Day 17 – Trépail to Chalons-en-Champagne

What’s in a name? (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

Tuesday 17/4/2018

Distance 26.9kmTotal Distance from Canterbury XXkm

After an enjoyable breakfast with Mme Viviane and filling in of visitor’s book and stamping of credential, I bade farewell and headed out a little earlier than usual.

Already it was warm, in fact already it was hot, and the sun was shining brightly. Straightforward walking today, first to Ambonnay then to Condé-Sur-Marne. In Ambonnay I met a young man harnessing two magnificent pack horses who were about to do something technical to the soil between the vines but I couldn’t work out what the machine would do. It looked like it might turn over the top few inches of soil. He told me that horses were more efficient than tractors. You might imagine a 70 year old telling you this but this lad was about 20!  I had seen large horses yesterday in the distance in the middle of a field and had wondered what they were doing.

Ambonnay had maybe a dozen establishments selling champagne and an unusual Napoleonic fountain and a closed church. It also had a charcuterie where I got some cold meat and cheese for lunch. Condé, later, had a boulangerie where I got a pain aux raisins. Sadly the promised bar was closed and looked as though it may have been closed for years. So I backed out of the village and straight to the canal and that was that for about 18km right into the middle of Chalons-en-Champagne. No turn. Here’s the GPS trace from my running watch. Not straight-ish; straight!  And the canal brings you right into the city centre.

In days gone by you could cross the canal at locks. You can do that over the lock gates at Leeson Street Bridge in Dublin, or at least you could 30 years ago when I lived there.

Here you cannot. The locks are completely automatic. They are not manned (or womanned). So all the ‘workings’ are locked in behind security gates. And you can’t cross. So you could find yourself in the wrong side of the canal for quite a long stretch, waiting for a road bridge.

As I had my lunch at one lock (the French word is l’écluse) an English couple on bicycles appeared on the opposite bank wanting to come across but were stymied. They were just on holiday.

 

Chalons-en-Champagne sounds like it should be a village but it is in fact a cathedral city. Fine Gothic cathedral of St Étienne with huge amount of stained glass. A very tall building. Somehow it felt cold and empty. There was no one at the desk. Unusually, I thought, it closed at 4pm. The nearby church of Notre Dame has a pilgrim welcome office as this is an important stop on the Camino. There is a large stone plaque at the door giving the history of the Camino through Chalons-en-Champagne. Fine windows.

The lady there stamped my credential and was able to direct me to my accommodation, arranged by Mme Viviane, which was only about 200m away. Another family stay in a magnificent old house with a beautiful enclosed garden. Fantastic old timbers throughout the house, never quite perpendicular or horizontal. François welcomed me with a cold beer. He has walked to Rome, to Compostela and to Assisi with Brigitte his wife and  he is also a marathon runner. He retired a few years ago from his job as an ENT specialist. We had plenty in common! He has run the famous Médoc Marathon Many people run en déguise  (fancy dress) and Médoc wine is served along the way. A good time is had by all!

Chalons-en-Champagne used to be called Chalons-sur-Marne until 1997/8 when the people there chose to return to the old name of Chalons-en-Champagne. The change to Chalons-sur-Marne had occurred in the 19th century as an imposition after the Revolution.  Obviously it never really caught on! Although a good bit smaller than Reims it is actually the capital of Marne. It is a very pretty city with very smart shops indeed as I discovered when I went to look for a few necessities. ‘Champagne’ in the name sounds just right! Très chic.