk emerges next to the camper. The intermediate Snek did his work properly! Derk is very satisfied with the technical performance of his Thys 240.

Derk rides on to Strasbourg while we stop in the village of Dorlisheim (south of Molsheim) to do some shopping. In no time he returns (de Tour also rides up and down the same road). After a lot of bread with honey he leaves for Le Hohwald, a village that is situated in France, but looks really German, as most villages do in this area.

After Le Hohwald it’s down again to Ste-Croix-aux-Mines, 30 km to nthe north east of Colmar. Or better, first down and then up again, the next col. Fabulous sights, and a long, very long climb. We wait for Derk at the top.

But no Derk… We manage to call him despite the bad network and we put him back on the right track. Well, at least the weather has improved.

In the end we find that Derk was far to much in western direction and in the village of Combrimont he finally is able to ride back east. From Ste-Marie-aux-Mines he’s back on track. A couple of kilometres south of this town we await his arrival. It’s already 18.30 hours, hasn’t eaten enough and has taken a much longer and harder route. Despite the set back he’s still energetic enough for the next part. In the little village of Hachimette we stop for the day after persuading Derk it’s really time to stop.