Cycling in Alsace 2 : Romanesque churches and the “Ackerland“ area

The Northern gateway to the Wine Route, Marlenheim opens the trail which then skirts round a series of mountains. The Stephensberg can be recognised by its television transmitter. Beyond Willgottheim, the landscape is undulating and covered by cereal crops, which accompany the cyclists through the Ackerland, the Kochersberg hinterland until the Bastberg, in the heart of Hanau country.
After Bouxwiller, the road winds along the edge of the forest and leads in turn to the Romanesque edifices of Saint-Jean Saverne and Marmoutier. The route then crosses the Zorn and the Marne-Rhine canal (EuroVelo 5). Saverne and the Château des Rohan, then Wasselonne and its historical town centre are the highlights of the end of the trail. The last section links Wasselonne and Marlenheim via the narrow Kronthal gorge from where the red sandstone blocks used for the building of Strasbourg Cathedral were extracted.