Reims to Sainte-Menehould

June 20, 2024

And our bikes came tumbling down!

We are now heading straight east in order to reach Munich by the first week of July and are planning to stop in Verdun so Jill can get her WW1 fix. Between Reims and Verdun (a distance of about 120 km, as the crow flies) there is only one town I could find that had accommodations, and that was Sainte Ménéhould, 77 km from Reims. And there was only one hotel, a Logis hotel Le Cheval Rouge. So, that’s where we were headed.

It turned out to be a harder day than we had thought and not just because it was long. We had a smooth ride out of Reims, having ironed out a few complicated route issues the previous day and the first 20 km along the Reims Greenwway was easy. The WW1 historical stuff started showing up as this region was where the Western front was established. The only WW1 stop we made was at Siller Cemetery where 11,000 dead soldiers were gathered from around the whole region and buried here, mostly French but a few Czech citizens too.

The canal had a number of locks on it and we had the chance to watch a boat move through.

We had ridden along several canals, but this was the first time we saw someone actually going through a lock.

The first Czech soldier to die in WWI is buried here. Siller cemetery.

It was flat so the initial riding was easy until we turned off onto an off-road section, almost 3 km in length, taking us through what turned out to be a farmer’s field. Thanks to all the recent rains it was muddy and rough, and in a lot of places the crops had just been mowed so vegetation was 5 or 6 inches deep covering the track and you couldn’t see what was underneath it. About half a km in I slid out in some mud and fell over on my left side into a barley field. I was okay but two hours later could feel the bruise on my left knee and left hip. It scared the crap out of me so Dave led, more slowly, and there were spots I wound up walking. We reached a forest path which was better except for some downed branches which had to be ridden over. Afterwards of course we looked at the map, and it would have been an easy adjustment to stay on the main road. That 3 km probably took us 45 minutes. Mud was everywhere on me and I was wet too, so it wasn’t the best ride from there on out.

We wound up on a busier state road, the D 19, which wasn’t relaxing but we moved quickly and rode through a military territory, Camp Mourmelon, for a long stretch. (This base has quite a history itself, created by Napoleon III in 1857 and being the location where the 101st Airborne of the US Army rested and trained after Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1945. They stayed there until the Battle of Bastogne in December 1945).

Dave started looking for a place to have lunch. Looking at the map beforehand, I realized that although we were going through a number of small towns, there were no cafes or restaurants anywhere. Indeed that turned out to be the case. We had packed a sandwich and a nectarine from the Novotel buffet, and finally found a bench on the side of the road in Jonchery sur Suippe. It wasn't the most scenic spot as we were alongside a fairly busy road, but it served its purpose.

A serviceable if not scenic spot to stop and have lunch.

After lunch Komoot again peeled us off the main road and we unfortunately ran into another bad off-road section. Things started out okay. This time the route lulled us in and then, WHAM — we encountered slippery mud yet again. This time it was Dave's turn to fall, slowly and gracefully (relatively speaking) and was unhurt. We wound up walking until we found a point after about 1 km where we could get back to the state road. It just left us feeling beat up.

We can be slow learners at times, but after this little episode we agreed that before entering an unpaved, unimproved trail, we will stop and check out the map before committing to it. Typically, Komoot sends us on these trails, which are for farm equipment use and are rarely used by cyclists as a way to get us off busier roads. In dry conditions they aren't too bad, but we should be avoiding them after rains have turned them into mud slides. Often they parallel the main roads and eventually rejoin them. We vowed to ignore these little diversions, stick to the main roads and stay upright! After all, we rarely have problems with cars even when we're on 90 kph highways, which we occasionally have to deal with.

The last 20 km into Sainte-Ménéhould was the highlight of the ride. We were off the main road but all of it was paved with some uphill and downhill which, after 60 km of flat riding, was a relief. We have seen a lot of rural France on this trip.

Relatively speaking, Sainte-Menehould was a bustling town of 4,000 people; we walked around before dinner and thought how hard it would be these days to run a small business in one of these rural towns. The town wasn’t particularly scenic but our little hotel was fine. We were on the second floor in the attic and bumped our heads by my little twin bed - but hey, it had a tub, so no complaints. The tub greatly revived us as did the kir royale we had on their patio. The hotel had an annex across the street and while we were having dinner in the Bistro we saw a group of travelers arrive and go in there. The town is only 40 km from Verdun, and I am betting that tour groups stay in Sainte-Menehould at this little hotel because it’s cheaper, and then be driven into Verdun.

We stored our bikes across the street in the hotel's annex, in their unused bar.

Our dinner was good and Dave ordered a great bottle of wine ( a 2015 St. Emillion-a splurge at €60). We are happy to be on the road.

Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 1,775 km (1,102 miles)

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