Alsace-Lorraine
13 September
Continuing the military theme, the D964 from Sedan to Verdun follows the line of the Western Front at the armistice in 1918. There are cemeteries on either side of the road: white for the Allied forces on the west side; black for the Germans on the east. Spot the symbolism…
106 years later, there are few better places to be than aboard a Ducati V2 Panigale on a chilly autumn morning as the sun burns off the mist to reveal this splendid, undulating ribbon of tarmac.
I first rode it 20 years ago and have repeated the exercise maybe a dozen times since. On each occasion, there has rarely been any traffic on it and never a trace of the Gendarmarie. A true hidden gem in the increasingly crowded and over-regulated former paradise that your grandfather might have called ‘The Continent’.
Likewise, the D27 cuts its way through the Moselle Region and Lorraine Naturepark. Apart from a few dawdling locals in their dilapidated Deux Che Vauxs and clapped-out Clios, you can usually have it to yourself. Just kilometre after kilometre of gently curving minor roads with few hedge rows and neat farmland beyond. Every ten minutes or so, quiet attractive towns are perched on the summit of low hills as you slow down for a quick stretch.
Emerging at Sarrebourg, the satnav plots a route to the overnight stop at the simply wonderful Hotel Restaurant Auberge Metzger in Natzwiller. My only complaint about it is it is so damn hard to book. Logis, Booking.com and the properties’ own website always show it as ‘unavailable’, even four months in advance. The only way is to get a bi-lingual, pedantic schoolteacher of your acquaintance to call on your behalf and request a room.
Hotel Restaurant Auberge Metzger in Natzwiller
The Madame of the property then ‘écrit dans le livre’ and you’re all set. No email confirmation, no deposits, no bullshit text-messages saying how thrilled they are you’re a guest. Nothing. Just show up for a welcome laced with elaborate courtesy, a sumptuous regional meal, the sleep of the dead on a heavenly mattress in pitch-black silence and a simple but perfect breakfast the next morning. Madam’s three-year grandson was sat behind reception with Grand-mère and gave me a drawing he’d just done to accompany a not inconsiderable bill.
The road to Natzwiller is another marvel: the 30-kilometre D993. Starting near Vallerysthal, it includes the Col du Donon, and takes you over a low summit - complete with switchbacks - in the foothills of the Vosge Mountains. At Vallerysthal, there is the Citroen 2CV Museum for those of that persuasion. I didn’t visit: like Land Rovers, Morris Minors and even original Mini’s, I find the appeal of these primitive contraptions mystifying other than to recognise them as important artefacts.
What does appeal is the hopelessly unattainable ‘other end’ of the automobile evolutionary spectrum: that of Bugatti. The factory is close by at Molsheim and the roads in the Vosge are used for test drives, a show-case for what €1M plus gets you.
But these same roads are open to all. The upmarket and improbably named town of Wangenbourg-Engenthal is a good base. Then explore the routes that radiate out from here for a great short biking tour. All just one-day from Calais…