Metz and Malbun

An overnight stop in Metz proved to be uneventful and not particularly inspiring.

After stopping in a few French towns/cities over the past few years, I’ve found them to be uneasy, slightly depressing places. The charming old French buildings have been replaced with shiny new shopping malls and apartments . The influx of immigrants from 2015 is very obvious and doesn’t seem to sit well within these towns. A sense of distrust is palpable from both sides. Maybe it will take a while.

Breakfast was interesting as Steve had remembered the porridge pots and had assumed there’d be spoons in the hotel room. There were not. Luckily we had a coffee scoop which we shared to eat our lumpy porridge.

It was a painless journey to Liechtenstein. We had railed at the cost of the Swiss vignette (approx £35) but the French road tolls proved similarly expensive and that was only for two days driving. At least the Swiss vignette lasts a year.

Malbun is not what I was expecting. I had imagined our hotel to be one of very few in an isolated area. In fact, there’s plenty of accommodation and lots of visitors taking advantage of the hiking and biking.

Our hotel is the Hotel Turna , and while it is no frills, the staff are very friendly and accommodating. We had a slight panic when Steve realised none of his adaptors fitted in the plug sockets. This would have meant no cool box which equals no beer in our room. Yes I know we are cheap skates but have you seen the price of beer and wine here? Anyway the staff obligingly lent us one although I don’t think they knew what we were using it for.😈

We did a quick 3.5 mile walk which gave us a great view of the ridge walk we are doing tomorrow and we also checked out eating options.

Slight concern for tomorrow- my new boots are hurting. I had a slight issue with my gaiters pressing against my ankle and leg when walking last week and it’s still uncomfortable. Stiff upper lip required.

View over Malbun