Orient Express Day 1 Paris to Chenoise - 75km

It was a balmy night and the “Comfort Hotel”, a misnomer if ever there was one, did not have air conditioning. My room-mate decided to try his luck sleeping in the hotel garage...an apparent exercise in futility with the bonus of traffic noise all night.

Anyways, we packed our bags and, after a 6.30 breakfast at the hotel, we headed out in convoy in a cool overcast Paris Sunday morning to Lagny-sur Marne, about 18km from the hotel, where we stopped for coffee and visited the local outdoor market.

Groups headed off at their own pace on a rather uninteresting route with lots of fields, a few cows and some rabbit and crow roadkill. The poppies are in full bloom and there is plenty of manure.

We had a lunch stop at around 56km (11am) and then cycled a reasonably flat route to Chenoise where we stopped for coffee and cake with Alf and Evelyn Benjamin from Capetown South Africa.

We were the last in to Ferme de la Mercy campground and found a spot to pitch our tents. By then, the sun had come out and stayed out for the duration making it impossible to take a nap unless a sauna was what one wanted.

Ride meeting at 5.30 sharp followed by dinner of pasta, vegetables in tomato base and prawns..

We sat around as the sky blackened and the storm started at around 9pm with no let up. I spent the first 20 minutes looking for leaks and waiting to be washed away as happened last time I set up camp 40 years ago. Tent design has certainly improved over the years! Miraculously I fell asleep for a few hours and stayed dry for the duration. So cross off day one of camping. Next 2 nights in a hotel in Troyes..