Silver Wheel Trek: Metz to Nancy and a break in Nancy

Sept 7

We rode out of Metz on a nice bike path, but we remembered what our guide to the campground told us yesterday. "They made the maps before they made the paths" sure enough the path soon ended and we were on the wrong side of a lake (swamp if Yoly tells the story). We back tracked a ways and found the path again and rode it to another dead end. Back a little ways again and found and abandoned railway. It still had the ties so we bumped up over the good ones or down into the rotten ones. But it was a railway so we were going places. We got to an abandoned canal lock where the railroad ended. I crossed the lock and found a dead end and a bush full of black berries. So I picked some berries and took them back to Yoly on the other side of the canal. Then a guy came along checking the canal and told us to carry on straight and we wound get to Nancy good luck and "Bon Courage". We carried on and didn't make it to Nancy but to a Pont à Mousson. It was very hot, 33 degrees on my bike computer. So we stopped at the third hotel because the first two were closed. It was an old abbey that is currently a museum and they still make beer there. It was nice. Next day we tried our luck on the path again and ended up lost again. The GPS said there was a road nearby but it was hard to get to. We made our way around a power plant and over a railroad track and back down to a road. The rail road was probably 60 feet higher than the path. We followed the GPS Route down the road to the first turn and found we were 60 feet higher than the road we were supposed to turn on. We had enough bush whacking for on day and decided to ride down the highway for a ways. We found the path again closer to Nancy and made it into town and found a nice hotel for cheap.

Nancy is a nice town with lots to see and do. So we stayed and extra day to see museums and parks and canals and all the stuff we like.

We climbed a mountain first thing in the morning and made to church in Scy-Chazelles.

An old bridge at the bottom of the hill in Scy-Chazelles

Having a mid morning snack on the path.

We found some ruins of an aqueduct made by the Romans in 200 AD

The aqueduct was 21km long and a portion of it went through the mountain. We only saw the beginning part of it.

The bike path was pretty narrow, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the small bushes at the edge is poison ivy. So far Yoly has been in contact three times. She doesn't like it.

We made it to Pont-à-Mousson a little town south of Metz. Most hotels close from 1pm and reopen at 4pm. We arrived at two.

We stayed In an old Abbie for the night.

A view of the court yard from our bedroom where we can see our bikes parked.

The bike path ended, we pushed my bike up the stairs, crossed the train tracks, and down the hill. Then we unloaded Al's bike and and did the same trick, got on the highway and carried on.