Early winter, Thursday 2 December 2021

The Swan Whisperer went for a run this morning, and came back not only with croissants for breakfast (yum), but also with the information that the tram stop into Reims was only a few metres away. 

So, after a hiatus when we couldn't find my woolly hat (it had been put away, but its matching scarf had not, hence the confusion), we set off. Tram tickets, like bus tickets in the UK, are valid for an hour, and we made full use of our hour, as when we got to the Cathedral, we found there was a Christmas Market.  One of the best ones we have been to, actually.  We had to wear a mask and show our vaccine certificates to get in (I accidentally showed the photo I had taken of my Bratwurst supper, which made us all laugh - I had opened the right picture, but must have clicked on "next" or something.  Oh well, no harm done! 

The market was much bigger than we first thought, and it was a great pity that we were neither hungry enough to make the most of the proffered samples of all kinds of goodies, from cheese to prunes and boiled sweets and everything in between, nor was it the right sort of time of day for glühwein (and the SW was driving, anyway), but we bought gingerbread for the boys (a Father Christmas and a St Nicholas, which will, of course, be for Boy 2), and ended up with a mug of mulled orange juice, which had slightly too  much cinnamon for my taste, but was otherwise very good. 

We got back on the tram with about 2 minutes to spare on our tickets and, once back at the motor home, used the services and then headed off. 

We stopped for lunch at a lovely aire in a village called Corbeny, which was by an artificial lake or pond of some kind.

It would have been a lovely place to spend the night, but there were no services of any kind, and anyway, it was only lunch time.  So we drove on to this aire, taking our time and going cross-country. This is the municipal aire of Marcoing, just outside Cambrai.  It is okay; the fresh water is out of use for the winter, and there is nowhere to empty the loo, but they provide free electricity while the street lamps are on.  I gather they go off at midnight, but I expect they come on again in the morning.  It is not particularly attractive; it is by a canal lock, but you can't see it.  Still, once  you are indoors with all the shutters closed you can't see out anyway!