Blog site has been down for two days. Sorry. We tried, but could not publish. We seem to be up and running now as we sit in the town of Montargis, situated in a small hotel in the center of the market square. It is raining, we took the morning off to visit the market and relax. We're starting to feel a little beat. So...I will recap the previous two days in separate blogs and we'll move on.
In Cambrai, as in Amay, we stayed in a delightful old Chateau. The next morning we headed for Reims, getting into the Champagne country. We had 94 miles of fairly flat landscape to cover, we didn't get off until about 10am, that seemed to be about as early as we were able to get out of anywhere after having a 7am breakfast, then finishing our packing, and locating the Stage starting line. The winds, while not with us, were not really against us as we rolled through the countryside. Wheat, oats, potatoes, onions, mustard, lots of beautiful colors spread out before us. We passed through numerous small villages, but as with the previous days, almost all of these seemed virtually deserted. Few cars, no people, no stores open. I can only speculate that the farms, as in the U.S. are now run by bigger companies, the people who own the houses and other buildings in the villages have moved to the larger villages and cities, and, perhaps, just use these places for summer homes during the long French vacation season in August. It did mean it was tough to find anyplace with food resources, but more about that later.
Gwen was able to go ahead to the hotel in the morning and focus on getting some work done. (Yes, folks, no vacation is complete without a lot of work. We have wi-fi at every evening stop, a necessity, unfortunately, with the style of life we have all adopted. Roy, too, is working on a Zanzibar project and needs his computer time, as well.) Anyway, we were on our own this day with no SAG wagon and the welcome appearance of Gwen along the route to provide us with bread, cheese, strawberries, cold beer, etc.
About 1pm we began to consider the possibility of stopping for food when it might appear. After travelling through several more small "ghost" villages, I commented to Roy how different this was from home where every small town had a Cafe where you could get a cup of coffee and a bowl of soup. I suggested a bowl of soup would really taste great about that time, and went on to stretch the imagination even further by suggesting that a nice big bowl of Chili would really taste great right about now, and how unfortunate that such a possibility did not exist. After travelling through several more small villages, about 2:30 we came across a larger village and as we were almost passed through it (typical passages through these villages took from 1-3 minutes of our time, that's how small they are), Roy suggested we detour to the right and as he said that we spotted a small restaurant to the right. We stopped, they had a sign board blown down in front (we did have some wind to face), I picked up the sign board and on it read Special Today "Chili con Carne - 8.9Euros". Absolutely Unbelievable. We had the very best bowl of chili we could possibly eat - beans, meat, corn - and huge. We were both full and warm when we left that restaurant, also splurging on a large glass of milk.
The food felt good and I commented to Roy that we needed to look for more foods like this one rather than the more typical French fair. I announced that I wanted "pasta" for dinner!!!
We reached Reims about 5pm, with the plan that Gwen would come into town and pick us up at the finish line. As seemed to be a pattern, the last 5 miles each day took about an hour or more. We had to navigate through rush hour traffic to reach the finish, and, once there along Victor Hugo Boulevard, it was obvious Gwen should not attempt to bring the big van into that location to meet us. So, we called and suggested meeting some place closer to Epernay, about 15-20 miles south of Reims. We rode on, having covered about 96 miles at that point, but feeling good. We agreed to meet at a point about 10 miles south of Reims.
We then experienced our second "miracle" of the day. Roy had a flat tire early on in the afternoon, but that had been our only equipment stoppage during the course of the first 500 miles of our ride. Not bad, really. But, as we reached a huge round-a-bout terminating the four lane portion of the highway from Reims to Epernay, my bicycle suddenly began to go "bumpety bump". As Gwen was to say later, I had developed an aneurism in my rear tire. The tire had failed, a large bump had developed, and the bicycle was no longer rideable. While we carried tubes, the spare tires were with Gwen. Fortunately, we were at the round-about to end all round-abouts. On its edge was, of all things, a McDonalds!! We were able to rest outside, use the restrooms, get a milk shake - well, they "no longer sold milkshakes", so I had to settle for a small choclate sunday, and Gwen had a perfect spot to retrieve us with a large parking lot. The highway was so busy, that having that tire aneurism anywhere but exactly at the round-about would have been very problematic.
