Sedan to Monthermé

Sun 20 Aug

Fantastic riding - everything yesterday afternoon wasn't. Brilliant bike track all the way - double lane, sealed. No rain!!

We started the day with a visit to a boulangerie then a tour of the Sedan castle. Great views over the town.

Lovely sunny day! Coffee in the forecourt after.

After wild boar for dinner last night, David found just the thing at the castle today!

The nice proprietor at our hotel gave us good directions to the voie verte bike path, but we pulled up on a bridge along the way and in bad French asked another rider if we were heading the right way.

Lovely guy - he wheeled around and guided us to the path - it was more complicated than we had thought. There were lots of 'Merci' and bonhomie as we all travelled along together for quite a while. I complimented him on his legs which he quite enjoyed and he told us that he is 80 years old, stroking his beard comparing his to MF1's to show his was older! I think he was enjoying the company and we eventually we bid him farewell with many thanks and shaking of hands.

We had a wonderful ride although overshot the turnoff over the bridge into Charleville-Mézières which was our planned lunch stop. Had to back-track a km then a tricky ride through Mézières and then into Charleville - navigating by 'the seat of our pants'. Finally we found the Place Ducal where we enjoyed our quiches and a selection of pastries we had bought at the boulangerie this morning. I bought this one especially for MF2!

The Place Ducal comprises an elegant gallery of arcades and 24 brick pavilions with slate roofs; it is one of the most beautiful Louis XIII-style squares in Europe. Most of the square is pedestrianised and today part of it has been converted into a beach complete with blow-up pool and sand and the kids were having a wonderful time.

There was a Tourist Office also and the woman there spoke great English. She gave me a great map of the rest of our ride and showed me how we could exit Charleville without having to go back through Mézières.

We continued the lovely riding along the river Meuse, stopping for another coffee at Bogny-sur-Meuse (beer for MF1) and then savoured the last 4 kms into our stop for tonight at Monthermé.

Feeding deer along the way:

Monthermé is very picturesque.

Plain little Logis hotel but it has all we want.

We walked through town to find an open restaurant, it being Sunday. Found one at another Logis hotel. The food rarely disappoints. The boys are enjoying the Leffe beers which are brewed at an abbey founded in 1152: Notre-Dame de Leffe. MF1 had Cacasse à cul nu, a typical dish of the Ardenne region: potato fricassee cooked in a roux with smoked sausages and bacon slices. MF2 enjoyed his burger and chips!

Ride: 56 kms; fastest ride so far, mostly flat.