Short day

Friday 15 August 

We had changed our rest day this week to be Saturday rather than Sunday so our destination today of Chalons sur Champagne was a two-nighter.  Today was a treat also as it was only 11.5 miles in distance.  

As a result of this short distance we rose fairly late ( ooh, alarm for 7.30, out by 9 - what a treat ) and looked forward to the day.  Today was August 15th, a Bank Holiday in France.  Well, to us this day would feel like any other  that we had experienced on this side of the pond so far i.e. we would see very few people, see practically no cars, and no shops would be open.  Nothing new. 

We had supplies left from the day before so we wouldn't suffer from malnutrition today. We set off from the village and onto a different canal, as we reached it the sky decided to empty itself on our heads…..literally. We quickly donned our waterproofs and continued to wade along the towpath trying not to slip into the water - heads down and all the way to our destination. 

We arrived at Chalons en Champagne in the early afternoon, and spotted an Intermarche Supermarket which had Sunday opening times, we had struck lucky.  We stocked up on lovely foody goods, including puddings and some liquid grapes for our 2 night stay and packed it all well inside our bags.  We were not sure if the hotel staff would object to us having 5 meals in total over the next 2 days in our room, but we didn't want to risk them objecting.

We had tea, and pudding and watched a film from iTunes before having one of the best nights sleep that we had had in weeks.  

Distance - 11.5 miles

Distance since Helmsley - 788.35 miles