Schirmeck to Le Hohwald and rest day: Days 145 & 146

Revived by a rest day I climbed across tree covered mountains, but a Nazi concentration camp cast a dark shadow on an otherwise sunny day.

For my rest day in Schirmeck I did little except eat, rest, read and deal with correspondence, some of which related to a proposed extension of the E2 to John o'Groats. Suitably refreshed I started the long climb out of town after a short conversation with one of the owners of the Airbnb (one of those many occasions when I wished I had more French).

A short way (steeply uphill) out of town was Chateau Schirmeck, a small courtyard and towers of ancient foundation with the few remains restored in 1969. Looking down on, and hopefully looking after the town below was a statue of the Virgin Mary, her head ringed by golden stars.

Statue of Virgin Mary from the entrance to Chateau Schirmeck. 

The trail today was entirely under trees of many types, including some very tall ones. Being hot and sunny they provided welcome shade. Patches of sunlight played on the path ahead of me where shafts of light pierced the canopy of leaves. Club Vosgien, a hiking organisation over a 150 years old, takes responsibility for the waymarking and maintenance of the trails in this mountain range. Unlike elsewhere in France red rectangles mark the GR5, rather than the usual white and red stripes. They have made an excellent job, following footpaths as well as forest tracks. On my route, there were a couple of shelters they had built. Although there was much climbing and descent, with protruding rocks and roots in places, careful foot placement meant my knee did not suffer too much.

The Struthof concentration camp intruded on an otherwise bucolic day. A museum on the site describes life and death at this Nazi camp, which appeared to focus on political prisoners, members of the Resistance and others the Nazis wished to disappear. The building housing the gas chamber looked like an innocent house, I had always imagined them more threatening industrial buildings. After reading accounts of a few of those who died and some of the survivors, viewing an exhibition of ties with a medical establishment which conducted tests on prisoners, inspecting the double fence of barbed wire, the guard towers, the many crosses above the site, I left feeling depressed at the inhumanity the camp represented.

Barbed wire fences of Struthof concentration camp.

A more pleasant sight was the Champ du Feu, an open area of rough grass and the highest point on the trail today at 1098 metres. I looked back at the mountains I had crossed yesterday, now a whiter shade of grey in the summer haze. Three art pieces maybe made of solid iron graced the area, but did not stoop to explain themselves. A tower stood by the road.

An art installation on the Champ du Feu.

Towards Le Hohwald the GR5 crosses the top of a "cascade". I walked down to its bottom to view with a crowd of others the many thin threads of water dropping a good distance, splashing over rocks. Then I had to climb back up again.

The top of Le Hohwald cascade. 

Le Hohwald had a Germanic feel on a day when everything was closed. It is Monday. My hotel was a little out of town and thankfully open although with limited menu options for diner (risotto, but a good one with chorizo preceded by tomatoes and mozzarella, and followed by a slice of fig pie, together with a glass of the local Gewürztraminer wine).