Gwen was in good spirits, having gotten lots of work done at our lodging, a brand new and very large Choice Hotel. (I have been receiving accolades for my lodging picks thus far. It is amazing how the internet now makes it so easy to find places located at the right places. A travel agent is a thing of the past for all but the most unadventurous tourists. We all have the freedom and knowledge to make good choices of where we want to stay and how we want to plan our trips. We don't even need to trust our hoteliers. Find a place, then GoogleEarth it, to get right down on the roof top and see exactly where it is and what kind of a general location it is in. Amazing. I was a little skeptical about the parking situation and internet availability promised by all of our lodging choices. Parking is always problematic around France, but, so far, we have had great spots to park. And, in the past, I have been "promised" internet when none really existed. But, so far, we have had both and at no charge.
Okay, now the pasta. By the time we got situated and bathed it was 9pm and Gwen deferred from dinner. So, Roy and I drove into the town square about 2 miles away to find a restaurant. After driving around and locating a square with a parking lot, we parked, prepared to do some walking and finding pasta - not that common among French restaurants. Departing the van, we found a Chinese restaurant adjoining the lot. We decided rice would work for the "starch bulk" I was yearning. So, we had Chinese. Chop Suey, Beef Curry. Yum. Yum. I was full, and full of the right things. We prepared to return home, but the map we had been provided was bad, at best. We had neglected to bring the Garmin along, it was very dark by this time, and we were in a strange City. Naturally, we did what guys all over the world do in a situation like this. We drove around, trying to find our way back to the hotel. After about a half an hour of driving and circling back to the same square, we fortuitously entered a round-about we had used to enter the City earlier from Reims. We remembered enough of the route that we were able to get back to the hotel. Okay, in the future, we will always carry one or both Garmins with us whenever we go in the van. Men....can't live with them...can't live without them.
In Cambrai, as in Amay, we stayed in a delightful old Chateau. The next morning we headed for Reims, getting into the Champagne country. We had 94 miles of fairly flat landscape to cover, we didn't get off until about 10am, that seemed to be about as early as we were able to get out of anywhere after having a 7am breakfast, then finishing our packing, and locating the Stage starting line. The winds, while not with us, were not really against us as we rolled through the countryside. Wheat, oats, potatoes, onions, mustard, lots of beautiful colors spread out before us. We passed through numerous small villages, but as with the previous days, almost all of these seemed virtually deserted. Few cars, no people, no stores open. I can only speculate that the farms, as in the U.S. are now run by bigger companies, the people who own the houses and other buildings in the villages have moved to the larger villages and cities, and, perhaps, just use these places for summer homes during the long French vacation season in August. It did mean it was tough to find anyplace with food resources, but more about that later.
Gwen was able to go ahead to the hotel in the morning and focus on getting some work done. (Yes, folks, no vacation is complete without a lot of work. We have wi-fi at every evening stop, a necessity, unfortunately, with the style of life we have all adopted. Roy, too, is working on a Zanzibar project and needs his computer time, as well.) Anyway, we were on our own this day with no SAG wagon and the welcome appearance of Gwen along the route to provide us with bread, cheese, strawberries, cold beer, etc.
