Day 1 - Chatham to Reims

Left on time, maybe a bit beforehand, weather wet as we left, slightly drizzly and as expected we had to stick the waterproofs on.  Run down ok, apart for some foreign lorry feckin about. Sailed through security. As usual, us 2nd class citizens had to wait till all the cars had boarded but the train left just 1 minute late, so no delay. 

An uneventful run down to Arras, where we stopped in McDs for lunch. Wet all the way  through sporadic rain. Nothing heavy, so not too bad.

Leaving McDs roads were bone dry. No more rain from that point.

First POI (point of interest) today, the Cambrai Memorial, commemorating 7408 British troops with no known grave.

7 miles up the road a must see POI, Deborah, a WWI Mark IV tank, recovered from the Cambrai battlefield. €6 gets you a short film, a small museum and an up close and personal look at this remarkable piece of history. Highlight of the day by far.

We fuelled up twice today, once at Tesco J10 M20 @ £180.9 (robbing b'stards) and again near Laon @ €212.9, about the same as Tesco.

Arrived at the Kyriad in Reims about 6pm. We have secure parking, for a charge, so no worries about the bikes. It's worth paying for peace of mind. The hotel looks like it is being refurbished and our room definitely needs some work. I don't think it would score to highly on the Four in a Bed scorecard. 😉

Went out for dinner, sun shining. Had thought about a taco place but Grizzly caught sight of some guys having beer next door, so we went in there. 2 chicken burgers, 2 Grimbergen, 1 Carlsberg and €60.00 later, there was an almighty storm. Grizzly had gone in to pay and luckily I was under a huge canopy, as I've not seen so much water fall in such a short time as this evening. One minute dry, 60 seonds later, the pavements were awash.  Back in the room, window had been left open, result, water in my pannier bag and 12 pairs of wet socks! Bugger!

Tomorrow we head for Pontarlier, about 248 miles south east and just inside the border with Switzerland.