Charly-sur-Marne, Villiers-Saint-Denis, Chezy-sur-Marne, Chateau-Thierry, Courcelles, Dormans, Damery FR 17-25 August 2023 Well obviously we were cruising in the Champagne region, not in the drink, and we are having a pretty social time. At the port at Chateau Thierry Our first stop was Charly-sur-Marne. We had a nice mooring on the quay just after the lock. We saw an amazing pumping station on our way in. We had a look around the town and then a ride up to Villiers-Saint-Denis which has a chateau, which is now the administration building of a hospital set in a lovely park. We were amazed at how many Champagne houses there were even in this little area. The next day we did a little loop on our bikes through Chézy-sur-Marne. This has a couple of hills on the way, but it was nice to travel along the country roads, sometimes in the forest, often surrounded by vineyards and going through small towns. We stopped at a bar in Chezy for a drink, as it was quite a warm day, before having a look around. The champagne grapes are only grown on the slopes, and the available soil at the bottom of the valleys is used for other crops. The next day we headed into Chateau Thierry. The weather was again overcast and showery. We rode into town after lunch to have a look around. The main thing to see was (of course) the chateau, which over looks the town. Unfortunately we arrived just as the medieval village was closing, but it was still nice to look around. But there were other nice things to see as well. In the evening we had some of the other plaisanciers over for a drink. John (an Aussie) and his partner Anna (orignally from Sweden) were from a cruiser, and Chris and Cindy (American) from a barge Liberty. John and Anna Cindy and Chris leaving in the morning The next morning we rode up the hill to the American Memorial. We followed the directions from Google Maps, which took us up some tiny steep paths with the final stretch having steps so we had to walk. My feet were really sore by the end, so I had a rest while Howard visited the museum. We took the car route home which was much more straight forward. Our friends Janos and Rachel with their son Mishka arrived on Csavargo, and we all went out for dinner in the evening. The ride up to the American memorial took a lot out of me so we decided to have a quiet day on Monday, so we only went to the mooring at the lock at Courcelles, and went into Dormans on Tuesday morning. There is a chateau in Dormans, and there is now the Memorial to the Battle of the Marne in its gardens. After our look around the chateau we had a look around the town itself. It was a hot afternoon so we had a swim in the river. And then had a quiet evening on the boat. The next morning we cycled back to the small village of Courcelles. It was nice ride through a couple of towns and through the vines. In the afternoon we went for another swim as it was hot again. This time Katharine and Steve from our neighbour boat joined us, and later came over for drinks. Steve and Katharine The next morning we set off to Damery. On the way we passed Châtillion-sur-Marne where there is a gigantic statue of Pope Urban II who was from Châtillion. The hotel barge Serenity was again moored near us, and they invited us over in the evening for relax in the hot-tub and a BBQ. A lovely way to end what had been a pretty rainy day. As we hadn't been able to get out much the day before, we had a look around Damery on Friday morning. Then we cycled over to Château de Boursault, where we hoped to be able to look around at least the gardens. Unfortunately they didn't allow bikes, so we only had a quick peak, but it was a nice ride all the same. In late morning we left for Epernay passing through Cumières, where they had a installations showing various stages of the champagne process. Feet Update Those following the blog will know that I have had problems with my feet and I have had a few questions about how it is going.
I still have the problem in both feet. With bare feet the pain is much less, so I mostly don't wear shoes on the boat. I am making good use of the electric bike which means I can still get around quite a bit. I have done a couple of small tours on foot, but it generally takes a few days for me to recover afterwards. So basically we are doing as much as we can in the circumstances. I continue to regularly soak my feet in alternating buckets of hot and cold water, and do Moxa and Gua Sha, which seems to relieve the feet a little. We are hoping that I will be able to get some regular treatment when we are in Paris for the winter.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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