La Belle France
Le departement Aisne is beautiful, but is closed on Sundays. And not only closed, more fenced in, with wooden boarding over windows. This is not a day for business, for cafés, or for selling mineral water to dehydrated bicyclists passing by.
It started promising enough. The weather was perfect and the wind came from the best possible direction, NW.
I started from Cambrai and my rather grotty hotel room that I was very happy to leave around 10AM, filled up with mineral water from a neighbouring café and had my first stop at Bohain after about 30 kilometres. And enjoyed one sandwich au jambon, and filled up with orange juice and mineral water. And had plans to stop somewhere in a couple of hours time for another light snack and certainly for more mineral water.
That did not happen. The whole department was closed. At least that was the impression from going through something like twenty villages after Bohain, to say they were closed would be an understatement. I guess larger places (such as Bohain) might be open, but my route to Reims only sent me through villages.
After a while it became rather cold and overcast, even with some rain, so the need for new supplies of water was not as high as it might have been. However when I passed through Dercy (about 20km NNE of Laon), the need for water started to become, if not critical, at least something that had to be given some consideration. Henri happened to walk by, I asked if any cafés were open, they were not. Water was however not a problem, I was invited home and given the VIP treatment. He had also been a bicyclist in his youth. Well, we all have I guess. After fresh supplies of orange juice, dry biscuits and chocolate, and many mercis, I decided to move on towards Reims, and not take the shortcut to Laon.
It was still a long way. After about 117 km from Cambrai and another 25 from Dercy, I realised Reims was 30 km away and started to think about what other Henri I could locate on some pavement and ask about cafés. However, I found a gité instead! A farmhouse guesthouse. Yes they had room, they charged about the same as the hotel in Cambrais and the place is fabulous. If you ever come to Berrieux, look for the gité at the end of the street opposite the Mairé. Warmly recommended.
I realise this project (Riding to Aix) is suffering from some lack of planning, not having a gité catalogue is one of them. I'll see what I can find in Reims tomorrow.
Today 117.8 km, average speed 20.1 km/h. Met some serious uphill challenges on my way, also in the 10% gradient range. Did typically 8km/h going uphill and 30-45 km/h going downhill. Fastest speed clocked was 55.55 km/h. Unfortunately that does not make an average speed of 8+46 DIV 2 = 27. 13.6 km/h is closer to the truth.
The bike? As before, perfect. The rider is also looking forward to the mountain challenges in Provence with some optimism. Before that I'll stay two days in Reims and be a tourist. Maybe with a short tour around some of the Champagne Tourist Route with the Mercian, as part of the tourist activity.
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