About 1pm we began to consider the possibility of stopping for food when it might appear. After travelling through several more small "ghost" villages, I commented to Roy how different this was from home where every small town had a Cafe where you could get a cup of coffee and a bowl of soup. I suggested a bowl of soup would really taste great about that time, and went on to stretch the imagination even further by suggesting that a nice big bowl of Chili would really taste great right about now, and how unfortunate that such a possibility did not exist. After travelling through several more small villages, about 2:30 we came across a larger village and as we were almost passed through it (typical passages through these villages took from 1-3 minutes of our time, that's how small they are), Roy suggested we detour to the right and as he said that we spotted a small restaurant to the right. We stopped, they had a sign board blown down in front (we did have some wind to face), I picked up the sign board and on it read Special Today "Chili con Carne - 8.9Euros". Absolutely Unbelievable. We had the very best bowl of chili we could possibly eat - beans, meat, corn - and huge. We were both full and warm when we left that restaurant, also splurging on a large glass of milk.
The food felt good and I commented to Roy that we needed to look for more foods like this one rather than the more typical French fair. I announced that I wanted "pasta" for dinner!!!
We reached Reims about 5pm, with the plan that Gwen would come into town and pick us up at the finish line. As seemed to be a pattern, the last 5 miles each day took about an hour or more. We had to navigate through rush hour traffic to reach the finish, and, once there along Victor Hugo Boulevard, it was obvious Gwen should not attempt to bring the big van into that location to meet us. So, we called and suggested meeting some place closer to Epernay, about 15-20 miles south of Reims. We rode on, having covered about 96 miles at that point, but feeling good. We agreed to meet at a point about 10 miles south of Reims.
We then experienced our second "miracle" of the day. Roy had a flat tire early on in the afternoon, but that had been our only equipment stoppage during the course of the first 500 miles of our ride. Not bad, really. But, as we reached a huge round-a-bout terminating the four lane portion of the highway from Reims to Epernay, my bicycle suddenly began to go "bumpety bump". As Gwen was to say later, I had developed an aneurism in my rear tire. The tire had failed, a large bump had developed, and the bicycle was no longer rideable. While we carried tubes, the spare tires were with Gwen. Fortunately, we were at the round-about to end all round-abouts. On its edge was, of all things, a McDonalds!! We were able to rest outside, use the restrooms, get a milk shake - well, they "no longer sold milkshakes", so I had to settle for a small choclate sunday, and Gwen had a perfect spot to retrieve us with a large parking lot. The highway was so busy, that having that tire aneurism anywhere but exactly at the round-about would have been very problematic.
Gwen was in good spirits, having gotten lots of work done at our lodging, a brand new and very large Choice Hotel. (I have been receiving accolades for my lodging picks thus far. It is amazing how the internet now makes it so easy to find places located at the right places. A travel agent is a thing of the past for all but the most unadventurous tourists. We all have the freedom and knowledge to make good choices of where we want to stay and how we want to plan our trips. We don't even need to trust our hoteliers. Find a place, then GoogleEarth it, to get right down on the roof top and see exactly where it is and what kind of a general location it is in. Amazing. I was a little skeptical about the parking situation and internet availability promised by all of our lodging choices. Parking is always problematic around France, but, so far, we have had great spots to park. And, in the past, I have been "promised" internet when none really existed. But, so far, we have had both and at no charge.
Okay, now the pasta. By the time we got situated and bathed it was 9pm and Gwen deferred from dinner. So, Roy and I drove into the town square about 2 miles away to find a restaurant. After driving around and locating a square with a parking lot, we parked, prepared to do some walking and finding pasta - not that common among French restaurants. Departing the van, we found a Chinese restaurant adjoining the lot. We decided rice would work for the "starch bulk" I was yearning. So, we had Chinese. Chop Suey, Beef Curry. Yum. Yum. I was full, and full of the right things. We prepared to return home, but the map we had been provided was bad, at best. We had neglected to bring the Garmin along, it was very dark by this time, and we were in a strange City. Naturally, we did what guys all over the world do in a situation like this. We drove around, trying to find our way back to the hotel. After about a half an hour of driving and circling back to the same square, we fortuitously entered a round-about we had used to enter the City earlier from Reims. We remembered enough of the route that we were able to get back to the hotel. Okay, in the future, we will always carry one or both Garmins with us whenever we go in the van. Men....can't live with them...can't live without them.
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