One last view of the Canal de Nivernais. We hope to come back.Tannay…so many of these towers attached to houses in this region.The Roches de Basseville. If we had continued up the canal we would have seen many of these limestone cliffs. Bunger found an old bird nest on the ground which had been made with a lot of lichen.Nap time.No one will steal this picnic table!Ken checking out this electric bike where one person sits on the front. Ken thought he was already in Misery as his navigator stopped navigating due to snarky comments from the driver.But we decided to go to Merry instead.Cliffs along the canal.Hard to make them out but we caught up to the German couple with the 2 person bike, moving right along on the paved canal tow path. France has wonderful cycle routes and this couple goes on long distance rides every year.Fields and fields of 🌻 Love how France plants trees beside the roads. No 100 m right of ways like back home. Land is at a premium here. Found vineyards for all of Peter’s buddies…he was worried with our coming home early we would miss out. But Reims is champagne country. Teensy.Hamtaro.Cheery. Bunger. Strabbie (pronounced Strawby).Drove off route to visit this monument to the first big battle of WW1 at the Marne in August 1914. Paris was being threatened. Legend is that all the taxis in Paris were commandeered and they were able to bring 6000 troops to the front line very quickly. And apparently the cabbies were a paid their regular fare! The Allies pushed the Germans back to Reims, it was considered the most decisive battles of the war and costly…lost almost 200,000 men. Truly too hard to conceive.Um…perhaps not a design I would have chosen…and this thing is huge…it dwarfs the chateau beside it. Completed in 1939…bombed by the Luftwaffe in WW2 but they missed. Apparently the design was based on the local Celtic menhirs – giant stones (think Stonehenge) that dot the countryside. Even the words carved in the stone look Celtic.Made out of concrete mixed with rose granite…but the details were carved by hand.Unlike Canada’s Vimy Ridge, whose monument is a thing of beauty, awe-inspiring and a testament to the sadness of war (which is why Hitler did not destroy it)this monument is angry, a raised fist to victory…which is perhaps why the Luftwaffe tried to destroy it.Beside the monument. The poor thing’s eyes were covered in flies.Not sure these horses appreciated the view…or the sign that said do not feed themKen meets technology. You had to order your meal using your phone. Drinks were delivered by a waitress but the actual food was delivered by…well, see for yourself below!
Ken tries to steal someone else’s food! Ha ha!Okay. Yeah. That’s ours. Check out that look of determination on Ken’s face. No little robot is going to get the best of him even when she sends him hearts when he pats the top of her head to say he’s taken all the food off.Look, Scott. I actually ordered zucchini…and it wasn’t an accident!
TerryandKenViaFrancigena2022 
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