From Chablis to Champagne

 After much discussion we decided not to partake in the 325€ per head tour and tasting in Reims, choosing instead some very smooth drops from the local Intermarché for 7 or 8€.

We arrived in Reims via Decathlon where I took the opportunity to replace my two pairs of incompetent nicks with two new pairs. I also found a new saddle seeing mine is cracking up. Funnily both nicks and saddle looked alright in the winter light of Maryborough.

We’re riding back to Maastricht rather than going further and training back. Getting a loaded bike into and out of several trains and negotiating a ride through Paris didn’t appeal. Besides, Liz, John and I have ridden up the Champs Élysées and round theArc de Triomphe so we don’t need to do it again.

The country, although still growing maize, sunflowers and grains has changed as have the villages. Greater prosperity is evident every where. Nevertheless village life is ghostly as we rarely see the inhabitants. One place we rode through must be the cabbage capital of France. Field after field, tractors, trucks and conveyor belts, then no more. We did dine on cabbage that evening, however ours was from a can in the “regional specialties” section of the store.

I’m always on the lookout for Wildlife. I’ve noted myriad grey herons along the canals, the ubiquitous corvid, a couple of squirrels and a dead badger. A gaudy kingfisher with its orange underbelly and turquoise wings flew along part of a canal as I trundled behind it. Cattle, sheep in small numbers, donkeys, horses, chooks, geese, goats and ducks watch as we pass by. And dogs bark a welcome, or is that a warning?

We’ve travelled 1098kms in sunshine and now cooler temperatures. We’ve had one flat tyre and a fair bit of skirmishing arriving in and departing from cities. Spirits are high and there’s a little smugness as we navigate our way along canals, country roads and the odd goat track. It’s fun to spend hours each day outside observing how the world ticks over.