Day 3 Tour de Champagne

Day 3 PM. After our visit to Bollinger it was straight on to lunch at Champagne Henri Goutorbe where we were the guests of the Goutorbe family. We started lunch with a magnum of Cuvee Prestige followed by the excellent Brut Tradition and Vintage 2005. After a fabulous array of cakes for dessert, Nicole Goutorbe asked for volunteers for something unusual.

What followed was a ride in a horse drawn carriage through some vineyards and streets of Ay. The ride was accompanied by a glass of champagne of course. Horses are making a come back in many vineyards in France as some vignerons search for ways to minimise their impact on the soil in their vineyards.

Palais de la Beire

And its only a few steps from our apartment - very convenient!

 

Posted with Blogsy by Ozbendigo

What happened to those young legs?

Friday 7th

Julie had an early start at her language school today, so the bike and I also got of to an early start. Still getting over the bout of Gastro, the legs weren't quite up to the task.Beautiful morning, nice cool air and easy riding.

I have to say, the old bike is just a bit harder to push along than my bike at home, but I am in no hurry, so it doesn't matter that much. 

I fitted my pedals (from home) this morning so that I could use my bike shoes, that made a bit of a difference.

Managed a lazy 46 k's, a bit of sight seeing and a leisurely coffee over 3.5 hours. I was a bit pissed, when I reached Pont de Pany, the end of my out bound leg, I couldn't get a coffee. 

I had to ride 8 k's back towards Dijon before I could have my morning hit.

The canal path is well paved, good enough for a horde of inline skaters to disturb my peace. They were out practising for a big event in Dijon at the weekend. Inline skating is very popular in France. 

We would miss it, as we are of to Chablis for the weekend.