good hotel near Reims

I hear good reports of this hotel, between Rethel and Reims on the N51 / A34.

Auberge du Val des Bois.

51110 Warmeriville

Tel 03 26 03 32 09

http://www.aubergevaldesbois.fr/

May well suit anybody wanting a place about 2 to three hours from Calais, bit longer by D road. Right on the top of the gateway to France and the great roads ahead.

The hotel is shown in Mapsource / Garmin v9


PS The owner's name lends itself to all sort of Goon / Eccles type jokes....

Thanks for the tip... hasn't made the choice any easier but handy to know.

I'm heading down to Avignon in September where I'm picking up my wife from the airport and then heading off round the Gorges du Verdon, Route Napoleon, Route des Grandes Alpes etc before dropping Mrs S back at Avignon airport and heading north myself.

I've got Sunday and Monday to get to Avignon from Zeebrugge and don't know how hard to push on the first day...

I thought Reims would be far enough but Dijon was the first plan. Is it too far? I see you already use a place near there...

What do you think?

Ken
Glasgow

ps: love the look of your place... perhaps next year!

kenseaton said:

Thanks for the tip... hasn't made the choice any easier but handy to know.

I've got Sunday and Monday to get to Avignon from Zeebrugge and don't know how hard to push on the first day...

I thought Reims would be far enough but Dijon was the first plan. Is it too far? I see you already use a place near there...

What do you think?

Click to expand...

....How long is a piece of string?

If you go autoroute Zeebrugge to Dijon, it would be 587km, of which 560km is on motorways. Call it 366 miles, mostly on the superslab.

It's a bit further if you leave the payage at say, Troyes, and run down the N or D roads, which is what I would do, picking up the Bis road, south from Troyes to Dijon.

Dijon is roughly halfway between Calais and the Med, so you would have knocked a reasonable chunk off your journey to Avignon, home of the popes and a nice enough place.

Thanks, that's exactly what I thought. But I wasn't sure if you would recommend turning to the N roads a bit quicker... which would mean a bit slower on the ultimate mileage.

Now, I only have to wait for a successor "hopefully" to step in to take on the Superfast Rosyth-Zeebrugge route. Or else it's all plans back in the melting pot and a possible Glasgow-Hull jaunt.

Ken

kenseaton said:

Thanks, that's exactly what I thought. But I wasn't sure if you would recommend turning to the N roads a bit quicker... which would mean a bit slower on the ultimate mileage.

Now, I only have to wait for a successor "hopefully" to step in to take on the Superfast Rosyth-Zeebrugge route. Or else it's all plans back in the melting pot and a possible Glasgow-Hull jaunt.

Ken

Click to expand...

Hi Ken,

I wasn't sure of your sort of mileages or speeds, so I erred on the side of caution.

The earliest you could (sensibly) leave the motorway would be Cambrai.

There after it's just a question of working your way down the main motorway junctions, heading south, if you want to stay on it further.

St Quentin is the next logical one, then heading south via Soissons. One of my favourites to come off at, heading south. After Soissons, it's N and D roads all the way, via Chateau-Thierry, Montmirail, Sezanne, Troyes and then the Bis route to Dijon. I could probably do it with my eyes shut.

Reims next

Chalons next

Troyes last sensible exit before Dijon.

If I were you I would work my time backwards, from Dijon, to the port. If you want to be in Dijon by, say, 17:30 but you boat doesn't dock until noon, it's a lot of motorway work, I'm afraid. If the boat docks at 06:00 then you have all day.

On the N and D roads you will be lucky to average much over 45 mph, on the motorway 65ish. These speeds are realistic. OK, we have all been much quicker....and a lot slower!

PS When i read your note about the Glasgow - Hull ride, then a ferry, I realise how lucky I am to live in London.....at least for getting off this island!

>>PS When i read your note about the Glasgow - Hull ride, then a ferry, I realise how lucky I am to live in London.....at least for getting off this island!<<

I'm lucky to live in Scotland where I don't have to ride more than 10 minutes to start my day's riding... I love the roads here and it almost pains me to head further afield.

However, I also love France and the French and bikes are what I do. So if it's Rosyth-Zeebrugge or Hull-Zeebrugge the only real difference is if I can have a drink on the boat on the night of the trip...

The Rosyth ferry does/did dock late and I'd love to see a new operator use a decent fuel efficient Stena-type ferry on the run but, realistically, that's not going to happen as there's not enough freight heading back to Scotland and the north of England.

So... when I get to Zeebrugge from Hull I've got a long day ahead that I can make fun or boring. My choice. Fun usually wins... as boredom can be kinda fatal but there's no joy in arriving at a dark hotel.

I'm tempted by your routes but I'll decide nearer the time and once I know how up against the clock I am.

Well done for the information, by the way. Accurate, passionate and well thought out!

Ken