The Vosges…. once, together with the Black Forest, a huge mountain range. Until Italy found it necessary to collide with Europe some thirty million years ago. This created the Alps and the huge plate on which the old mountains lay broke and largely collapsed. In the enormous groove that was created then, the Rhine now separates the Western Vosges from the Black Forest in the East.

The ridge that remained formed the border between France and Germany from 1871 to 1918. 1918, you read that right. The end of the First World War. Afterwards, boundaries were literally shifted, but you can already imagine that the terrain of the Vosges during WW I was a particularly turbulent area…

This is the one day return route that takes you from Col de Bussang in the Vosges back to Kortrijk in the province of West Flanders.
Nevertheless, this route cannot be called a traditional entry or exit route, as you can also learn something from it. At least if you have an eye and attention for it.

We start in Hotel du Col de Bussang after we have said goodbye to our host and lady.
A first petrol station can be found 27 kilometers after the start of the route. Several other stations are marked on this long return route, so that you can tackle this long route with any kind of motorcycle.
A small recommendation on this route can also be to stop at an Intermarché or another department store along the way to stock up on a picnic or drink. Really good bars & cafes are harder to find in the first part. Beautiful picnic areas, on the other hand…

Picnic stuff crammed into the suitcases you continue on the route where you can find wonderful picnic areas in various places. You will really have no trouble finding the right place for a short break. Should the weather conditions not be ideal for an outdoor break, the route also provides some 'indoor' breaks, so there is always a solution…
But before you arrive at one of the points that offer itself as an ideal place for a break, you first pass the Moselle and shortly afterwards the Canal de l'Est. I would like to say a few words about that….

The Moselle originates in the Vosges. You may have driven one of the “Ultimate Collection” routes that took you to the source of this all-important river. You probably also remember how small this well actually was.
The Canal de 'l'Est has been an inseparable part of the Moselle since 1874 when they started building the canal.

The canal has a length of no less than 439 km and connects the Saône with the Meuse and the Moselle. It is therefore not surprising that the skippers gave the canal the names 'Canal de la Meuse' and 'Canal des Vosges' for the northern and southern parts of the canal respectively.
The Canal de l'Est not only connects the Meuse with the Saône & Moselle, it also 'replaces' the Moselle on those parts that are less navigable or even not navigable at all. The canal must therefore remain close to the Moselle and so it does… The canal sometimes even crosses the Moselle, which really does require some thinking. After all, how do you let a canal, which is fed by the Moselle itself, flow completely over the river without the waters touching? It goes without saying that the 152 locks and pump systems play a very important role in this. But think… we are talking about constructions from 1874….

You can visit such an aqueduct near Flavigny-sur-Moselle. Still a bit of a hallucinatory sight... Aqueducts were therefore not only built by the Romans...
You wind gently until you reach Gondreville where we join the A31 - also called the Nationale N4. We pass the water complex of the Moselle, as well as Saint-Dizier and then continue north of Vitry-le-Francois via the N44 in the direction of Chalons-en-Champagne, where a short lunch and refueling break is planned. Shortly after this break, you will take the highway in the direction of Reims (toll!) and the highway kilometers will be covered. Via Saint-Quentin, Cambrai and Lille you reach the French-Belgian border and shortly afterwards the end point of the route in Kortrijk, the Shell petrol station on the E17. Fortunately, there you will also find the necessary sanitary and other facilities so that you can say goodbye to your travel colleagues – fully enlightened.

The route cannot of course receive a five-star rating due to the many boring highway kilometers, but to be honest, due to the aquacultural richness of the Moselle and the Canal de l'Est, a four-star rating is not even an exaggeration. A passage through this area will teach you a lot if you want to pay attention to it. The roads are particularly well laid out and will sometimes pleasantly surprise you – also in terms of views and driving pleasure. Therefore an absolute well-deserved 4 stars for this instructive return route which, despite the distance, can safely be digested in one day, also given the excellent road surface.