Mon 25th - DAY 2

Outside Hotel Touring (Reims) - ready to go

 Left Reims at about 10.50am after a great (but none-the-less French) breakfast and then a look around the Cathedral. Rode down a motorway (YUK) to get out of Reims and then found our 'biker' route with cool bends and rode through the proper Champagne vineyards and saw many famous names. Went via Troyes and then through Dijon on our way to Sens sur Siene but it poured with rain and we got soaked - not really as we just made it into a lovely lunchtime bistro for lunch but we had to spend loads of time waiting for the rain to stop. It did momentarily but there were quite a few times in the afternoon where we couldn't really see where we were going and had to stop once to blow the water out of a spark plug; bike was complaining lots and stuttering. T'was fine after that but there was a point where we had to follow in the wake of a truck to be able to keep tyre touching tarmac! There were some fantastic bends to ride and any of you bike riders would have been jealous at not being here to follow us round them.

Very wet bike - poor thing

Our B n B is run by an English couple - this a 'biker' friendly establishment even tho' neither of them ride anything. They cooked dinner so we had proper Kir as aperitif and then salad followed by chicken wrapped in bacon. 3 cheeses and then chocolate mousse: all jolly French and tasty. Lots of wine and good conversation with the other guests two policemen intending to bike the perimeter of France!

Bike is parked inside tonight but is sharing it's accomodation with the chickens - hope they don't roost on the handlebars and poo all over the speedo!