Been a couple of days riding since I last updated this, so about time I got my finger out!
Leaving my hotel in Crecy sur Serre, I suddenly realised why the hotel was called La Tour de Crecy.
This was right outside its front door, but I’d somehow missed it the night before.
If you’re ever in that region needing a hotel, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s not new or shiny or polished, its €43 per night and the most amazing hosts you could wish for.
Heading off, I’d had no joy in finding a suitable alternative to Google maps so had to put my faith in it again for directions – but perhaps with a little discretion about whether to obey it when it asks me to turn into a farmers field.
There were a couple of sections where it looked as if Google was attempting to stitch me up again but then all of a sudden it seemed to have decided that it had some making up to do and presented me with this as an “off road”;
Several miles of what appeared to be a disused airfield. Ok so the concrete was far from a perfect riding surface, however, compared to the previous days expedition it was pure bliss. And not another car in sight.
For much of the rest of the day I ignored Google suggestions of dragging my bike up goat tracks and pretended I was a car…..Much better directions, although the driving directions do not care about hills. The riding for the rest of the day was good, although a little repetitive in terms of scenery.
It’s always nice to see some signage indicating that you are making progress in the right direction;
That was a few miles north of Riems, which is actually the largest town in the Champagne region, but the capital of the region is Chalons en Champagne, which is where I was heading. Through Riems itself I was on to some really nice cycle paths at the side of the canal and pootled along quiet happily. I didn’t go into the centre of Riems but did catch a glimpse of it’s cathedral which looked pretty spectacular.
All in all it was a pretty good days riding. 73 miles on top of 73 the previous day and 74 before that, brought my total up to 220 since leaving the campsite outside of Calais.
To ensure I had WiFi and power for the night I popped into a hotel and made myself at home for a while, just across the road from this little church, before I headed out to try the Champagne.