Day 41- Reims to Chateau-Thierry

Well back on the bikes again after a rest day and it was up at 5.30am as the day looked like it was going to be hot!! We thought an early start in the coop of the day would be the way to go…. As it turned out this was wrong as the day continued to be reasonably cool and the temperature barely reached 20 degrees. Just shows you how much of a weather forecaster I am … and where is Livinia Nixon when you need her!

Anyway we found a Boulangerie open near our hotel which was open at 6.30 am and we were almost the first customers for the day. Breakfast for me was a chocolate croissant ( no plain croissants available unfortunately), a muffin and OJ and a cappuccino.

We were off on the ride at 7.15 and although it was over rolling hill country to Chateau-Thierry there were 5 registered climbs on my Garmin. It is incredible that although the climbs were in excess of a km in length, the gradients on each w were quite manageable. As I have said in earlier blogs, the build up of fitness in the Italy and Austria legs of the ride have helped me greatly.

The country we went through was still very much vineyards on the hills with grains on the flatter country.

After about 25 kms we made a stop in a small town to have some of the baguette we purchased at breakfast as a morning snack. Yes there was no coffee stop today as the towns we passed through in the Marne River valley were very small with no cafes or the like for our coffee!

As we pushed onward the headwinds started to pick up and in the latter part of the ride it was very noticeable as an impediment …even on the downhills.

Still…. We made good time to our final destination after riding almost 60kms and climbing 680 metres. We arrived at our accommodation at about 12.15 pm. The posting from booking.com advised us that we have a delightful visit to the cottage…. So imagine our surprise when we were confronted with a door to an apartment. To make matters worse there was a complicated process to get into the apartment and we were there well before check in at 4.00 pm.

I managed to talk to the apartment owner who said we could check in early at about 1.30 pm…. So it was off to a cafe for lunch to wait… the cafe we chose served a lovely salad lunch which really hit the spot.

After lunch it was back to the apartment to try our luck at getting in! Well after some difficulty I found the apartment…. On the top floor again!!!! How many times have we trudged up to the top floor after a ride? I tried the automated key lock stay few times and crumble it work and handed it over to Chris and he miraculously got us in!

So here I am in the apartment writing this blog and after the difficulty in getting into the apartment it is very nice indeed… the outside impression does not reflect what is inside.

Today was a good day of riding still through the champagne region where we continued to see small champagne houses in most of the towns.

There is some anticipation building as we approach Paris … we will get there tomorrow. Many of the towns have set up celebration areas in the town squares to allow townsfolk to enjoy the Olympic Games.

I also got word from Alison Schwartz (daughter of my former work colleague at AECOM … Paul Schwartz) that she has received the parcel of Alkira gear sent from Australia a few weeks ago. This has almost done a lap of the world in getting to Paris in time for us all to put on a show in Alkira gear.

Today’s pictures are:

The route

3 photos of the country we passed through today.

A monument on the side of the road… there are many of these!

A view of the vineyards on the upper slopes

Our accommodation for the night…. We are on the top floor in the roof!!!