Gosh - 14 consecutive days of cycling 😌. Today was 100% cycling on tarmac canal towpath. So, fast, smooth and easy cycling. So we planned a longer distance and as the towns didn’t fall naturally for our planned distance, we booked a room at a tiny family hotel in a tiny canal side village. In the sticks. However we did pass through two charming small towns with charming main squares and a comfortable prosperous atmosphere.

First, Vitry-le-François: our experience was mostly the out of town mega hyper market E.Leclerc. This shop needs a map or a homing beacon to find stuff and get out again within the day 🙄😏. Still we got our little bits for bike and clothes and a picnic lunch. Phew 😮‍💨, but at least it was air conditioned 😍.

Lunch on a shady canal bank.

St Dizier: this had a patisserie 😍🥰. So that was tea sorted.

Then final push to Chevillon. Population about 50? Tiny. The hotel reopened under new management a few hours before we arrived so things were still being sorted and our host was a little flustered getting the equipment to work.

We thoroughly enjoyed a large beer 🍻 and a snack plate of fromage and charcuterie. Bliss. Our longest and fastest day yet 💪🏻.

Unfortunately and rather crucially for us, the restaurant had not reopened 😳😬.

We were advised to pop along to the next village (15 min walk) where there was a restaurant. Well we did and there was a restaurant but it was closed 😩.

But we spotted some “youths” eating a fresh pizza on the tables outside and noticed this amazing large pizza vending machine 😳. Really 😂. So we negotiated the touch screen menu, paid by card and indeed and magically it made a fresh pizza, cooked it, and posted it out of a slot in a cardboard box. 🤗. Quite amazing. Yeah, it tasted just like it should too.

Then we did serious planning for the two upcoming super hot days. We decided to go for short days and start in the cool of the morning. About 45km. But we also needed somewhere to stay and somewhere to eat. Now the upcoming part of France doesn’t have much so our choices were limited and turned out to be completely booked.

🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

So we tried a bit harder, jiggled our route a bit , cut out a visit to a(nother) town on a high rock and eventually booked our way across this rural hinterland. Let’s hope it comes good 🤞🏻.