Strasbourg. It’s a quiet morning in the half-timbered village turned European capital city. But there’s not much time to linger as thunderstorms are threatening, and I have a date with the forests just outside of nearby Saverne, where the ancient Celts once roamed in the Vosges Mountains and castle ruins stand tall, like Château de Haut-Barr, otherwise known as the “Eye of Alsace,” with its not-at-all-ominously-named Devil’s Bridge.
It’s a relatively empty train platform here in Strasbourg, thanks to the threat of rain pretty much all day. But after some heavy studying of the radar, it looks like where I’m heading—Saverne—might be just outside the worst of it. It’s about 25 to 44 minutes outside of town by train, depending on which one you catch. Saverne is close to a natural park, and based on my amateur radar analysis, it looks like I’ll be just outside the storm’s path.
Of course, now that I’ve said that, Zeus is probably going to come after me himself.
I’ve got the whole train car to myself for the 44-minute ride to Saverne, which is the only reason I feel comfortable doing my warmup while whisking through the countryside. In Saverne, the rain is holding off. So it’s time to get going.
The Eye of Alsace
After a couple kilometers, I’ve reached the forest. This misty green landscape with bouncy, runnable trails is my absolute happy place. Give me this over schlepping up a mountain any day of the week.
It’s not long before I approach the foot of the aforementioned castle, known to some as the “Eye of Alsace.” This nickname comes from its strategic location, offering commanding views over the Alsace plains. On a clear day, you can see as far as Strasbourg or even the Black Forest in Germany, over 30 kilometers away. The castle’s reputation as a lookout point was crucial in the Middle Ages, when keeping an eye on unannounced armies was essential for survival. Even if you managed to make it here, you’d still have the terrain to deal with. The castle was built on a promontory, necessitating the creation of a narrow footbridge known as Devil’s Bridge. Legend has it that the Devil himself built the bridge to connect two sections of the castle. Locals believed it was bad luck to cross it—information I would have loved to know before I crossed it!
I’m about halfway through the trail I mapped out, and I’m loving it so far. The rain has held off for the most part, with just the occasional drizzle. I like that, though—it’s how all this greenery stays so lush. I’ve just about finished the main climbing and will be coasting downhill for a bit, with one final big climb at the end. I highly recommend this route if you’re coming to Strasbourg or Colmar. It’s just 20-40 minutes by train, and you’re in the thick of nature.
The Train to Nature
I pause for a moment at the top of one of my last climbs. I can’t see much because it’s foggy, but I can still see some of the landscape behind me. It’s just stupid gorgeous. And I got here by train!
As an American, it still blows me away that I can live in Berlin, take the train to Barcelona for a month, stop in Colmar or Strasbourg on the way back, hop on another train to the countryside, and do a trail run like this—all without needing a car. This ride only cost me a few euros, which seems a little pricey for a regional train, but it’s still way more affordable than owning a car in the U.S., where access to nature usually requires spending money on a car, gas, upkeep, and everything else.
They estimate that car ownership costs around $10,000 a year—I’m not spending that on my trail running train journeys! You can always find things to complain about, but in the grand scheme of things, as I always say, it could be much, much worse.
Running for the Celts
Running around here, it’s easy to see why the ancient Celts selected these forests as places of reverence and retreat. If I had done my research, I would have stretched the run farther south to Mount Donon, a sacred Celtic mountain with the remains of an ancient temple, later reconstructed by the Romans. But instead, I stuck to my planned course.
With about two kilometers to go, running on a mixed-use road and trail, I decide it’s a good time to wrap things up. In short, I loved this trail. If I were fluent in French, it would be hard to keep me from moving here because, holy hell, between Colmar and Strasbourg, this place is incredible. This trail is perfect for doing hard climbs or repeats if you’re training, or just enjoying the flowing single track. I’m a fan.
This impromptu stop in Alsace came at the tail end of our month in Spain back in May. If you’re not new here, you know I’ve already released several films covering that time. There’s my run across Barcelona’s Park Collserola, my three days hiking and trail running around Montserrat, a video on how vegan barcelona, and a documentary on the co-living and co-working café that made all of these little excursions possible.
If you enjoyed this little jaunt around Alsace, check out the playlist with all the videos from our month in Spain.
