Willeman to Reuilly-Sauvigny

Thursday 23 June

 

Today I joined the Stage 4 route of the 2010 Tour de France, my track for most of this grand tour, commencing with a quick run over to the city of Cambrai, a university town and considered a gateway to southern France from the rolling agricultural plains of the north.

The GPS has been great for a stranger in a, well, not so strange land, dial up the nearest gas station, or ATM, select the one in the compass direction you're heading, and away you go.

The France I want to see

Selecting "avoid toll roads" and "dense traffic" has also been a master stroke, I'm seeing the France I want to see instead of the exhausts of faster vehicles than me, or the ever looming road transporters in my rear view mirrors, as menacing here as in US, or back home for that matter. 

Its a novelty too, encountering farmers in their big, and I mean >150hp big, tractors on the roads, heaps of them, even on major roads.

So even though most of the towns I pass have some architectural/historical significance, you're not going to get much from me about that. A bike is hardly suitable for urban stop-offs with the security problem of leaving it parked for an hour or more.

Here I refer the cities of Laon, and Reims, pop 192,000, with its 12th century hilltop cathedral, coronation site of French kings from 1027 to 1825.

 

Sam, you'll be pleased to hear I'm enjoying the Bandit, keep it fed in the rev dept, and its got a nice light drop into the curves and corners. The seat's one of the worst I've ever had to endure though, and the constant jiggling the key around to find 'on' is enough to drive you nuts.

 

Would thoroughly recommend the stay at Willeman, and the homestay B&B system in general.

Due the egalitarianism of France arising from a couple of revolutions against the aristocracy and its progress to a republic, small business is well treated. Tax rates are quite high, but small business under a certain threshold are taxed on a deemed to be profit of 23% of turnover, but I dont know that's such an advantage if you're a farmer, like us Kiwi ones running losses years on end.

Rich folks have the crap taxed out of them, property etc

The health system delivery is pretty good, there's no such thing as a wait list, and if you opt for a preferred surgeon the govt pay a third. The offset of this is health taxation is horrendous, employers have to contribute the equivalent of 65% of employees wage into the health fund, which probably isnt much help to the unemployment situation. A lot of small business is family run for obvious reason.

 

Typical village

Out on the road had a morning coffee, you have to be careful here, coffee is often delivered in a shot glass, you gotta make sure you order the measure you want, plus the avec lait, which comes in nice creamy pottles.

 

I did a major deviation today in search of the places I visited and worked on years ago.

First up, a town called La Capelle, where back then, my Texel sheep breeding hosts had assembled a pavillion of sheep for a party of Scottish buyers, most of whom I'd met up there prior to coming to France. The amusing bit was my Queen's english university educated hosts needed me as interpreter from Scottish brogue to our Franglais.

Pulled up beside a convenient patisserie for my daily lunch treat, I'm getting more confident with mois francais and having a bit of fun with the mademoiselles at the counters. Over the years I'd forgotten how gorgeous they are, stuck in some off-beam impression they were a bit pasty and thin. Today's lot are decidedly healthy looking, and apart from a small percentage of dumpy house-frau and gaullic/gallic big snozz types, the majority are drop dead gorgeous in a pretty petite way.

Its their eyes. Look a French girl in the eye and a little game starts to play, I dont mean to run kiwi girls out of the hunt, but there's a bit to learn here.

And of course, France is the intrinsic home of la decollete, and theyre popping up all over the place.

I'd forgotten how much I loved this place, if reincarnation is fair go, I want to come back 20 years younger...... tomorrow!

However, no complaints about today.

The civility I mentioned about English people exists moreso with the French, but in a more subtle way, bonjour and au'voir are standard everywhere, with the women tacking on messieur addressing a male. We dont have quite the same connotation for civil, I think its something like greet a stranger as politely as you would a friend, and a friend as politely as you would a stranger.

 

Anyway...

found the little village, Tavaux et Pontsericourt where most of my previous stay was spent, I knew the farm was over a little bridge and by a process of following every lane towards the stream, eureka, there it was!

Up to the door, introduced myself, and the young lady ushered me round the back to where Joel still lives. The farm's been sold out of the family now, at 400ha it was big in its day, had a little tour round, looking in the barn I shore sheep in, or a 300 year old feed store barn where I recall the cobwebs in the hand hewn roof beams so ancient they were as heavy as blankets.

Over coffee Joel disappeared from the room and after a 10 minute rummage returned with the Coopworth ram sale catalogue I'd sent them, of a breed sale I started back home modelled on their society's operations.

At that stage they already had a country-wide, across-flock,  best linear unbiased prediction recording system, but only for lamb and meat production. Back in NZ, we got it implemented in Coopworths about 10 years later, a cut down version, and it took the best part of 25 years before we got a full-blown national system.

We need to be mindful what we believe we lead the world in..., scenery, agriculture, whatever.....

 

The time passed and I had to leave Joel, last of the family still around, older brother Gilles and MarieAgness retired to Bergerac in the south, and son Francois now a vigneron near Angers.

Satisfying...., another circle completed, revisiting a place of inspiration, and joy.

 

But onward...

Here, Reuilly-Sauvigny is in the Marne river valley, not far from Epernay, so this is champagne country, the real stuff. They instigated some copyright face-off a few years ago and were pretty much successful in having the term champagne only apply to stuff produced right here under the local appellation controllee.

I think its a good idea NZ has run with the grape variety in the bottle descriptions, as a consumer you have a fair handle on the genre of wine under consideration, and I think in a counter face-off, the french producers got seriously bagged for blending grapes from other districts under their local appellation. 

I've only been in the country a couple of days, but already I've received good comment about NZ wines. Local producers are so tight on the threat of imports that our stuff is revered in the hushed tones of smuggled goods.

My room at Marne

Am at another beaut B&B, http://www.marneweb.com/ run by American couple Bill & Meredith, Bill with professional photography background, and Meredith about to tackle her 7th 1000km Camino pilgramage, they've visited Wanganui and stayed at Operiki Homestay. There are couples here from Australia, Germany, and UK..., interesting conversations.

Had the evening meal across the road at the local hotel, fantastic, overdid the budget a bit at E75, but can say I've had real deal foie gras, which I followed with the agneau (lamb) main, fromage trolley, huge, over a dozen cheeses, the local brie and a rocquefort my favorites of the 5 sampled, completed with a strawberry dessert, plus a couple of glasses of red I couldnt identify, lighter pinot noir-ish.

This place is close enough to Paris, its always booked out with weekenders, and anyhow, I've dined worse and more expensive in Auckland and Wellington.

The room's great, the door lintel plaque says 1776, the windows are opening casement type with heavy wooden shutters, out front you look across the valley at the vineyards stretching up the hill.