The best traffic-free bike rides around La Grande-Fosse

Beautiful route, pleasant but lots of bikers...

yes up there you have a good view

The Meurthe is the 3rd largest tributary of the Moselle, after the Saar and the Sauer. Its source is near the Col de la Schlucht, in the municipality of Le Valentin. After approx. 20 km, the Meurthe reaches Saint-Dié-des-Vosges. After 160 km, it flows into the Moselle north of Nancy.

Nestled in a verdant valley, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges is a charming Vosges town with a rich historical and cultural heritage. Blending conviviality, culture, history, and nature, it appeals to both heritage enthusiasts and lovers of wide-open spaces.

The Senones monastery, an abbey in the Rabodeau valley in the present-day town of Senones in Lorraine, was founded in 661 by Saint Gondelbert, the former Archbishop of Sens. The documentary evidence is incomplete. The Benedictine monk Richer of Senones wrote the story up to 1263. However, his work is disputed. Around two hundred monks are said to have lived in the abbey in the 9th century. The monastery became a fief of the bishops of Metz, and Angilram in particular tried to gain ties. The order's power lay with the diocese of Toul. In 1103, Kunegund, the widow of Matfried of Tincry, and her sons donated goods to the abbey's Tures priory. Her eldest son Gobert became vogt of Senones in 1105. From 1111 to 1126, Hermann II of Salm was vogt. His son Henry I continued his work. Abbot Augustin Calmet became famous through his Bible commentary La Saint Bible en Latin et en françois, avec une commentaire littéral et critique. Prince Konstantin Alexander Joseph of Salm-Salm ordered the secularization of Senones Abbey on February 24, 1790, against which the abbey protested in the chapter on March 1 and filed a complaint with the Imperial Chamber Court in Wetzlar. Nevertheless, the monastery was dissolved in 1793. The bell tower is from the High Middle Ages, the other buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1983, the abbey was classified as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abtei_Senones

Since the 13th century, a hospice was maintained there by the church. and welcomed pilgrims, travelers and the city's sick. At the request of the inhabitants of this suburb, a church was built there, while a new, more spacious hospital was erected on the right bank of the Meurthe. The church was dedicated to Saint-Martin and was consecrated in 1728. On July 14, 1895, during the National Day fireworks display, the church was set on fire by a rocket which hit the roof covered with fir twigs and burned to the ground. According to the plans of the Parisian architect Heubès, a new Vosges sandstone church was built in the "floral Romanesque" style and consecrated on August 13, 1902.

As early as the 7th century, Deodatus (French Dieudonné), who was revered by the people as a saint, is said to have founded a monastery here, from which a community of canons then developed in the 10th century. At that time the church wore the patron saint of St. Mauritius. The diocese of Saint-Dié was only established in 1777 by Pope Pius VI. († 1799) built. The church building, which was built in different architectural styles, was blown up by the Germans in 1944, destroying the entire nave and the choir area along with their vaults. The reconstruction lasted until 1974; in this year the church was newly consecrated. Most of the stained glass windows were made and inserted in the 1980s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint-Di%C3%A9

The Col du Hantz from Saint-Blaise-la-Roche is 5.9 km long with a total drop of 215 m. The average gradient is 3.6% with maximum gradients of 5%.