Day 10 or Today’s Champagne.

I hardly dare to write it, but in fact I slept only 3 hours and I have not the slightest idea what it may have been.

Whether it was the finely woven Achener Linnen, on which I could bed my body, or the down comforter with a cover of the silk of the rare, Mongolian tiger caterpillar, with which I covered myself, the sleep did not want to come. Were it the walls surrounding me, whose relentlessness did not want to subside even in the heaviest storm, I can not say.But it was probably just the countless episodes of Dr. House, dubbed in French, that robbed me of sleep.
And so this morning I stand a little sleepy before the announced breakfast buffet, but it makes me immediately and unmistakably clear that I’m in France. Coffee and hot milk, baguette, croissant and a lot of sweets, such as jam and Nutella are available. Well, cornflakes would be there too, but who wants to wake up at 7 in the morning all the others by a food intake, which makes explosive noises with every attempt of chewing. And when the sweetened corn sweets are soaked in the added milk, it’s not fun anymore. Dear French, you connoisseurs of the finest cuisine, but at breakfast, you are so behin the moon. An American or a Canadian would look at the buffet and confusedly ask if he should have the snack before or after the actual breakfast. But fine, I did not travel to France for breakfast. So hastily thrown in a sugar rage that would have been dropped in the blockade of Berlin after all by two planes, the bike packed, the clothes on and I make myself with a heavy heart on the way.
With a heavy heart, because in the nocturnal, restless hours, I had been leafing through the information about Orleans, which was laying out in the foyer and finding out that there was a lot to see here. That’s what i yesterday, when driving to the industrial area where the hotel is located, not at all noticed. Too bad. Yesterday I set my destination on Troyes, just under 200 kilometers and let calculate the route as “winding”. Looks in the overview not at all, but it is, as I may determine a short time later. To put it in a nutshell, the best track I’ve seen so far. Long curves, down to the hairpin bend on mostly small roads, through wheat fields, through forest, over gentle hills and the whole tour without, no almost no oncoming traffic. And at some point I think, but you can not turn here anymore. Immediately, my TomTom logs in, as I find slightly malicious undertone: “In 300 meters please turn left”. What?
At some point, after an hour, it starts to swing, really. The luggage does not make itself felt, the little Japanese girl purrs down the miles without complaint and the weather lays on a lump, with a cloudless sky but always a light and cooling wind. In between, the smallest villages that are begging for a stop and a photo to take. If a strip of coastline appeared to the right or left, that would be top of the pops, the liter of maple syrup over the “double stack of pancakes” or icing on the cake. But that’s the way it is. And in my mind, Duke Ellington plays “It’s not a mean thing, if it’s not got that swing.” Duba duba duba ……….At some point, closer to 1 pm I reach Troyes and drive to the burger builder of my trust. As in the last few days, it will be quite warm today at noon. So off in the shadows, with a burger, a coke and my TomTom. How far do I want to go, where should I go? I decide for Metz as a rough direction and enter in my camping app a search radius of 80 kilometers.And, did you not see, I find a 4-star place 75 kilometers away in Éclaron-Braucourt-Saint-Livière (Counted? 4 names and 3 dashes.) What do you smoke, if you think of such names?).
I’m on my way, on not so dizzying streets, grab 20 kilometers before Aldi, yes, Aldi a snack for the evening and I’m at 15 clock in Écla …. Oh, look up yourself. I set up the tent, set myself up and pay a visit to the small lake behind the campsite. In the map it was named Lac du Champagne. So I stick my head in expectantly and realize I’ve been cheated. Is only water!By the way, the little brother of my Ricard is also not doing well. He has lost weight and his body looks waxy, almost transparent! I expect the worst. Tomorrow then the latest medical bulletin.
Therefore, stay tuned ………

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