TUESDAY, 5th SEPTEMBER : ROTHAU to DIERBACH 

When I walked to the office this morning to pay for last night's stay, I saw our next door neighbour coming towards me and with him, his large, black, woolly dog, the dog that yesterday when we arrived and Mike was backing into the site, barked and charged at me, grabbing me by the shirt.  The man held a tight rein on the dog as he passed, did not make eye contact and there was no apology forthcoming...I was not impressed.  I was just a little upset at the time as it was an unprovoked attack and could have been quite nasty.

However, today was a happy day.  We didn't leave Rothau until 9.45pm, drove along a couple of quiet roads

until reaching the fast roads, not as interesting as the back roads but we'd had quite a bit of wriggle, wriggle on winding roads in the last couple of days and thought we'd go the quick way.  We stopped at the services on the way for coffee, had a delay caused by roadworks, drove through lovely towns

 

when off the motorway.

We reached our destination in Drachenbronn at midday, parked in the free carpark and boarded the free

shuttle train for the 3 km ride to the entrance of the Chemin des Cimes Alsace (Treetop Walk Alsace).

The Tower

We paid the pensioner price of 14 Euros each (one whole euro deduction) plus 2 euros for Mike to descend via the slide.  I wimped out on that one!

With a total distance of 1,050 metres (including the ramp and tower), and at a height of up to 23 metres, the treetop walk winds its way along one of the highest points in the Vosges foothills, through spruces, pines and copper beeches - past numerous learning and activity stations.  The highlight of the walkway is the view tower, which is 29 metres high.  The Treetop Walk is situated in northern Alsace in the Northern Vosges Nature Park, a popular holiday area in the French-German border area.

The views are spectacular, the photos don't do them justice.

Mike preparing to go down the slide....now, why would I want to do that?

We both walked up to the top of the tower, an easy walk as the incline was slight, I walked back down and Mike went down the 'slide' declaring it to be great fun!  I'll have to take his word on that. 

He arrived safely!

We didn't have to wait long for the return shuttle and were soon on the road again, passing through gorgeous countryside

and stopping in Wissembourg for coffee and cake

At some point, we crossed the border from France back into Germany but neither of us saw any signs, though we were looking out for one.  We are now in Dierbach, on a camping place on a vineyard, along with at least a dozen other motorhomes.  We went walkabout in the town before dinner, very quiet with many quite old houses.

An excellent day!