Clean Clothes, Vineyard Walks & Reims
/Day 69 - La Chausee sur Marne – Chalon en Champagne
We enjoyed a lazy morning and didn’t leave the hotel until 0730, planning to stop at the boulangerie for a baguette on our way out of town. It was Wednesday… the boulangerie was closed (and they’d be closed all of August). It seems restaurants are closed on Mondays, boulangeries are closed on Wednesdays … every shopkeeper takes at least one day a week off unless they’re a big commercial chain. Kind of sucks for us though when we had our hearts set on a fresh baguette for brekkie. Luckily, the supermarché in Pogny, about three miles away, was open and we picked up our daily orange, some granola bars, a baguette and found a coffee shop that was open.
Walking along the canal
We found the canal along the Marne once again and followed it most of the way to Chalon. Our accommodations for the evening were through Air BNB and we had an apartment, Le Spartiate. It was located in a non-descript apartment house, one of many in the area. The apartment had two major things going for it: a washing machine (we really needed to do laundry) and a fridge/freezer… frige = cold beer/wine and freezer = ice cream!
Our host graciously gave us a ride to the local Aldi’s supermarket where we stocked up on way too much stuff because she was giving us a ride back to the apartment and we didn’t have to tote it all a mile in our backpacks.. Ice cream, cold beer, wine, potato chips, salad stuff for dinner, breakfast supplies, laundry detergent. I’m sure there’s much more to see in Chalon, but we were so excited about our purchases, exploring the city never entered our minds.
If the socks stick, it’s time to wash them!
The dirty clothes were in the washer lickety-split and out on the terrace clothesline to dry overnight. We popped the beers, ate potato chips, later indulged in the wine and the salad and gorged ourselves on ice cream. Such luxury. What a night!
Day 69 - La Chausee sur Marne – Chalon en Champagne
12.82 miles walked / 29,804 steps
Leg distance: 12 miles / 322 miles to Canterbury
Day 70 - Chalon en Champagne – Ambonnay
We were off by 0630 in the morning sporting clean, fresh-smelling clothes. We’d thoroughly enjoyed our night of feasting. The beer was gone, the ice cream was gone, the wine was gone... everything was gone.
It spit and sprinkled intermittently on us most all of the morning. We walked along the canal for nearly 10 miles. It was uncomfortably warm and humid and a mist rose from the canal waters. Insects buzzed. A heron stood stock-still, surveying the water for breakfast.
We were particularly intrigued by a huge barge that passed through the locks. There was barely enough room for it in the locks … only inches to spare lengthwise and beamwise. There were only two crew aboard, a deckhand and the captain at the helm and they passed through without incident while supplying us with 15 minutes of entertainment.
Ambonnay is a champagne hub and there were champagneries and tasting rooms galore around town. There was not, however, much else in town. By the time we arrived, walked 1-1/2 miles to the closest grocery and back for dinner supplies and finally got a chance to relax, the tasting rooms were closed. Just as well, it was hot and we were tired and a champagne tasting might have been wasted on us.
We spent the night in a chambre d’hôte, Les 3 Coccinelles (ladybugs), ate our dinner salad on their terrace and crashed early.
Day 70 - Chalon en Champagne – Ambonnay
15.84 miles walked / 36,833 steps
Leg distance: 15 miles / 307 miles to Canterbury
Day 71 – Ambonnay – Rilly la Montagne
It was a lovely, lovely day. We walked through vast vineyards, along farm roads and logging roads and forest paths. The temperature was pleasant and the hilly terrain was varied, interesting and most enjoyable.
Logging roads, forest paths, vineyards and farm roads made for an interesting walking day.
Walking through the vineyards … and I do mean right through the middle of the vineyards … was quite fascinating. We watched huge, cumbersome, Star Wars looking machinery maneuver through the rows of grapes spraying and furrowing.
Star Wars looking machinery used in the vineyards
We’ve seen vineyards since Italy, the vines just greening out in the late Spring. Here, the vines were flourishing and the grapes were beginning to cluster, though we’re told they wouldn’t be ready for harvesting till September sometime.
We haven’t met a pilgrim in days and today we met a Brit heading to Jerusalem via Rome. And we thought our trip was crazy long! He was just starting out obviously, only a couple of weeks on the path and had a long, hard road before him. He got us to thinking about the Rome to Jerusalem route. Hmmmm…
One of many ‘champagne mansions’ in Rilly la Montagne
Rilly la Montagne is a beautiful little town like so many in this area. There is apparent wealth here with huge mansions and swanky champagne houses. We wandered through the narrow streets looking for a grocery or restaurant.
Lunch at Prise de Mousse … good, but a limited menu
We had lunch at a little bistro with a very limited menu and didn’t want to return there for dinner. There was one large chateau in town serving dinner at what we considered exorbitant prices, so we gave it a pass. We finally ended up dashing out to the one boulangerie in town before it closed and buying a baguette and a couple of mini-quiches for dinner. We found one bar in town and washed down our quiches with cold beer. We saved the baguette for tomorrow’s walk.
We spent the night in a chambre d’hôte once again, Didier Jeangout, which was also a champagnerie though we couldn’t seem to find the host to buy a bottle.
Day 71 – Ambonnay – Rilly la Montagne
13.12 miles walked / 30,501 steps
Leg distance: 12 miles / 295 miles to Canterbury
Day 72 – Rilly la Montagne – Reims
After a typical French breakfast, we were off to Reims (aka Rheims). We hadn’t seen pilgrims for days, then we met one yesterday and today we met four. There was a German couple at breakfast who were walking a few legs of the VF towards Switzerland. One solo female pilgrim was taking a break and rubbing her feet and we waved to her as we passed. The fourth fellow was a pleasant Aussie who was quite talkative and also just getting started on the Via Francigena. He shared some info with us about the ferry crossing at Calais and possible lodging as we headed northwest. We, in turn, answered some of his questions about the road before him. Not so different than sailors exchanging stories and info about ports and islands they’d visited.
The skyline of Reims in the distance
It was mostly suburban walking and it wasn’t long before the steeples of the Reims Cathedral popped into view. We were excited about our arrival there. First, we’d scheduled another layday in this historic medieval city and second, we were planning to celebrate David’s birthday.
We arrived in the city just after Noon and headed to the Hotel Camponile. Our room was ready … what a surprise! The room was spacious, air-conditioned, modern and had CNN. The hotel had a champagne bar, a terrace and a restaurant. This portended to be a good stay.
Notre-Dame de Reims
It was easy to summon up the energy for exploring when we knew we had the next day off. We were only a 10 minute walk from the Reims Cathedral aka Notre-Dame de Reims and headed there first. We only stopped in for a few minutes to get our pilgrim’s ‘timbre’ with the notion we’d return for a good look on our day off.
Place D’Erion
Lunch was in an outdoor cafe and then we generally wandered around the Place D’Erion, a hub for cafes and restaurants, looking for just the right place to celebrate David’s birthday. It took awhile so we had to stop for an ice cream cone to fortify ourselves. Not just any ice cream cone, mind you, but an Amorino ice cream cone, touted as the ‘world famous gelato flower’. I’m not sure it’s world famous, but it was absolutely sumptuous.
We wandered a bit more and the day wore on and two tuckered-out trekkers headed for the barn.
Day 72 – Rilly la Montagne – Reims
13.02 miles walked / 30,285 steps
Leg distance: 12 miles / 283 miles to Canterbury
Join us next time when we’ll explore Reims together. It’s a regal city!