Day 8: one of those days

Today started ominously and went downhill (and uphill) from there. We woke up after quite a good sleep and started our normal morning routine of breakfasting and looking at the day’s ride. But then at some point, we noticed that the water pressure in the kitchen was dropping rapidly, and after inquiring, we learned that the town had decided to cut off he water to the street (including the hotel) with no advance warning to complete some road repairs. Needless to say the hotel proprietors were upset, but this is France after all, and there’s not much to do except throw up your hands and say, C’est la France. It didn’t really inconvenience us all that much, but they were nice enough to give us a discount on the room.

Before leaving, I decided to make sure that Sonia’s tires were inflated enough, and in doing so, using a pump I was unfamiliar with, I managed to break off the tip off the valve, which meant I had to change the tube. A half an hour later, with the help of some Dutch guests, I had managed to get her bike back in working order (using our mini folding pump to inflate the tire!).

Next, we had to get some provisions for lunch and tonight’s dinner, which took us a total of 4 kilometres out of our way before we had even started. Then it was back to the Meuse à vélo route, which was mostly on roads today, some of them busier than we would have liked; but as I’ve mentioned before, we’re not too bothered by traffic anymore, even if we don’t particularly enjoy it.

The Meuse valley, with the 11h-century church Notre Dame de Mont-devant-Sassey in the distance

The route meandered through the farmland west of the Meuse, with various memorials and stellae cropping up more and more frequently as we neared Verdun. The various towns we passed through were all sleepy bordering on comatose, with not a café or bakery to be found. Indeed, even a roadside picnic table would have been appreciated. We eventually stopped for lunch in the little town of Cléry-le-petit. There wasn’t really anywhere to sit, but we found an old bridge just outside of town where we were able to sit in peace to eat... that is until it started raining. Not a downpour, but enough to make us put our jackets on.

Not particularly comfortable anyway, we decided to push onwards and upwards (and downwards). The showers let up after an hour or so, and these kilometres were on a fairly busy road, so there wasn’t much time for chatting or looking around. When we got to Forges-sur-Meuse, the route took us back to the river along a crushed gravel, somewhat overgrown bike path along the canal. A few kilometres before our destination of Charny-sur-Meuse, it turned into a lovely asphalt path like the one lower down on the river. A fitting conclusion to our Meuse adventure. Tomorrow, after visiting the battlefields, we head west for the second half of our adventure.

Back on the Meuse 

City hall of Charny-sur-Meuse