Day 5 Reims to Verdun
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2008
1
7
47
Trip End
Jul 20, 2008
Verdun,
France
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Best bit: finding out that Verdun is actually a pleasant little town
Worst bit: legs got very tired and I finished mu Harobos
Hills galore today. Beautifully quiet. I set off at 0700 and watched France wake up as I pedalled through each small farming village. It was Saturday and the roads remained blissfully free of lorries and cars all day; I am now in the heart of battlefield territory but have not yet stopped to fully savour it as too busy clocking up the KMs. Around me are constant reminders, cemeteries, crumbling blockhouses, fenced off forts. At lunchtime I passed through Varennes. It was drizzling and cold so the place probably seemed greyer than usual. I entered the local bar and the few farmers inside all instantly stopped talking. Maybe they didnt like my shorts, pink cheeks or wooly hat. Or maybe they just thought I was a freak. I drank a couple of hot chocolates while the owner fed his tropical fish and mended a broken telly.
Arriving in Verdun not expecting much, I realised the Rough Guide had got it wrong. There was a nice waterfront, the sun came out, and the man at the E35 per night hotel said my mud splattered bike would be no problem and promptly put it in his back room.
(bike bit: Reims, D74, La Potiere, Fresnes, Pomacle, Bazancourt, Warmerville, St Masmes, Bethenville, Saint Souplet, Sommepy, Manre, Ardeuil, Sechault, Bouconville, AAutry, Chatel, Sechault, Bouconville, Autry, Chatel Chhery, Apre,ont; Varennes, Avocourt, Chattencourt; Mare, Verdun)
