Iteranti
A viewpoint over a wide patchwork of farmland and forest from a hilltop, with a wooden fence in the foreground and a few walkers gathered by an information panel below.

Laon to Reims (day 8)

Ridden · Jamie Brammer

Route map

Open in Google Maps

Laon to Reims gpx

Early check out (or not)

So I arranged a checkout at 0600 with Basil. However when I got up and downstairs Basil was nowhere to be found. All the doors were firmly locked with keys and it wasn't possible to leave/escape (quite what you'd do if there was a fire I'm not sure). I called the number for "emergencies" and rang the bell but no sign. I was just about to jump out a side window when Basil finally turned up and let me out. Good start.

Puncture no. 2

This was a good one. I have full respect for this nail also managing to stay in the tire for some hundred metres after embedding itself. Perfectly reasonable puncture unlike the weird thorn thing from the middle of Calais last year.

Lakes, ruins and war

Followed the official walking route around 50% today although all the sites below were away from the official route.

Closing in on Reims

The last few km into Reims is along a canal / river so are very easy and somewhat industrial.

Sightseeing in Reims

Reims is an impressive city, the biggest on the Via Francigena before Rome, with the highlight being the cathedral. Every night in the summer, the cathedral is lit up in a magnificent light show telling the history of this place where ancient French kings and queens were crowned.

Overnight: Reims, 20 Rue de Vesle, Gallerie Condorcet = Chambre Cosy Hyper Centre

A nice little room right in the middle of town staying with a superbly hospitable family. Would definitely stay with them again.

  • A rusty bent nail held between two fingers, extracted as the puncture culprit from a fat gravel-bike tyre resting beside a kerbstone.
  • A loaded orange touring bike propped outside a French village bar-tabac with a red "BAR DE L'HOTEL DE VILLE" sign and pavement tables set with flowers.
    What a proper puncture looks like
  • Evening light over a still, reed-fringed lake seen from beneath a wooden shelter roof, with dead trees standing in the water on the far shore.
  • A calm river reflecting evening cloud, with the ruined white facade of a riverside church visible through a gap in the trees on the far bank.
    Second breakfast
  • The stone ruins of a former abbey standing in an open field at dusk, gable ends and window tracery silhouetted against a pale evening sky.
    Beautiful lakes at Lac de l'Ailette
  • A white statue on a memorial mound at the end of a gravel track running between fields of ripe wheat on the Via Francigena.
  • Ruined stone abbey walls with pointed gable ends stand at the edge of a wide grass clearing, backlit by a hazy evening sun low over the treeline.
    Abbaye de Vauclair
  • A viewpoint over a wide patchwork of farmland and forest from a hilltop, with a wooden fence in the foreground and a few walkers gathered by an information panel below.
    Statue of Napoleon
  • An archival black-and-white photograph of First World War trenches and shell craters tangled with barbed wire, reproduced on a display board.
  • An information board titled "Plateau de Californie" beside grass-covered hollows in a wood, marking the site of former Chemin des Dames trenches.
  • Grass-grown mounds and hollows among trees on the Chemin des Dames plateau, the still-visible outline of old trenches and shell craters, with a wooden marker post in the foreground.
    California Plateau still marked with the craters and trenches from WW1
  • An irrigation pipeline stretching across a golden stubble field beside a dirt track, with a breeze-block outbuilding and a coiled blue hose in the foreground.
    The destroyed village of Le Chemin des Dames
  • A gravel track through Champagne vineyards, rows of trained vines either side and a low stone wall with a sign near a bend up ahead.
  • A stony woodland footpath winding between beech trees with fresh green leaves overhead.
    My first vinyard in Champagne
  • A shaded dirt path descending through a wooded bank, flanked by ivy and low scrub either side.
  • A cyclist's-eye view along a sunken, leaf-strewn forest track between earth banks, handlebars and a cycling computer visible in the foreground.
    Some truly great off-roading today
  • A canal reflecting an overcast sky beside a paved towpath, an industrial shed on one bank and a large tree marking a bend on the other.
  • The disused "Magasins Généraux de Reims" grain warehouse beside a canal, its long white facade lettered with the building's name below a rooftop water tower.
  • The ornate stone facade of the Grand Théâtre in Reims, its arched windows topped with medallions naming Mozart, Molière and other playwrights and composers.
  • Looking up the nave of Reims Cathedral towards a glowing stained-glass rose window above the choir, gilded candelabra hanging from soaring gothic arches.
  • Visitors walking beneath the ribbed vaulting of Reims Cathedral's nave towards a distant rose window at the west end.
  • Rows of wooden chairs facing the transept of Reims Cathedral, with two rose windows of stained glass glowing above the crossing.
  • Close-up of the richly carved west front of Reims Cathedral, tiers of gothic statuary surrounding a rose window and a smaller trefoil light above the portal.
  • The twin towers and west facade of Reims Cathedral rising above its sculpted portals and rose window, seen from the square below.
  • The twin gothic towers of Reims Cathedral seen from below, tracery and pinnacles silhouetted against a partly cloudy sky.
  • Weathered stone saints line a Gothic cathedral doorway above a quatrefoil window, with two visitors dwarfed beneath the huge dark wooden door.
  • Pedestrians cross a cobbled square in Reims lined with grand stone buildings, a bronze statue on a plinth, and a barrier reading GRAND REIMS.
  • A cobbled street paved with stones hand-painted in a patchwork of bright colours leads towards a building strung with red, white and blue bunting.
  • A round-arched iron door set in red brick sits beneath a mosaic frieze depicting Champagne-making scenes labelled HABILLAGE and BOUCHAGE FICELAGE DOSAGE.
  • The arched glass roof of the Boulingrin market hall in Reims rises behind the neon-lit sign of Brasserie le Boulingrin and its red awning.
  • A large fountain sprays dozens of thin water jets in a fanned dome pattern in front of period townhouses on a French square.
  • Tram tracks run down a wide pedestrianised shopping street past an Orange phone shop and a Galeries Lafayette store sign.
  • A hand holds a scoop of chocolate sorbet nestled between wafers of red, yellow and white flavoured biscuit, dripping onto a paper wrapper.
  • A green tram runs along grassy tracks down a tree-lined boulevard towards the twin towers of Reims cathedral glowing in evening light.
  • A solo guitarist performs on an outdoor stage in a sunken garden as rows of seated spectators watch from grassy tiered banks at dusk.
  • A cobbled square with a lit red traffic signal and a bollard stands before a grand colonnaded building, with Reims cathedral's towers rising behind at dusk.
  • The soaring flèche and flying buttresses of Reims cathedral's east end rise above a hedge-lined pavement in fading evening light.
  • Close-up of weathered medieval stone statues on a cathedral portal, their carved robes and crowned heads worn smooth by centuries of erosion.
  • The full Gothic west front of Reims cathedral glows gold in evening light, its twin rose windows and rows of carved saints rising above a lit interpretation panel on the pavement.
  • A blurred night-time light projection bathes the cathedral's rose window and gables in deep red and gold patterns during an illuminated son-et-lumière show.
  • Reims cathedral's façade is lit up at night with a projected starry blue and gold design covering its gables, statues and rose window.