Saturday 9
July to Friday 15 July 2016.
Lots of
kilometres, 0 locks.
Sillery is
one of the oddest towns we have been to.
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A packed marina with not many
people around as most boats are long stayers. Beware - they have generous discounts for one week stays but if you pay for three days as we did (not knowing the place) and then extend by another four, you will not get the discount.
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| Sillery marina |
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A Michelin starred restaurant
on the outskirts of town and two other café type restaurants, both of which were
closed for our stay but a pretty-ish town in any event.
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| Poignant. |
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A big Intermarche 100 meters
from the marina with laundry facilities with and an afternoon/evening pizza
kiosk operating from the parking area.
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A large French WWI cemetery across
the road from our mooring.
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Four (according to Google maps)
champagne merchants, two of which appeared to be permanently closed, one which
we only saw open the day we were leaving, and one which we took some time to
figure out how to gain entry so that we could enjoy a tasting.
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| Closed unfortunately. |
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| Our first glass of Champagne in Champagne. |
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And not a vineyard in sight!
So we took
the bikes and rode the five or so kilometres gently uphill but into a brisk
breeze, past fields of lupin and wheat, toward a small town called
Mailly-Champagne. And at last we came to vineyards – and not only vineyards but
blocks owned by the likes of Moet & Chandon, Tattinger,
Veuve Clicquot and Mailly. Having left the cameras
behind, we did an about turn, fetched them (at speed with the wind behind us) and
returned but this time both on electric bikes.
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| Vineyards at last! |
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| Ernst Remy |
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| Mailly |
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| Tattinger |
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| Mailly-Champagne ahead. |
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| Baudel |
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| Sillery behind us in the distance |
but Mailly was open for tasting as was a
small merchant across the road called Christian Muller and so, some while later,
we departed Mailly-Champagne with a couple of bottles from each house firmly
bungeed to our carriers. The Christian Muller Brut is excellent!
The next day
it was off on a 15 kilometer round trip to Verzy and Verzenay for a look-see; dozens of small merchants but
apart from one, they were all closed as there was work to be done in the fields.
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| Verzenay lighthouse (yes, a lighthouse!) now a museum. |
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| Beaumont in the distance |
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| Verzenay |
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| Need a wine merchant? Take your pick. |
A couple of
days later who should come cruising past but Oso and on seeing us Neville promptly did a U-turn and brested up
to us. After chatting about the beauty of the vineyard covered hills they
decided to delay their departure south and join us for a ride to the towns of
Verzy, Verzenay and Mailly-Champagne and to visit the winery of Andre
Lallement, recommended to us by the lady at Christian Muller and where we had a
tour of the small cellar followed by a tasting. The wines did not sit well with
our palates but we bought a couple of bottles anyway as a small thank you for
all the effort they had gone to.
That evening
we and the New Zealanders off Oso had
drinks aboard Phoenix, a Sagar barge
owned by a delightful English couple, Roger and Margaret Millin, who had been
taken for a tour of the winelands by a French couple as thanks for showing them
around their barge – Roger and Margaret generously shared, inter alia, a bottle
of Mercier Brut Reserve with us and a fun evening was had by all.
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| Margaret, Roger, Neville and Aynsley. |
In between
all the vineyard visits we took the bikes the 9 or so kilometres into Reims
(pronounced Rance as in France [and don’t forget to roll the ‘R’] – not Reems, nor
Rahm nor Rayms - RRRANCE!) and
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Visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral
which, having more than its fair share of curio sellers and tour parties, we
did not really enjoy especially as part of the front portal was sheeted off for
restoration, as was the magnificent and world renowned rose window.
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| Partially boarded up rose window |
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| Gothic splendour. |
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Visited the Collège Moderne et Technique de Reims now the
Musee de la Reddition where the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
was based and where the Germans were forced into accepting an unconditional
surrender on 7 May 1945 – the Russians were somewhat unhappy to have been left
out of the signing ceremony and demanded that another ceremony take place, this
time in Berlin. And so on 8 May 1945 a second unconditional surrender ceremony
was held…
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Visited the Art Deco Carnegie
Library
and the indoor market (Halles du Boulingrin) where fresh provisions
were procured, especially some beautiful free-range cuisses de poulet and Brie de Melun cheese (thanks for the tip Wanderlust) were purchased.
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| Cheeses to die for! |
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Enjoyed a really good meal at a
restaurant a few meters down the road from the Halles du Boulingrin; service a
little dismissive of us but excellent food.
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| Innocuous entrance to La Villa restaurant |
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Had drinks aboard Serenity with Graeme and Claire.
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Attended a pre-Bastille Day parade where medals were presented to members of the armed and emergency forces; one
impression I was left with is that marching drills are not a discipline held in
high regard in France!
A lovely day
but give us smaller, less touristy (yes, I get the hypocrisy) cities and towns any
day.
All in all, our stay at Sillery and the visits to the surrounding towns has been one of the highlights of this years cruising - we absolutely loved it!
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