Haute Marne

Week 51 — August 9th - 22nd (Sally).

Peaches in Champagne: Take a perfectly ripe peach, peel and slice it into a wine (or brandy) glass. Sprinkle with fresh raspberries and then douse with champagne. Serve with fresh cream. Delicous, and even more so when accompanied with a glass of champagne.

Finally, we have moved on from Le Champagne, the area producing plentiful supplies of La Champagne, the wine. Such is our affinity to this particular stretch of the country that it took all of eight days to travel 20 kms from Damery to Condé sur Marne which is the last stopping place within reach of the vineyards. We took advantage of the opportunity to stop and visit many cellar-door vendors — well about twelve or so out of three hundred and seventy — and stocked up with enough bubbly to hopefully see us back to Roanne. Next wine area is Burgundy. We've never really taken to Pinot-noir but I've a feeling we may grow to like it more in the next few weeks...

We took the motor bikes again for several trips up into the countryside and wended our way from one pretty village to another, each with stunning displays of flower boxes and hanging baskets. A return to the picturesque village of Hautvillers where Dom Perignon first discovered how to "bottle stars" was obligatory. In 1999 we had the privilege of being special guests of Moët & Chandon and were given a rare entry to the museum that houses artefacts from his laboratory and abbey. This area obviously has not experienced the water shortages that have been the norm in Australia for so long. The whole of the champagne area has a designated "Route Touristique du Champagne" so by following that trail we did see just a few of the best sites but still left plenty for future trips. It was interesting to find some of the vignerons with the time and inclination to discuss their craft with us. One in particular, we were interested to find, has only 5 hectares of grapes which produce 60,000 bottles. Their biggest problem is finding people to pick for them, he needs 10 people for 10 days. Any volunteers? One other owner has a group of 70 that come from Belgium every year but then she has the added burden of housing and feeding them. That is all well behind us now and we are several days further south on our way back to Roanne. We stopped for three days again at Chalons en Champagne, it is such a pleasant mooring with a grassy quay and a stand of chestnut trees that just beg for a lazy afternoon with a comfy chair and a book. We had planned to revisit a special restaurant but were disappointed to find it, like so many businesses in France, closed throughout August for their annual holidays.

The lazy days have also been a good chance to follow the Olympics and the coverage has been good although we have mostly seen only the sports that France is interested in. As a result we have seen a lot of judo, greco-roman wrestling, handball, mountain biking and fencing. In fact Tony reckons there was so much fencing they could have rebuilt the Great Wall. Any (Aussie) results which we particularly wanted to follow we have used the internet.

From Chalons and Vitry we turned south and entered the Canal de la Marne à la Sâone, or as it is now known: "Le Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne." We are now in the Haute Marne. There are 244 kms and 113 locks before we reach the Sâone, and it will take us through the interesting towns of St Dizier, Chaumont and Langres as well as country that was once famous for its cast and wrought iron works. The canal was built because of the large number of blast furnaces in the valley and even though most have fallen into disuse now one can see examples of the work that was so important to their economy. We had hoped to pause long enough to visit the factory where le Cruseot pans and oven dishes are made but we were told by the lock-keeper that it was closed, whether permanently or just for holidays we couldn't determine. As well as the locks there are seventeen lift-bridges to operate, all made of riveted iron and several of the permanent bridges too are all iron work, plus of course numerous balconies and statues in the towns. St Dizier had several examples. We enjoyed a walk through the old cobbled streets there, then in the afternoon I took a long bike ride to the largest man-made lake in Europe, Lac de Der. The 4,800h is a great watersports area and is renowned as a bird watching site, particularly in Spring and Autumn when 70,000 cranes rest here on their way to or from southern Spain. Would be a sight to see.

It is interesting to discover various regions' specialties. St Dizier, for example, is the European manufacturing centre for half-a-dozen brands of tractors. Peeping over walls alongside the canal we could see hundreds upon hundreds of shiney new tractors, excavators and machinery lined up awaiting delivery to heaven knows where.

We are now at Joinville, home of the first Duke of Guise who created in the town a spacious pleasure house and garden. His own huge chateau was destroyed during the revolution but the small chateau and the gardens have been saved and restored. Beautiful geometric gardens plus a huge "English" park surround the chateau which is undergoing some expensive looking restoration. Always a surprise to find such hidden gems as we travel along. Today we once again unloaded the motor bikes and saw some more of the countryside. Found ourselves on the historic trail that Joan of Arc took from her home village on the way to Chinon. You cannot travel far in Europe without treading in someone's footsteps.

The last few days have seen a definable change in the weather — sadly Autumn is on its way and the days are becoming noticeably shorter. However, the latest forecast has predicted virtually cloud-free skies for the next seven days so perhaps I've been presumptuous. The market was selling big punnets of blackberries, new season pears and figs while on the sides of the canals apple trees are laden with fruit and the vegie gardens are displaying huge orange pumpkins. All signs of a change of season.