Via Francigena: part two\ deuxième partie

As the primroses pushed through at the bottom of my garden, and the catkins began their slow drip from next door's tree it had started to look a bit like spring. It's been a long winter over here at Walking Back the Cat Towers, and whilst I've stretched my legs a little on the St James Way and with some local explorations, it was time to get back to the epic adventure of the Via Francigena. We left off, some 220km in, around the town of Bapaume in North West France. This time we headed further south, about an hour's drive further down the A26 (the 'Autoroute des Anglais' apparently) to Laon and then on to Reims, the very heart of the Champagne region. Oh no, what a hardship.

We had a rather spiffing apartment in Reims as our base for a few days and three stages planned:

• Stage 1: the last 5-6km into Laon and up (up, up!) to the Cathedral

• Stage 2: 28km Berry-au-Bac to Rheims Cathedral

• Stage 3: 20km Rheims Cathedral to Verzenay

Loading up the latter-day-donkey (still a Kia EV6, so probably fewer emissions than an actual donkey) we headed from sunny Surrey to the Channel Tunnel and an easy drive to Clacy-et-Thierret, a village near Laon, where our first walk started. We arrived about 6pm so the idea was to get up to Laon Cathedral for sunset. The path took us across open agricultural land before wending its way through deciduous woodland. Hidden within this, off-the-beaten track, we came across a small military cemetery which marked the final resting place of German soldiers from the 1914-18 war, a stark reminder that though we were far from Flanders fields, the impact of the conflict was felt across a vast swathe of France.

We emerged onto a busy road, which we crossed with a deal of trepidation, and entered into the outskirts of Laon proper. Passing through a residential area, we identified a short, sharp pedestrian path straight up to the medieval walled part of town. Sharp was the word! It was short, no more than 10 minutes, but extremely steep! However, worth the climb for the spectacular views from the ramparts, way out across Picardy and a fuzzy, pre-sunset horizon.

Laon is a very striking, very ancient city. The medieval town is perched atop a rocky outcrop some 100m above the plains of Picardy and Champagne and has been a township in some form at least since Julius Ceasar was lurking around these parts. Its fantastic strategic position, lowering over the surrounding plains, has naturally made it a site for aeons of battles and an important site for trade and, naturally, religious power. The seat of the bishops of Laon for 1,300 years, it was the French Revolution that did for the diocese in the end, but in the intervening millennium or so, Laon was an epicentre of learning, political and religious power and thought, and all the wealth that comes with it.

The crowning glory of the medieval city is Laon Cathedral, primarily built in the 12th and 13th centuries and was a fabulous example of gothic art whilst retaining light and airiness inside. The sharp-eyed will spot statues of oxen looking down upon the observer from the cathedral's mighty towers. They are 56m up and actually life-sized. Legend has it that, one day, a team carrying the stones needed for the construction of the cathedral from the lower side of town collapsed, completely exhausted. Suddenly, a white ox miraculously descended from the sky, replacing them and finishing the job. In reality, they are tributes to the beasts of burden who dragged all those massive stones up the bloody hill! Well deserved, IMHO.

Inside Laon cathedral

After a celebratory 'yay we made it to France' beer, we remounted the latter-day-donkey and made our way to Reims and ensconced ourselves in the very beautiful apartment the windows of which faced the western door of another epic cathedral! More on that in a moment...

Our second walking leg took us back north to the small village of Berry-au-Bac, the menfolk dropping us at a layby directly on the Via Francigena. There isn't much to say about Berry-au-Bac; it is really tiny with just 600-odd residents and it is right on the border of the Hauts-de-France and Grand-Est regions of France. It was with a degree of satisfaction that we walked over that border before turning off the road into open fields (probably growing broad beans, yuck!) following farm tracks through to the small village of Cormicy (we picked up a stamp in the local post-office!) and on through woodland to Hermonville, which was a very pretty town but appearing utterly deserted. Beyond Hermonville the path climbed uphill somewhat through vineyards before entering fairly dense woodland which hid much of the view but provided tranquil walking.

We were sidetracked by a path that appeared to lead to a stone archway, surrounded by ominous looking signs in French that translated more or less to 'this is a defended site'. My historical-building-surveyor walking companion was intrigued and, I think faintly distressed, by the state of the arch and surrounding stonework but having seen too many horror movies involving walkers in lonely and remote woodland we beat a retreat back to the regular path. It took some finding but evetually we found this was Fort de Saint-Thierry, a fort built between 1877 and 1880, part of the defensive ring around Reims. It's maintained by the denizens of the nearby village of Pouillon who have semi-regular renactment days at the site. Otherwise it's closed off completely, probably due to the ragged state of the interior which must be a bit of hazard.

