Reims

We arrived in Reims with great anticipation on our first anniversary. We had met whilst walking the Camino de Santiago in May 2008 and had kept in touch until, in August 2009, we had finally got together. We'd spent a long time planning the Via Francigena, though neither of us can remember who first suggested it. Polly had walked some of the Italian section with her friend Vickie in June 2009. I think I may have challenged her to walk the whole thing.


We'd planned to take a well-earned rest day in Reims and had booked into a good hotel. It was a Thursday and we wanted to resume walking on Saturday. Our first job was to try to book accommodation further on for Saturday night. We went to the tourist information office and got a list of b&bs, hotels etc on our route. Even when put together with the accommodation listed in our guidebook, it wasn't a very big list. I spent a frustrating afternoon and evening ringing round, without much luck. Everywhere seemed to be full for the weekend. Many of the places I rang didn't answer and  guess I'll never know whether they were full (it was mid-August in the champagne region after all), closed permanently or whether they themselves were on holiday.


So, no joy. Except one English b&b who said he might have something free on Sunday! Sunday!! Blimey, that was three nights away. Could we really spend so much time here? Or should we catch a train out of the area? Neither of us had much enthusiasm for catching a train. We'd be heartbroken if we couldn't walk through the Champagne region just because we couldn't find anywhere to stay. On the other hand, we'd seen enough of rural France to know that you just can't set off to walk and hope to find somewhere to stay en route. France just wasn't like that. We'd walked through enough hamlets and villages to know that there wasn't the infrastructure out there. We could walk all day and not find anywhere to stay. What then? Sleep under a hedge? Neither of us were really up for that. We'd walk all day if we had to, but please let there be a bathroom at the end of it!


We decided to defer the decision until the following morning. In the meantime, we booked ourselves a table at a lovely looking restaurant for that night and organised a trip round one of the champagne houses for the following morning. We were determined to enjoy our anniversary.


And we did. We had a rather splendid meal accompanied by a half bottle of champers with the fishy starter and a half bottle of red with the meaty main courses. We lounged in bed rather late the next morning and didn't have anything for breakfast! We had a shopping expedition for essential supplies, located the launderette and then set off for our appointment at the champagne house.

We had a great time. Surprisingly, we were the only two on the tour. Our guide was a young chap who, at first, seemed rather reluctant to show us anything at all. Fortunately, he warmed to his task as we asked him more and more questions and got to see the whole of the premises. Fascinating stuff...then it was back to the office for our champagne tasting. We had three very large glasses of champagne; their best seller, followed by a rose and finally a glass of vintage champagne. All were excellent and the vintage had me panting for more. "Can I buy a case to ship to England?" I asked. He looked at me as if I were mad. "No", he replied flatly, "we don't do that." My jaw was ready to hit the floor. "We don't ship anything abroad", he explained. We could do it at our own expense at our own risk, but they were adamant they wouldn't do it for us. But what could we do? We couldn't carry any in our bags. Even if we'd got the space we wouldn't be able to take any. Can you imagine how fizzed up a bottle of champagne would be after a good days walking? We were gobsmacked. No champers for us, then.

So feeling a bit crestfallen but, nevertheless, slightly squiffy we headed off to see some sights and then to do our laundry. We adored the cathedral. It was ancient and awe-inspiring. And it possessed some Chagall windows which made us very much at home because a church at Tudeley near where we live also has some beautiful Chagall windows.

But then, disaster! I'd spent a lot of money on some top-of-the-range walking trousers before we set off. They were absolutely superb, keeping dry when it rained, cool when it was sunny and warm when it wasn't. I was in love with them. We washed them with the rest of our clothes and, I must have taken my eye off the ball for a moment, they were thrown into the dryer with everything else. Big mistake. When I eventually rescued them they were completely ruined. They looked like they'd been set on fire and had melted. I was heartbroken.

We decided that we'd stay on in Reims until Sunday and arranged to move from or rather grand hotel to the local youth  hostel for the next two nights, so we cold down on or costs a little. We behaved like tourists for two days, drinking beer, doing the crossword and seeing the sights. The sun shone and it was a splendid break. For me, one of the best things was cooking a meal for the two of us in the hostel. It was great fun and we made enough to take with us for lunch on Sunday whilst we were resuming our walk.


We'd loved every moment of it so far, our only continuing sadness being the lack accommodation en route. But we were rested, healthy and in good spirits ready for the next stage of our Via Francigena.