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| The dragon ladies of Reims |
Friday was another one of those days where the forecast
promised much, full sun all day and temperatures 20+. The sun hardly made an appearance and I doubt
the temperatures reached more than 16 so it was on with a coat for much of the
journey.
After a few kilometres we were at the first lock. This was one of four in a chain meaning that
once you get in the chain, the following locks set themselves ready for
you.
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| Flowers beginning to go over on the lock bridges |
As I approached the lock, I could just see the commercial
leaving it and ended up following him to the outskirts of Reims leaving about a
kilometre gap between us. One of his
mates was obviously on a boat in front of him but out of sight as they were having
a good old radio conversation on the ship to ship channel. It’s always funny listening in to these
conversations; they tend to speak really fast so consequently only about a
tenth of the words are recognisable, so you don’t get much of an idea what they’re
chatting about.
I just about made out that they were planning on meeting up
on Sunday, but I couldn’t work out where or at what time. At least I didn’t hear them mention the péniche
Anglais or the bateau saucisson 😉
We pulled in at Port Colbert for lunch and tucked ourselves
right at the end of the quay, so we were out of the way of the long line of
commercials that were in various stages of loading and unloading.
After lunch we carried on and stopped at a supermarket the
other side of Port Colbert. I know we
normally do a food shop on a Monday but as we could moor right next to this one
it was ideal to stock up on bulky items.
Next stop was practically in the centre of town where a
couple of bollards are provided by a fuel station. I just did the two trips with the trolley and
jerry cans and put 80 litres into the tank.
I could have got more but with such a busy road to cross and walk along
decided to leave the rest until we are in Châlons-en-Champagne next weekend.
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| Moored for diesel |
The next stop would be the last of the day back at some
bollards on the far side of the port at Reims. We have stayed on them before as
it's handy for walking into town and also close to the stadium for tomorrow
night’s match. Karen & Buddy walked
this last stretch as Buddy had been cooped up on the back of the boat most of
the day.
Just before reaching the port at Reims there is a narrow
section which is not wide enough for two large boats to pass but fine for us to
pass one OK of course.
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| On the narrow stretch through Reims |
My first breakfast on Saturday contained a surprise; a
birthday candle 😊
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| My daily pain au chocolate with an embellishment |
The path opposite the boat had plenty of runners going up
and down before the sun was up and, as it was Saturday, the rowers were setting
off on their practice runs from about eight o’clock.
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| Even the local dragon boat ladies were up early |
Give them their due they were keeping perfect rhythm as they
went off down the cut accompanied by the beat of a drum from the front. They must have been fit too as they were gone
for a good 40 minutes.
Following a long leisurely breakfast, we settled down to
watch the England – New Zealand game and this was the first we have managed to
watch live as opposed to on catch up which, for an unaccountable reason, added
to the trepidation excitement.
As one of our Southampton supporting sons said after the
match, ‘At least Saints didn’t lose by as many as New Zealand’.
After lunch we went for a walk up the cut and then out to
the north east of Reims to find the large Parc de Champagne. Considering Reims markets itself on being the
capital of Champagne (other towns have the same claim), we have seen very few
champagne houses here; however, on the way we passed Veuve Cliquot which seemed
to have a few visiting tourists even this late in the season.
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| Looking across Reims from one of the Veuve Cliquot show vineyards |
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| Just a few people sitting on the benches |
As we went further in, we could hear a loudspeaker and soon
found that a cycling competition was deep in progress. It was a sort of obstacle race through the woods,
paths and grassy areas as the circuit contained steps where the competitors had
to dismount and run carrying their bikes.
Anyway, it was exceedingly popular, and it seemed that everyone who
would normally be promenading or picnicking in the park were spectating
instead. We watched for a while and then
continued our walk.
After an early dinner we joined the crowds walking to the
stadium to see our first French football game.
Rather ironically Reims are third in Ligue 1 (the French top league)
whereas our UK team is third from bottom of the premiership. Although there were no goals we 're still glad we went and fortunately Reims are red & white like Southampton so we could wear our supporter's scarves.
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