May 4, 2014
Day 5: Reims to Suippes
A well chosen wild camp can be the best thing. It's better than a hotel, because you don't havre to carry your bags to a room and hope they have a secure place for the bikes. (We have yet to see a room in europe big enough to fit the bikes inside - and we doubt finicky hotelliers would appreciate it anyway.) And it's better than a official campsite, because you have no risk of noisy neighbours. OK, it may be a little short on electricity for charging electronics, and washrooms, but you can still get a really good night's sleep.
So it was with our choice for last night. totally quiet, and snug in our own beds.Dodie did report being a little cool, in her summer weight sleeping bag but otherwise it was fine.The temperature was under 5 degrees when we packed up, but it rose to a pleasnt 20 by noon
The Marne to Aisne canal runs through the centre of Reims, and we followed this for a while on the way to the cathedral. The canal path is tyled as a greenway and in fact later in the day it had lots of runners and cyclists. But for now, before 8 on a sunday morning, it was completely deserted. In fact, the entire city was deserted. I mean, there was nothing and no one moving. The only exception was a small clutch of people laughing and staggering down a street. They clearly were just finishing off yesterday, which does not count for a description of today!
The cathedral stands in an open square (at least on the side from which we approached), and maybe at times this is humming with people. But right then the area was totally empty and barren. On the side stood a champagne store - closed, and a souvenir shop, closed. Surprisingly the cathedral was also closed, as was the adjacent cathedral/ museum. Ok, 8 a.m. Sunday could be a little early for a wine store, but the church? Isn't Sunday their big day?
We circled the cathedral, which was a lot bigger than appeared from the one front view, and noted the prolific ornamentation and statues all around. Many were eroded by time, but perhaps others had been restored. More to follow... this was written at lunch time, southeast of Reims.
After trying a few more doors to the cathedral we reluctantly gave up on seeing the interior. Before we could turn our thoughts to getting out of town, we had to cope with the fact that each of the half dozen bakeries we passed was closed, and we were starving. Fortunately, a small Golden Arch caught my eye in the distance. Could it be McDonald's, and might they be open when everything else was closed? Yes! and this time, God Bless America!
We brazenly wheeled our bikes inside the McDonald's. The organization of it is not like most outlets in the US. Rather, you order and get your food downstairs, and all seating is upstairs. The first thing downstairs is also un-American: a full out shiny Italian espresso machine, and a display case full of real French croissants, pains au chocolat, etc. Only towards the back was there the traditional counter with the pictures of burgers.To my surprise, though, they would make an Egg and bacon McMuffin, and this together with coffee and juice cost 2.50 Euros.
So, in the middle of France, here we were eating at McDonald's, and really glad of it!
When we were almost done (standing downstairs, since we would not leave our bikes), an officious maybe manager of the day came along to ask us to get the bikes out the door. Dodie must have taken a dislike to him, because she totally lost her ability to speak or understand French. She forced him to stumble out a few English words and resort to sign language. What a meanie!
Back to the canal, Google suggested that we go along it for quite a way. To do this we needed to change over to the side that would have the path, and that meant carrying the bikes up and down stairs over a bridge. We needed to take the bags off and do several trips, something that helped with the still early morning warmup. I was feverently hoping, though, that Google would not decide we should switch sides again soon.
There was no switch of sides, but the paved path did deteriorate to an unpaved single track. No rain this time, so we were merely slowed down, rather than stopped in our tracks. We had to watch the GPS carefully, because the next thing was a turn onto a totally unsigned road. That one was paved, but Google then put us on another farm track. Clearly the algorithm needs some tweaking.
Eventually we ended on D931. Later map study showed we could have been on it the whole time! D931 is also called the Route de la Liberation, and was used by troops in 1944. There is a marker with the road name and the 1944 date every km. This proved helpful in calibrating our bike computers!
Despite this WWII reference, it is WWI that left the biggest impact here. For us, the recognition of this started as we came to first one then more mass graveyards. These were both French and German, and Polish. As before, when we came upon graves at Vimy, the first sight of so many crosses shocked us. At one site, there was an entry from today in the guestbook. The writer states that they found the grave of their grandfather, and that his two great-grandchildren were here today. Sad.
Although the town of Verdun rang a bell with us, we had no real idea of the massive scale of the conflict in the Champagne region.In fact, just a few km north of us were the major lines and offensives, and a number of totally destroyed towns. Also, the graveyards we had found were just a few of the many dotted all over this countryside.
We learned a lot more as we stopped in at the Marne 14-18 Museum in Suippes. We got the girl at the desk, Sarah, to keep an eye on the bikes so we could go through. The museum covers the causes of the war, and recreates some of the noise and horror of it with multiscreen film. It is well researched, and had far more than we could absorb. There were sections on nursing and medical care, reconstruction, and blow by blow of the various battles. Our main takeaway, other than the predictable general shock, was the fact of how deep in the thick of things we were, right here.
Sarah turned out to be interested in our trip as well, and we had a chat in French and English. As a farewell gift, she gave Dodie a little bear that is a souvenir of Suippes.
Back out on the road, we began to think about a place for the night. There had been dozens of good spots along the canal, but here was open farm land. Finally we spotted a track leading through a wheat field to an electric transmission tower. We followed this beyond the tower and pitched in the grass, out of sight of the road.
So here we are, hopefully set for another quiet time in the middle of a field. All around is green, and gold and the maple trees that line D931. Hopefully I will get a photo just below here, to show what I am looking at. You will agree, it's lovely.
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Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 241 km (150 miles)
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