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| Are we in Birmingham – no it’s the wrong language |
We woke to better weather on Friday
and went for a walk along the River Marne and around Épernay including a stop
to top up with supplies at Carrefour. We
couldn’t see any decent spots to moor along the river, but we did pass the sign
in the picture above. This was the first
time we have seen firemen’s access to water from a road, outside of Birmingham. In Birmingham there are red doors in canal bridge
parapets that served the same purpose during WWII.
The chalk on the surrounding hills
made the water quite blue and Buddy enjoyed a happy 10 minutes or so showing us
that he can swim. He can’t really, but
he thinks he is clever when the water reaches his belly and rushes madly back
to shore for safety.
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| The blue waters of the Marne |
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| Nowhere to moor if we cruise through here next year |
As we were in Épernay we had to walk
up the Avenue de Champagne. We didn’t
visit any of the champagne houses, many of which were built in the 1700s, but
imagine it must be fascinating visiting the cellars. The houses were built as either head offices
or residences for the proprietors. In either case they are all opulent and
quite stunning to see. Unfortunately,
our visit was rather spoilt as it was full of moneyed, loud, American tourists.
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| Looking over the Marne valley from the Avenue de Champagne |
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| Épernay church |
We were rather taken with the gardens
at the town hall as they looked like they were wild cottage gardens rather than
the usual regimented neat borders you tend to see in formal gardens.
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| Me trying to pose nonchalantly in the Hôtel de Ville gardens |
One thing we do every day whenever we
holiday in France, whether with or without the children, is visit at least one
bar a day. So far, we haven’t been to a
single one and we didn’t fancy any of the ones in Épernay either. No doubt this will change as we get further
south and need to shelter from the sun under plane trees in village squares. Mind you, we have made sure the car is
stocked up with wine and beer so I don’t go short in the evenings 😉
During the evening, a German couple turned
up in a lovingly restored 1956 Opel fire engine. They parked next to us and were constantly
being asked questions about it from admiring campers. The guy had restored it himself and I must
admit it looked gorgeous, especially the wooden ladder on the roof.
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| What a campervan – 1956 Opel fire engine |
Saturday was moving day as we had
stayed at Épernay for two nights and wanted to head further south. We have been staying in municipal sites so
far and, each one seems to be better than the previous. It’s probably because they have got successively
quieter and smaller as we have headed south but the facilities have remained
the same. We are also fortunate that we
are at the end of school summer holidays which must make them less busy.
Most visitors are in campervans or
caravans and we have noticed how some caravans are remotely controlled – what
is the world coming to?
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| Dutch guy moving his caravan, by remote control, from one pitch to another one that was sunnier |
Once again, we drove on the minor
roads and headed for Migennes which is near Auxerre. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the middle
of nowhere and did a spot of butterflying and lizard hunting.
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| Lunchtime view on Saturday |
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| Buddy too hot to run around |
We have recently bought a replacement
mobile solar charging kit and, not surprisingly, have found that the technology
has greatly improved and phones etc. charge rapidly.
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| Charging our phones |
Once we pitched our tent we went for a
walk. Migennes is on the River Yonne
and our campsite is where the River Armançon
joins it. The Canal de Bourgogne also
meets the River Yonne in Migennes. Our
plan is to have the boat shipped out to Migennes next February to be dropped
into the Rover Yonne at Evans Boatyard.
We will then cruise south down the Yonne to the port at Auxerre to wait
for the French canal system to open at the start of spring. This will be a trip of about 20 kms through
nine locks so will be able to do it in one day.
We had
arranged to meet Simon Evans, the boatyard owner on Monday, to discuss a few
things. As we were walking along the
river and reached the boatyard we thought we would go in and see if we could
meet up earlier. As it was, Simon wasn’t
around because it was Saturday – we had been thinking it was Friday all day.
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| The boatyard entrance |
We will
now stay here until Monday and probably pop into Auxerre on Sunday to sus out
the port where we will be staying for a couple of weeks next March before
setting off to continuously cruise the French waterways.
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| Our travels on Friday |
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