La Manufacture à Saint- Dié and Strasbourg

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. La Manufacture à Saint- Dié

   Le Corbusier designed only one factory in his long career, and it stands in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, a town in the Meurthe valley on the western side of the Vosges mountains. The Manufacture Claude et Duval, a hosiery factory built between 1946 and 1951, is a concrete block raised on pilotis, with a roof terrace and brightly coloured interiors, and it embodies many of the architect's principles. It was part of his plans for the reconstruction of Saint-Dié after the town was largely destroyed by the retreating German army in November 1944, though most of his grand urban plan was never built. In 2016, the factory was included in the UNESCO listing of the architectural work of Le Corbusier, alongside buildings in seven countries.

   Read the complete La Manufacture à Saint- Dié write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   La Manufacture à Saint- Dié is where the day begins. Next is La place forte de Neuf-Brisach.

2. 2. La place forte de Neuf-Brisach

   After the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, France had to give the fortress of Breisach, on the right bank of the Rhine, back to the Habsburgs, and Louis XIV needed a new stronghold to guard the river. His engineer Vauban designed it from scratch on an empty plain on the left bank: Neuf-Brisach, a perfect octagon of walls, bastions and moats, with a grid of streets inside and a large central square with a church and a parade ground. Built between 1698 and the early eighteenth century, it was Vauban's last great work and is often considered his masterpiece. It is one of the twelve groups of Fortifications of Vauban, listed by UNESCO in 2008.

   Read the complete La place forte de Neuf-Brisach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   La place forte de Neuf-Brisach comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Strasbourg.

3. 3. Strasbourg

   Strasbourg sits where the Rhine, France and Germany come together, and the city has been passed back and forth between them for centuries. It was a free imperial city, then French from 1681, German from 1871 to 1918, French again, German again in the Second World War, and French since 1944. The history is written into the city, in the half-timbered houses of the Petite France quarter with their steep roofs, in the German-built Neustadt and the Palais du Rhin, in the language, Alsatian, which is a Germanic dialect still spoken by older residents, and in the food, with sauerkraut, tarte flambée and Riesling. Today the city is also the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

   Read the complete Strasbourg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach Strasbourg. Next is back through La place forte de Neuf-Brisach.

4. 4. back through La place forte de Neuf-Brisach

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete La place forte de Neuf-Brisach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through La place forte de Neuf-Brisach, late in the day. Next is La Manufacture à Saint- Dié.

5. 5. La Manufacture à Saint- Dié

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete La Manufacture à Saint- Dié write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at La Manufacture à Saint- Dié. That is the ride.