BR93 The Banks of the Rhine and the Lauter Valley

The Route
The canalized Rhine ends at Beinheim where it returns to its natural course. We follow the river along the flood levee via EuroVelo 15, crossing the Rhine forest until Lauterbourg, the eastern tip of Alsace. From Beinheim to Munchhausen, the banks of the Rhine are rich in preserved natural sites. The heronry at Beinheim, with its fragile biotope, is particularly monitored. Munchhausen and the natural reserve of the Sauer delta form an astonishing landscape populated by migratory birds. The forest is unique in Europe where ash trees, pedunculate oaks, and elms grow up to thirty meters high. In Lauterbourg, the road then heads west and takes the cycle path of the Lauter valley laid out along the old railway connecting Wissembourg via the Hardt racetrack. A brief detour through the Cleebourg vineyard near Steinseltz and Riedseltz allows for a bucolic excursion into the northern part of the Alsace Wine Route. The return to Beinheim reveals very typical villages, notably Seebach, a white village rich in rooted traditions. A visit to the Esch casemate, a work of the Maginot Line in Hatten, is an interesting option before returning to Beinheim.