Update 2: 19-09-2010
You can’t beat R&R
Having arrived home battered and bruised from Bestival there was an enticing message waiting for us. It revealed there was the tantalising chance we would not be leaving England as a pair but as a foursome. Our great friends Rob Chevasse and Rex McWhirter were busy making plans to join us at the eleventh hour. We had heard rumour of a trip in the making but had no clue that we might depart together. Several frantic phone calls later and the plan seemed to be possible, if slightly beyond our wildest dreams. Rob and Rex had a tent and some bikes, but could they get away from there commitments to come and join us for the start of our trip?
The next day, silence. With only one day to prepare we heard no word from our friends and we thought maybe it was all too good to be true. Eventually we got through to Rob’s mother. ‘They’re on the road somewhere between London and here…on bikes!’. And so it was on. We were eventually able to arrange to meet at the Palace Pier at 7am on Wednesday morning after we rolled out from Steyning at sunrise. Two more brilliant friends to take in the beauty of France. I couldn’t be happier.
As I write we are sipping cold beers at our first proper campsite in Chalons du Champagne after four nights of wild camping. It’s a relief to get showered and do our laundry and we will stay here for a day off tomorrow to rest and recuperate. The plan is to stay together heading South East until Dan and I hit the Alps and the boys make a beeline for the south of France and some warmer climes. I’m loving the road trip vibe to the start of our adventure. It’s time to go and play crazy golf!.
The first few days in Champagne land.
I don’t think either of us slept a wink on the eve of our departure, our minds filled to capacity with thoughts about following days and months.
We arranged to meet at 6am at my house for a small send off, which consisted of Tim’s parents and mine. A couple of photos followed by hugs and kisses and suddenly we were off. Barely a word was spoken to each other for the first few miles, as we tried to handle the heavy bikes which sat beneath our feet. We rode on, along the sea front passing through Hove before arriving in Brighton. It was a perfect morning as we caught the vacant cycle paths before hordes of commuters began their voyage to work. Rob and Rex didn’t let us down, 7am on the dot outside the most famous symbol of Brighton “the palace pier”. We asked a passer-by to take a quick photo for the scrapbook before we began our pursuit of the 9:30am ferry at Newhaven.
Following the coastal road the traffic began to get worse with the morning rush, as we opted for the safety of the foot path. We made unusually good progress arriving at 8:30am in Newhaven after a brief tour of the Asda car park in the marina led us to find that the cycle path was closed for maintenance work. Arriving in time meant we could grab a quick cuppa and enjoy our sausage sarnies which Tim’s mum Gill had prepared for us.
Rolling onto the ferry we parked our bikes and headed up to the top deck. Grabbing a few chairs we planned to watch the open sea flow majestically before us as we headed to France. That is until the boat decided to pull a 360 and we were left looking at the harbour of Newhaven. I guess it just wanted us to have a last quick glimpse of England.
Landing on the European mainland we headed to the nearest shop for lunch, choosing the French classic of baguette and cheese. The roads were perfect as we pedaled our way into France. We passed small villages with houses built right on the roadside, each with it’s small work of art “The church” serving as its focal point.
Camping up early we found a mobile phone tower and set our tents there for the night. Settling down for the evening and a chat over dinner Rob pulled out his special home-brew. I still have no idea what it was but it seemed less harmful in a strawberry milkshake bottle. I enjoyed Rob and Rex’s spontaneous approach; £25 tesco value tent combined with bikes borrowed from friends or brought on Ebay. It kind of reminded me how simple it is to grab a bike and head off on an adventure.
Our first destination was to be the champagne region and the city of Chalons en Champagne. The weather varied massively, raining as we left our first campsite and again that afternoon as we ate lunch in a small town square before seeking refuge in quaint church to avoid the worst of the brief showers. That evening we were lucky with our campsite, finding a small meadow just behind a few fields of corn. Curry was on the menu and by this time we were all happy to finish the two huge saucepans full of food.
A heavy dew greeted open tents as we stirred at day break.
Loading up our bikes the morning was rather hectic as we had to cross the many roads which lead to Paris. It started in Creil as we ended up in an estate with no idea of which way to go. Obviously we asked and managed to make out the “gauche”, “tout droit” and “droit” enough to make it back to a main road with signs to the next town Sensil. However, we found ourselves on a dual carriage way but for 20km we thought lets risk it. Images of ‘Caught on Camera’ titles poured into my head, “youths cycle down high-speed carriage way”. I think we may have got a few beeps but in the end made it in time to spread our wet tents out in the square of Sensil, eating yet another baguette fueled lunch.
That afternoon we had our first puncture with the prize going to Rob,unsurprisingly as we have now discovered his whole tyre is split. We camped up early, finding a nice little spot just off the road nestled behind a row of trees. The attempt for dinner was something resembling Carbonara but looked more like pasta swimming in milk with bacon and mushrooms on top. It’s all in the taste though!!
The night was bitter to say the least as we awoke to our first frost. The multi-fuel stove took on an almost temple like structure as we huddled around, tea in hand. I was envious of Tim, as he was the only one who thought to bring gloves. Braking or reaching high speeds were strictly off-limits for the first few hours. By lunch time following a long up hill and even better down. The Sun was out again as we lay by the river Marne spreading out our dew drenched tents. It was Saturday and couples were out on a stroll enjoying the warm weather and an old man fished just in front of us. In two hours he caught little more than a sun tan!
The afternoon brought us into the champagne region as vineyards began to fill every available space. White vans also dotted lay-bys as harvest time brings a massive influx of workers from afar. The rows of vines seemed to unfold like flicking pages through a book as our wheels passed by. We camped just after the town of Dormans finding a cheeky field away from the main road.
Rob felt compelled to try some of this world-famous indulgence called champagne but, with bottles not coming cheap to the average cyclist he went off to sample some grapes. Dinner really was living the high life. Tim’s Chicken and chorizo casserole avec rice served with grapes picked fresh from the champagne fields of France. Oh la la!!!.
We now sit in Chalons en Champagne having a quick day off to do a bit of laundry and have probably a much-needed shower.
So our trip has got off to a good start, we now head towards Switzerland and then onto Italy. Hopefully, we will fit in a bit of running in between climbing the mountain passes in the Alps.
Dan and Tim
