You Should Have Been There! - February 24th

There are times when something happens that is just so wonderful that it lifts you up and makes you blissfully happy. Camping in the dank clammy woods outside Sarrebourg wasn't like that.pushing the bike back to the road through the muddy grass so that my boots became clods and the bike like a tractor didn't help. Then a lady at the cafe in Sarrebourg lifted my spirits as she made me a lovely petit dejeuner but more importantly made me feel welcome. The day was getting better.

I knew about the path that lead down from Arzviller to Saverne but I made a false start in being tricked in to taking an earlier road that forced me along a potholed muddy canal path and then back tracking when the canal and train tunnel proved impassable.

Never mind, as I found a good road that eventually took me to Arzviller and a nice man guided me to the cycle path.

There followed one of the most wonderful rides for 15km on a beautiful paved path down to Saverne. The area was a cross between France and Germany with alpine-style country houses, canal locks and children fishing. The sky was blue, the sun shone and the canal valley gave protection from the wind. And it was down hill all the way - Heaven on Earth.

If it had been Germany then, of course, just as I was thinking how nice it would be to stop to have a coffee and a piece of cake then a cafe would have appeared around the next bend. But it didn't as this was France but the benefit was that it had those lovely French canal boats. The sort that Rick Stein would cook tarteflette on while he argued with his producer.

And then I arrived in Saverne and it was over...

Just time to savour the moment with a beer in the town square as the sun shone. If ever you want to experience the 8th wonder of the world then take the bike trip down from Arzviller. I can't guarantee the weather but some things transend such even that.

The lesson for me seems to be why doesn't the UK pave one side of all canal paths? They would make wonderful cycle tracks and enable people to see parts of the country that would otherwise be closed to them. A suitable public works project for the current recession