After a very good nights sleep in our excellent hotel we wake up to yet another day of sunshine. We make the most of the free internet and manage to post our last blog which takes quite some time as it is from Sweden to Belgium.
After yet another good breakfast with lots of varieties to choose from we are ready to explore Bouillon by daylight and lucky for us there is a fort built high on a rock face right above us.
We decide to drive uphill and as cars are parked wherever on the street and as ours is parked on the wrong side I manage for the first time this trip to drive on the wrong side of the road, which over here is the left side.
The fort is absolutely incredible sitting about 150 metres up, built on a big cliff. After paying our entre fee we walk along grotto like corridors taking us around with myriads of different alleys making it a most interesting 4 hours.
The only thing putting a damper on the day is the intense heat +34 and boy is it hot, summer has arrived with a vengeance.
After melting away watching the falconer show and some other spectacular “bird friends” we say aurevoir to this fort built during the 9th century and opt for some well deserved lunch by the river making our plans for the last leg of our trip.
After some debating we come to an agreement to travel towards Champagnes Ardennes and decide to settle in the little town of Epernay. This we think is a great choice being situated right in the middle of the champagne country. But little did we know that day 8 of Tour de France starts in Epernay on this very day. The town is only very small but with all the hype of the bike race it is chaos everywhere, maybe not such a good choice after all but here we are and making the most of it.
But I am personally very pleased we decided not to travel to the town of Laon where I still somewhat have nightmares from 5 years ago when I drove through the horribly narrow streets and Peter yelling “look at the view” and having to fold the side mirrors of the car to manage to fit through the street. Epernay is a bit bigger with slightly wider roads and much easier to navigate.
We try and walk through the town but the heat get the best of us in the end . A few hours later we try again and hit the streets for some food and again we were not disappointed, the French certainly eat very well and I’ve go some extra rolls of flab to prove it.
The plan for our last day is to visit some Champagne vineries and to deliver the car back into Paris without mishap but that will be the next entry of our travel blog.
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