A New Adventure in France

The big news in France is that there is a shortage of mustard in the shops caused by problems with mustard seed crops due to hot weather in Canada and a cold snap in Burgundy. Purchases were being rationed to one jar per customer but we haven’t seen any mustard products on the supermarket shelves for several weeks now, so please send supplies.

We decided approach Laon to the east of Paris via the Champagne-Ardennes region. On the way to the south of the region we made a stop at Auxerre which sits on the river Yonne not far from Chablis and is fourth largest city of the Burgundy region. As it was only a lunch stop we were pleasantly surprised to find what a lovely city it was, even just looking across from our parking spot. The cathedral of Saint Etienne, as well as other churches, dominate the riverscape and the centre of the historic town is very attractive with painted timbered houses.

We carried on to Vouécourt in the very south of the Champagne-Ardenne region on the river Marne, a beautiful riverside camping site run by the Mairie and providing free facilities that you don’t see at other sites. These included spotless facilities, Wi-Fi and free use of a washing machine. Washing is one of the mundane issues of life on the road that you have to deal with so we use either the laundry facilities at campsites, when they’re available and working, or many out of town supermarkets and commercial centres have washing machines and dryers that you can use while you shop. They’re all chargeable of course so a free washing machine is a relative luxury – let’s hope people don’t abuse it. Vouécourt obviously has an proactive mayor as the village is beautifully kept and the cycle path along the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne has recently been resurfaced with tarmac that would put pot-holed UK roads to shame.

Every town and village has a war memorial, some more ornate or elaborate than others, but we loved the charming painted statue on the memorial at nearby Froncles.

From Vouécourt we also did a motorcycle ride out coming back via the village of Colombe-Les-deux-églises, village where Charles de Gaulle had a family home and which now houses the Charles de Gaulle Memorial, a museum and huge Lorraine cross visible for miles around.

As with Burgundy, we’d expected to see vines as soon as we got into the Champagne region. In fact much of the south is very agricultural with sugar beet, potatoes, wheat and alfalfa being the main crops. We decided to try another overnight stop at a producer’s property, and chose a champagne house that had good reviews from other motorhomers. Champagne Bouquet is located in the village of Chatillon-sur-Marne in the heart of the Champagne vineyards between Reims and Epernay. The property has beautiful views over the surrounding vineyards and allows 4 or 5 motorhomes to stay overnight, with a generous tasting hosted in the cave. The products were excellent and it was very interesting to speak with Mme Bouquet who runs the vineyard with her father. We had noticed a lot of people working in the vines on our journey and Mme Bouquet explained the main activity at present is separating and tying and training the new growth onto the wires to ensure the bunches of grapes are separated.

The village of Chatillon-sur-Marne was also worth a visit with a monolithic statue of Pope Urbain II, born Eudes de Chatillon in the village, dominating the hilltop. After the beatification of Urbain in 1881, the statue was erected in 1887 and pictures at the site show the mammoth undertaking to erect the statue, akin to the days of the Egyptians. A chateau was also located on the hill until the 16th century but only one wall of it now remains, decorated with a cross brought back from the Holy Land in 1893.

A very good night’s sleep and definitely the way to visit the Champagne region.