We descended from the woods towards the village of Merfy and from there walked quiet lanes and farm tracks to the industrial outskirts of Reims. We were pretty impressed by the effort that seemed to have been made to make walking this area actually fairly pleasant (I'm looking at you Swale!), clearly making the most of the brownfield sites to form cycling, bridle and walking paths. We picked up the canal and followed it into the city centre, bumping into the menfolk in (where else) a local hostelry before completing our final 5 minutes to the cathedral, a stamp at the tourist office and retirement to the apartment where champagne and a rather tasty dinner (prepared before the menfolk's retirement to the bar!) awaited us.

I'll pause here to just share the view from the apartment, from where we supped our champagne. No further description required.

The following day we left the latter-day donkey in the garage and took in a few cultural sites. Naturally this took the form of a visit to the Veuve-Cliquot cave-de-champagne with some delightful tasting that left the four of us giggling like school children before midday. Genius marketing strategy, feeding us vintage champagne before the gift shop.

That was followed by a guided tour of the cathedral. Reims cathedral is considered one of the finest in France and has been the site of the coronation of France's kings since Clovis the Frank in the 6th century (well, at least up to the time the good people of France started snicking kings' heads off rather than putting crowns on them). It certainly has impressive statuary, including the slightly creepy 'smiling angel', and some lovely glass. I liked the sense of history of the place but was left slightly cold by the dark and somehow slightly claustrophobic interior, although hard to argue that the exterior is anything less than spectacular. The Basilica of St Remi about 20 minutes walk away was a much lighter and peaceful space and would recommend a visit if you're in the vicinity.

We completed our day supping wine at a bar next to the 'cryptoporticus' the only above ground evidence of the third centrury Roman forum.

The next morning we were ready for some more walking, our final leg from Reims Cathedral (handy, as it was just outside the door!) to Verzenay, some 20km. Our usual duo became a trio with the addition of Danger (of Vanguard Way fame).

We soon picked up the canal again, although it was actually the River Marne which had been tamed for industrial purposes. I must confess canal-side walking is not always my favourite, being flat and sometimes a little 'samey' but it makes for speedy walking and following a canal out of a city gives the opportunity to see every bit of it, the unfolding story of life in and around a place. We passed through residential areas, nature reserves, past huge industrial sites, some working, some descending into ruin. All spoke to a thriving hub of human activity, and the rhythm of Sunday morning cyclists and joggers added to the sense of the canal path still being a critical artery of Reims. We soon came into the small town of Sillery where we turned southwards and out into the vast vineyards that produce this region's most famous export.

The terrain of the vineyards is gentle rolling slopes, with row after row of bending vines, criss crossed by chalky tracks allowing those who tend the vines to reach each section. Each swathe appears to have a stone marker denoting which 'house' owned the vines; I made a collection of photos of markers from houses famous (Moet & Chandon, Bollinger) and not so famous (Mailly?? I'd never heard of them). We followed the quiet road and then tracks up to the first of two obvious landmarks, the Moulin de Verzenay, now owned by the Mumm champagne house. Apparently a mill typical of the 19th century, there used to be a lot scattered around this area before it was given over to the grape. It acted as an observation post in both world wars (first for the French, then the Americans) and its easy to see why, with fabulous views across the vineyards. We tacked around it and then up into woodland, skirting around the village of Verzenay itself, before arriving at the car park for the Phare du Verzenay. That's right, someone built a lighthouse on a hill in landlocked vineyards, apparently to 'shed light' on his champagne (in other words, a marketing ploy). Now owned by local citizenry rather than a champagne house, the adjoining building houses a 'Museum of the Vine' and for a small fee you can climb the 150-odd stairs to marvel at the surrounding view. Which is spectacular.

We returned to Rheims in the latter-day-donkey and set up shop in a local bar before nibbles and a final round of champagne and board games back at the apartment before Monday morning's departure. We didn't rush back to the channel tunnel, instead going back to Laon to see it in daylight, explore the cathedral proper and get our pilgrim stamp at the tourist office that had been closed on the previous visit.

This really was a very special long weekend. The walking was good, the path beautiful and interesting and the history spectacular. But most of all it was spent in company of the best of friends and of course the good-web-developer-him-indoors who once again took the role of groom to the latter-day-donkey. Vintage champagne also helped.

Moving into Grand-Est marks a shift in landscape and we are starting to look forward to lesser explored part of France further south. We looked at Langres as the next bit to explore, which would bring us some 600km along the overall route. Watch this space!

Here are screenshots of the maps from our three sections: