The last few days have been centred around the weather. The days were very warm, but there was always a forecast of heavy showers and thunderstorms. Looking at the sky around us, this very often seemed like a correct forecast unfortunately. When you’re cycling and camping, it’s something you definitely want to keep an eye on… Somehow however, we’ve been lucky to escape most of the heavy stuff. We’ve seen impressive, threatening clouds everywhere around us, yet they always moved slightly differently than us, thereby avoiding us (or us avoiding them?). When we went to Chalons for dinner, this was the case; we stayed dry against all odds. All throughout our ride yesterday, it definitely was the case as well. The only time it really rained heavily however, was when we happened to have stopped for lunch at a place where we could take shelter (an abandoned garage) as it was rainy slightly; it then rained more heavily for an hour while we stayed dry inside (and it gave us an excuse to have another coffee). Other than that we only had a few drops on our way.
 |
| We really liked Chalons-en-Champagne, a small and very beautiful city, and therefore stayed there for the night. I actually forgot to make some pictures in the city itself, and only realized on the way out. So here are a few impressions still... |
 |
| A lot of impressive old buildings. |
 |
| And no traffic on a Sunday evening... |
When we arrived at our destination, at the Lac Du Der, we had wonderful sunshine for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening, while big, high clouds were brewing again at the horizon. We went for an evening walk, took our rain jackets just in case, had a nice long walk without rain, came back to our tent and only then it started to rain. It rained quite a bit at night too, but stopped by the time we got up in the morning. Really, we’ve been very lucky…
 |
| Interesting: the canal crosses the river Marne (below) via a bridge! |
 |
| Same spot as the picture above, but then in our cycling direction. |
 |
| One of the many sluices along the way. This one was a bit special: the water level was almost at the road level when full! |
 |
| Just a view of an old house with equally old advertisement |
The ride from Chalons was mostly along yet another canal (a very nice one), until we cut through from the canal to the Lac Du Der. This is a huge manmade lake (only since 1974, swallowing 3 villages when completed), with all the way around it a cycling path. Very nice, we cycled roughly around half of it and then found ourselves a campsite on the southern side. Today we left the Lac Du Der, rode along small quiet roads through charming, sleepy villages (have we heard that before?), and then arrived at the second lakeside cycling trail. This trail, towards Troyes, follows the shore of 3 consecutive lakes, which are connected. The Seine flows through all these lakes, and as such they help to prevent flooding by the Seine (in Paris and elsewhere).
 |
| The Lac Du Der |
 |
| Cycling lane along the shore of the Lac Du Der, on the dike. |
 |
| Crossing over to a "peninsula" in the lake via a cycling and pedestrian bridge; our campsite was on the other side. |
 |
| Thunderstorm approaching! (but passing us by) |
