July 21, 2024
Chalons en Champagne to Reims
Cycling Champagne country
We emerge from our shoebox hotel room and take our bikes down the spiral staircase, loading up on the ground floor. Here we meet a Dutch couple who tell us they admire our courage- I’m sure they said courage! Anyway we enjoy a brief talk about travel and the best places to live.
The route to the town centre is easy and we find a boulangerie along the way. Chalons has the church of Notre Dame with its beautiful stained glass windows and ‘carillon’ - a set of bells, and St Etienne the cathedral, which promises to be open at 10:00am.
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When 10:00am has well and truly passed and the doors remain firmly closed, we decide that we need to be on our way. We take the Canal Lateral āla Marne route again that heads to Dormans, but we turn off at Condē sur Marne for the Canal link- dela Marne et l’Aisne, to take us to Reims.
This canal is rather different- it has no cycle signage I can see and the path is rougher than what we’ve been on.
It moves us along though, until it soon stops altogether. At this point we follow Komoot’s instruction to get on the D944. This takes us a little off piste and up a ‘moderate’ hill on loose stones, that seems to run through a farmer’s fields. We’re heading for a colourfully named town called Billy Le Grand.
It does in fact, but brings us back to the D944 which has an unpaved path running beside it. This takes us into a small village where we stop briefly for some sustenance. From here, we’re back on the D944 with reasonably regular and fast traffic, though we have a good shoulder. It’s only a few kilometres to Les Petites Loges.
At Les Petites Loges we pick up the canal again and from here, cycling into Reims is easy.
The route as we enter the outskirts of Reims is very attractive with green leafed trees on either side of the river and lots of people involved in activities. There’s even a lift up off the canal and onto the bridge we have to cross to reach the centre!
We find our apartment after a very pleasant ride down a central avenue park area where all sorts of activities are going on. There’s even an African group singing and dancing.
Once we’re established and have food supplies, we watch the awards ceremony for the Tour de France. It’s being held in Nice which brings back many pleasant memories for us.
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 1,144 km (710 miles)
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