Luzelbourg to Toul

Day 53 Luzelbourg to Luneville 82ks

Quite a warm day today with no canal or river riding. Rode through mainly rural areas again where everything looks very dry. We had a local rider take us through a cpl of villages today and he told us it was a Sunday, we said no it is Wednesday and he said yes Sunday a holiday. We worked out that today is a public holiday in France and everything will be closed.  We stopped for water in a village and as there was a very nice TABAC (bar) open we had our lunch as well. Good move as the rest of the day was through small villages where there was not a soul to be seen. We all wondered where people go on the weekends and public holidays as there is no one to be seen anywhere. We were pleased we had had our lunch as there were a couple of long hills on the way to our next camp and it was very warm, late 30s.

Luneville is quite a large town but was very quite due to the holiday. We had a lovely camp near a chateau which was too host celebrations for the holiday tonight. Unfortunately it started to rain close to the time of the celebrations starting and storms were forecast so all was called off. A pity as we rode past the chateaux the next morning and it would have been a great lighting  spectacular.

Day 54  Luneville to Toul 78ks

We had a lot of rain overnight but dry start to the day. Once again it was going to be a very hot day so we tried to get under way early. More rural riding and some long hills. Stopped for lunch at St Vincent Pont where we bought our lunch at a patisserie and took it across to the local Tabac to buy our coffee. They were happy with BYO food. They put up a brolly for us and looked after us well for the price of 6 coffees and BYO food. We rode onto Toul where we decided we would camp but no campground. Plan B a hotel. The tourist bureau found a one star hotel in the centre of the city. It was budget but very clean. We decided to spend 2 nights there so we could do some trip planning for our next 5 to 6 days before we arrive in Paris. It has a bar below the hotel so we spent an hour or so there in the evening for some cooling ales and water.

Day 55 Toul  0ks

We met for coffee and a planning meeting early today at a nice bar where we again brought our croissants and bought our coffee at the bar. We decided to catch the train to Epernay tomorrow as the area we will be riding in is more rural and not very interesting. Epernay is in the Champagne region and we hope to be able to organize a tour of a vineyard. Linda and Steve and Clem and Lesley went to Nancy for the day and Phill and Chris stayed in Toul for some sightseeing. We all enjoyed our sightseeing and had dinner at a lovely French restaurant that had been recommended to us by the manager of the hotel. We all enjoyed our meal although we are not sure if it was traditional French fare. It was another warm day which is apparently unseasonal for this area.