2017 day 26 (27th September- Metz to Thionville)

Sorry for last night - ran out of ration and couldn't complete the blog. The day had been mostly spent in Metz which as is becoming a habit, was far beyond our pre-conception. It used to be a village with a very large Cathedral but not much else until Napoleon decided it was close enough to the German border to be of strategic importance so built it up as a major military and administrative centre with very grand architecture etc. Beautiful opera house, city hall, military barracks to add to the beautiful cathedral.

It must be one of the highest cathedrals in Europe - quite magnificent. Left there after lunch to ride to Thionville which involved travelling along a very industrial section of canals with coal loaders, fertilizer plants, old iron smelters, gravel pits and large transport hubs for trucks and rail. Not very scenic but interesting to see how the Lorraine region had been fought over between France and Germany so much in the past.

As we appreached Thionville the country became more and more typical rural with crops and grapevines increasing.