Clairvaux – Champignol lez Mondeville – Essoyes – Les Riceys – Tonerre – Tissey
After I got up and put the last bags on the bike, we had a nice breakfast( petit déjeuner). If I had known by then, that the sisters would charge ten euros, I would have taken a bigger lunchpack. But the two bananas and the big sandwich fed me for two days, so in the end it was still in the budget-boundaries.
At Champignol I visited the Mairie and told about the first camino, on which they helped me a lot on a very hot day. This time I just took the coffee without the water, because all the bottles were filled and I still got to much weight on the bike. Also the day seemed to become not that hot as usual.
Before I arrived at Essoyes I found a garage, where I got my spare tire of the trailer inflated. Also I figured out a plain route to Les Riceys. So I rushed through Essoyes, rode northeast along the Ource, crossed the Seine at Polisy and followed the Laignes southward to Les Riceys. In the end it wasn’t quite as plain as the map promised, but I’m very sure the other way would have been very much steeper.
As I already learned on my first chemin de Saint Jacques: The moment you make a decision, you made the right one, because all other possibilities are ruled out by your choice.
In Les Riceys I tried to visit my friend Ivon Mavon, who offered me shelter when no one else was willing to help me without payment. Therefore I was heavily pissed off to find his home for sale – F*** Les Riceys.
If you ever do some holidays in the Champagne please skip Les Riceys, because it su**s so much!
At the Lavoir next to his formerly home, I smoked a cigar and wrote him a message about how to contact me, before I left for good.
So if some of my readers knows Ivon, please tell him that I’m still very thankful and glad to have met him.
I followed the Laignes to Griselles and turned right to reach the Canal de Bourgogne through the lower hills. Not low enough for my taste, but still not as steep as where I was heading. By the way, it was by now the nicest detour I took. So when you skip Les Riceys during your holidays, visit Cruzy le Chatel instead – sorry, I was too exhausted to take some pictures, but believe me it’s worth a look.
When I reached the canal too early, I had the choice to establish my camp at the Armancon while all residents came by with there dogs in the evening or to take the big hill of Tonerre and try to get to Tissey. I decided to visit Lucien and his family and finished the day with climbing the mother of all hills. Lucky me! It took about an hour to ascend ninety meters on the length of less than one and a half kilometer but it was worth it. I met Lucien’s mother to leave my contacts, also I was able to talk to Lucien via cellphone and could rest in their guest room.