Aug 13 - partly assembled

Before we did anything else, I took an hour and partly assembled the bike, just to ensure that everything was ok.  So far so good.  Frame, fork, brakes, seatpost/saddle ... it actually looks like a bike now but nothing has been tightened.  I've got to setup the brakes, attach the pedals and then add racks, front pack and a hundred cable ties to attach the wires etc.  I'll bet I've got another hour before I'm finished.

At this point it doesn't look like I'll have to attach the fenders.  At 10%, it looks like we might stay dry.  That would be great.  They'll be in the car, so if things changed along the way, I could attach in Loudeac.

When we got to Hemmingford and looked at bookings, we found that Sandy had booked into Monet's garden one day late, miscommunication between us.  She was able to switch that and is now heading there after Loudeac.  That actually works out better anyway.  She'll overnight there while I'm somewhere along the road between Loudeac and St. Quentin en Yvelines, the ride start/finish.

Sandy checked things out and we planned to do a Mumms tour at 11:30.  It was only a five minute walk ... by car ... whoops !  We made it though and were entertained with the tour of the cellars, which took an hour, and then a quick tasting.

It's hard to believe that there are 25 kms of cellars ... with one million bottles per km ... and all these bottles that are in the racks at various angles are turned by hand.  Would you like a job that requires you to turn 40,000 bottles per day ?  Fascinating.   Oh yes, that 25km of tunnels ?  That would be 25 kms of black mold.  I was starting to notice it.

After Mumms, we had lunch and then headed out in the car towards Epernay and Vertus, following the marked Champagne route.  There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of Champagne producers although many of them are small, obviously, and never get their product outside of France.  I had to look this up -- according to Wiki, there are more than one hundred Champagne houses and 19,000 smaller vignerons (vine-growing producers) in Champagne.  

Rain started when we arrived in Epernay, so we hopped back into the car and headed to Vertus along the route, then back to Epernay and left the car and wandered around. 

 Around 6pm we headed back to Reims, had a quick snooze and out for dinner at 8pm.  As we wrapped up dinner, it started to rain so we moved our table back under the umbrella.  I raced off before Sandy to get to the little grocery store before 10pm; she checked out and met me back at the hotel.  We then walked over to the cathedral and took in the light show that started at 10:30, which lasted a half-hour.   That was fabulous.  As usual, I have pictures.  I have to pull some and post on FB.

It was after midnight that we turned in -- yikes !

Today we pack up and head to St. Quentin.  I have to finish up the bike and have registration tomorrow morning at 8am.  Teh ride is almost upon us ... time is flying !

Onward !

ps - We heard from Abby, who is doing quite well.  Apparently she's eating all her food, or at least that's what she tells us.  That's good.