Where's Bertie? He's in a car park on the Col de Pigeonnier, in between Lembach and Wissembourg. Exact location: 49.01575, 7.839577
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot (30 degrees)
On our way from Hornbach to Bitche a couple of days ago, we passed Ouvrage de Simserhof. It's part of the Maginot Line and now a museum, and I'd read about it before we headed to Bitche, however, I'd discounted it for a visit as access is only via tours in French or German. Doing a bit more reading once in Bitche, I discovered that there is also a 10km walking route around the site and decided it was worth the 5km backtrack to make the visit.
The large car park at Simserhof had two cars in it when we arrived (and none when we left) - I'd expected it to be busier, with it still being school holidays and with plenty of tourists about.
The route started with a distance through some pleasant woodland, before we came upon a series of structures, the first being Block 6, which is intact save for a little decay. It was at this point that, looking around us, we realised that the natural forest in which we were standing is post-war; it would make a poor defensive line if visibility only extended a few metres to the trees! The last Block we reached was Block 5, which is the only one showing extensive damage, but not due to any attack from Germany, rather from the USA freeing it from German control in 1944.
Block 6, with firing positions facing east to protect Blocks further along the line
Turrets atop Block 6
Block 5 - with twisted metal sticking out of the damaged concrete due to the American bombardment of 1944.
Before our visit I knew nothing of the Maginot line other than its name. I came away better informed, although of all the information signs, telling of how the design of individual buildings, and the line as a whole, was supposed to be impenetrable, they didn't mention that it was breached so quickly as the German army nipped around via Begium.
Anti-tank defences
After a whole host of points of interest (the first 3km of the route took us over an hour), the route then took us on a big detour down a hill (according to an information board at the start, the route involved 230m of descent/ascent, and most of it was at this point). A perfectly nice walk, and good exercise, but all we saw on that entire loop was a small bunker without a corresponding information sign, leaving us perplexed as to why the route designers, on a route supposed to be about the Maginot Line, had thrown in that diversion that will surely put off many people.
Funnily enough, that turn is where the path became a lot less trodden.
The final two points of interest had signs including plans that answered our questions about the layout of the site (as we'd been weaving around, we had no notion as to the relative positions of the various Blocks), but those signs didn't include an English version - also bizarre considering they looked newer than the tri-lingual ones we'd stopped at up to that point.
We omitted the final loop in the route, by accident rather than intention, although we did choose not to put our wrong turn right for the sake of one last point of interest.
The verdict: an interesting, free open-air museum and worth the 5km backtrack in our travels.
Our onward route involved us going back through Bitche, and as I'd spotted some laundry machines in the Intermache car park when we'd popped in for a couple of items this morning, on our return we stopped by to use them. Lunch was eaten whilst the machines did their jobs*.
Bog standard laundry design, as found in the UK and many other countries. Yes, we could have parked closer, but we opted for shade.
The onwards journey to this car park at the Col de Pigeonnier was a surprise. Such picture postcard villages that we drove through - all looking typically German, and with German names, even though we are in France (albeit only just).
Snaps taken through Bertie's windscreen as he trundled along.
We are only a few kilometres from where we intend to go for tomorrow night, but I wanted to stop here, up on the col, so that I can go for a run/walk from here in the morning. There's a miriad of routes, all waymarked by the Vosges Club, but the map displayed in the car park isn't entirely helpful (we are right on one edge of it), so I've plotted something based on a couple of routes I downloaded.
(*Next to the laundry machines was another large machine that was proving popular. It turned out to be a plastic recycling collection point that rewards you for your deposits. People were arriving with great sacks full of bottles. We seem perpetually to have bags of recycling in Bertie's boot, as it's rare to find plastic and paper recycling facilities in public places in France and Germany. In that bag I had a detergent bottle, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to get rid of it. I came away with a store voucher for 1c!)
Weather: Wall-to-wall sunshine and hot (30 degrees)
On our way from Hornbach to Bitche a couple of days ago, we passed Ouvrage de Simserhof. It's part of the Maginot Line and now a museum, and I'd read about it before we headed to Bitche, however, I'd discounted it for a visit as access is only via tours in French or German. Doing a bit more reading once in Bitche, I discovered that there is also a 10km walking route around the site and decided it was worth the 5km backtrack to make the visit.
The large car park at Simserhof had two cars in it when we arrived (and none when we left) - I'd expected it to be busier, with it still being school holidays and with plenty of tourists about.
Route as recorded
The route started with a distance through some pleasant woodland, before we came upon a series of structures, the first being Block 6, which is intact save for a little decay. It was at this point that, looking around us, we realised that the natural forest in which we were standing is post-war; it would make a poor defensive line if visibility only extended a few metres to the trees! The last Block we reached was Block 5, which is the only one showing extensive damage, but not due to any attack from Germany, rather from the USA freeing it from German control in 1944.
Before our visit I knew nothing of the Maginot line other than its name. I came away better informed, although of all the information signs, telling of how the design of individual buildings, and the line as a whole, was supposed to be impenetrable, they didn't mention that it was breached so quickly as the German army nipped around via Begium.
After a whole host of points of interest (the first 3km of the route took us over an hour), the route then took us on a big detour down a hill (according to an information board at the start, the route involved 230m of descent/ascent, and most of it was at this point). A perfectly nice walk, and good exercise, but all we saw on that entire loop was a small bunker without a corresponding information sign, leaving us perplexed as to why the route designers, on a route supposed to be about the Maginot Line, had thrown in that diversion that will surely put off many people.
The final two points of interest had signs including plans that answered our questions about the layout of the site (as we'd been weaving around, we had no notion as to the relative positions of the various Blocks), but those signs didn't include an English version - also bizarre considering they looked newer than the tri-lingual ones we'd stopped at up to that point.
We omitted the final loop in the route, by accident rather than intention, although we did choose not to put our wrong turn right for the sake of one last point of interest.
The verdict: an interesting, free open-air museum and worth the 5km backtrack in our travels.
Our onward route involved us going back through Bitche, and as I'd spotted some laundry machines in the Intermache car park when we'd popped in for a couple of items this morning, on our return we stopped by to use them. Lunch was eaten whilst the machines did their jobs*.
The onwards journey to this car park at the Col de Pigeonnier was a surprise. Such picture postcard villages that we drove through - all looking typically German, and with German names, even though we are in France (albeit only just).
We are only a few kilometres from where we intend to go for tomorrow night, but I wanted to stop here, up on the col, so that I can go for a run/walk from here in the morning. There's a miriad of routes, all waymarked by the Vosges Club, but the map displayed in the car park isn't entirely helpful (we are right on one edge of it), so I've plotted something based on a couple of routes I downloaded.
(*Next to the laundry machines was another large machine that was proving popular. It turned out to be a plastic recycling collection point that rewards you for your deposits. People were arriving with great sacks full of bottles. We seem perpetually to have bags of recycling in Bertie's boot, as it's rare to find plastic and paper recycling facilities in public places in France and Germany. In that bag I had a detergent bottle, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to get rid of it. I came away with a store voucher for 1c!)
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