Day 38- Vitry La Francois to Epernay

The day promised so much as we headed deep into the Champagne country !

We were up early and after a breakfast in the apartment we were on the bikes at about 7.00 am. The weather was cool to start with clear skies and the day promised to be a good one for riding.

I was leading the ride today and after turning on to the canal cycle path the next turn point on the navigation said right turn in 47 kms!!! As the ride was only to be 67 kms I couldn’t believe my eyes. Anyway it turned out to be completely correct….

The morning along the canal was delightful with a lovely riding surface and most of the day was a downhill along the Marne Rhine canal.

Our first stop was at Chalons en Champagne which is a lovely town along the canal and Marne River. We found a delightful bakery which sold delicious cakes and reasonable coffee. After morning coffee we had a little look around the town and we were off again along the canal. At this stage we were about halfway through the ride at about 30 kms. I was really enjoying leading the ride and was using the flat conditions to do a bit of what I call “time trial “ riding…. It was great…. We stopped at about the 40 km mark and had a drink and met a couple of local French riders who were riding out of Epernay. We had a discussion with them which Chris recorded which was interesting given we could hardly speak French and they could not speak English… it was fascinating but I think we had some level of connection about our route and destination and theirs.

After this it was on again along the canal. After about 7.00 kms further Chris came up behind me and said…. “ Peter have you got your backpack?” With absolute horror I realised that I had left my backpack back at the morning tea place ….. the backpack contained my passport, credit cards and cash!!!!

I said to Steve and Chris to go on to Epernay and I would go back to Chalons en Champagne to see whether I could recover the backpack. To be frank I was scared that my passport and credit cards would be stolen and I would be stateless like in an earlier trip where I lost my passport in the same backpack leaving it at a cafe in Serbia…. It was terrible at the time and I am sure Chris will agree with me that we didn’t want to go through that again! I must say the Australian embassy in Belgrade at that time was very helpful.

So here I was in the same situation…. The 17 kms back to the cafe were very fast!!!! I wanted to be there ASAP .

I arrived at the cafe at about midday and the lady who looked after us at morning tea advised that another customer had the bag and made a call to him and he would come and return the bag to me…. Hopefully it was in tact with the passport and credit cards. Whilst waiting anxiously for this I had a salad lunch and a granita which cooled me down.

The guy , Christoff arrived with the bag and it was pleasing to note that the passport and credit cards were all there. It seems that when he found the bag the contents had been emptied and cards were spread on the cafe table and the ground and the cash was taken…. About € 50!

Christoff kindly picked up the bag and contents and took them home and phoned the Australian Embassy to advise that he had my belongings…. The embassy did not answer the call. I the meantime I had made contact with him and no further contact with the embassy was required.

I was so relieved!!!!

I spoke to Steve and Chris and told them the news… thankfully all was ok.

I checked that my credit card was not being used and all seems ok!

After chatting to Christoff and his wife we were joined by his friend who will be the new Mayor of the town…. I was certainly talking to the right people. When I say talking, it would be best to say using the Translate App to exchange conversation.

After thanking Christoff and offering a reward ( which he declined) I made to the station to catch the train to Epernay and meet the boys. I was a really relieved person!!!!

The train trip was about 20 minutes and it was great to see both Chris and Steve at the station when I arrived….

They escorted me to the hotel in Epernay where I had a shower to cool off and share my experiences post leaving them on the canal…

Lesson learned today…. Check I have all my belongings every time we have a stop and look to get a money belt to store passports and credit cards…

Today all up I did 86 kms instead of the planned 67 kms … it has been another day of adventure which could have had more disastrous consequences had my backpack and its contents not been found.

The pictures today are:

The route

Early morning on the canal

My morning tea… 2 photos

The cathedral at Chalons en Champagne … the promise of more to come!

A bird I saw along the way… oblivious to the disaster that was coming!

Backpack recovery with Christoff and his wife!!! He is a photographer and is a keen bike rider

The Marne Rhine canal