Day 5 - Saint Quentin to Reims

Tuesday, September 8

San Quentin to Reims (123.5 km)

It was a long day with another headwind. Our weather yesterday and today has been pretty hot, according to the locals. The roads were good. Traffic was fairly heavy, but with very good drivers.

Question: Why are the cars so small, but the trucks are as big (or bigger) as those in the US?

At least the truck drivers know what they are doing. They have mastered just where the right side of their truck is. We saw one in Laon navigate a street where he had one foot on the left and 4-5 inches on the right.

A field of chard in the foreground, with a good view of the basillique in San Quentin.

San Quentin and Reims are quite different. San Quentin has renovations underway, but is quite poor. Hence the flee market we saw when we arrived. In contrast, Reims is quite wealthy. We see many BMW's and Mercedes around this part of the country.

The cathedral in Reims.

Not all French churches are old. This country church was built in the 1900's.

We have had some difficulty finding food in the rural areas. I took a ham and cheese baguette sandwich from the hotel petit dejeuner this morning and it really came in handy. I eat quite a few jells also.

Another question: How many baguette sandwiches does it take to go 80 miles?

Answer: Research in progress. I will have an answer in a few days.

I love these vines coming into Reims!

We came over a hill northwest of Reims and it was like turning on a light switch. We rode past acres and acres of vines. From 20 km northwest to 70 km south of Reims there is almost nothing but vines everywhere and they are very well tended. They say this area only has 2% of all the vines in France. Amazing!

We have now visited twenty tabacs. We find that the people never speak English and are always nice. However, today we arrived at 2:05 pm to find the kitchen closed. Usually they close at 2:30 pm. There was no way to get anything, even though they were still bringing food to people and a local appealed to the madam. So, we got a coke and went on. They are very rigid about the open and closed stuff.

I do like the fact that the stores close from 12:30 to 2:30 and everyone goes to the café, tabac, or restaurant. They all seem to have a very good time.