FLEUR
Casual Barge Biking Cruises in Holland, Belgium, Germany and France
The cruises listed below are for those passengers that are looking for a very laid back experience at an affordable price. These cruises are multi language. Your cabin consists of your own private toilet and shower, though you take care of cleaning your room. You are given clean linens during the cruise and you make your own bed. Lunch is a packed bag each day. There is no formal meals such as a Captain's Farewell dinner. No alcoholic beverages included in the rates.
These are a great value and great fun if the above features appeal to you. The 20 passenger Fleur (built in 2001), is a Dutch barge, practical and comfortable with a friendly appearance.
Champagne Region of France
8 Days
Paris to Reim June
26, 2010
Individual
Booking - € 1040 per person
Rate includes: 8 days, breakfast, lunch package, dinner, bed linen, bike rental, tour guide.
You can book this trip as a bike & barge trip or as a cruise. If you book a bike & barge trip, you can make a bike tour of 20 – 40 km per day, accompanied by an experienced guide. If you book a cruise, you sail with the barge and you use public transport, accompanied by another experienced guide.
Itinerary: Paris – Meaux – La Ferte sous Jouarre – Château Thierry – Epernay - Reims
Highlights: Paris – Brie de Meaux – champagne cellars in Epernay – Reims cathedral
Champagne vineyards along a gorgeous river
During this tour we follow the beautiful valley of the river Marne. Along the way, you have plenty of opportunity to taste the cheese and the champagne this part of France is famous for.
You meet the Fleur in the heart of Paris, not far from the Notre-Dame. From there, we follow the valley of the Marne upstream. The first stay is the city of Meaux, famous for its Brie. Later on we arrive in the real Champagne region and you bike straight across the vineyards on the rolling banks of the Marne.
We visit the immense champagne cellars in Epernay, capital of the Champagne region, as well as small champagne growers, who will be proud to let you taste their best champagne. We spend a night in Château-Thierry, scene of the American battles in World War I. Destination is Reims, with its beautiful gothic cathedral.
Champagne tour
Bike & Barge / barge only 8 days
Itinerary: Paris – Meaux – La Ferte sous Jouarre – Château Thierry – Epernay - Reims
Highlights: Paris – Brie de Meaux – champagne cellars in Epernay – Reims cathedral
Champagne vineyards along a gorgious river
During this tour we follow the beautiful valley of the river Marne. Along the way, you have plenty of opportunity to taste the cheese and the champagne this part of France is famous for.
You meet the Fleur in the heart of Paris, not far from the Notre-Dame. From there, we follow the valley of the Marne upstream. The first stay is the city of Meaux, famous for its Brie. Later on we arrive in the real Champagne region and you bike straight across the vineyards on the rolling banks of the Marne.
We visit the immense champagne cellars in Epernay, capital of the Champagne region, as well as small champagne growers, who will be proud to let you taste their best champagne. We spend a night in Château-Thierry, scene of the American battles in World War I. Destination is Reims, with its beautiful gothic cathedral.
The cycling terrain is not very easy. We cycle small country roads that go up and down through the Champagne fields.
Day 1
(Sat): Paris
16.00
h Arrival.
You will find the Fleur at Port d’Arsenal in the heart of Paris, close to the place de la Bastille. 18.00 h Welcoming drink
18.30 h. Dinner
20.00 h Town walk. The guide takes you to Monmartre and the Sacré-Coeur.
Day 2
(Sun): Paris - Meaux
Biking: about 55 km. Sailing time: 8,5 hours
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h You leave Paris by bike via the canal de l’Ourcq. A bike path leads from
the place the la Bastille (close
to the mooring place of the Fleur), via the basin of la Vilette to the banks of
the l’Ourcq. In Trillbardou
we pass a pumping engine dating from 1865, which had to take care for a
sufficient water supply for the
city. Destination of today is Meaux , famous for its ‘brie de Meaux’.
But Meaux also has a magnificent
cathedral, the Cathédrale St.-Etienne. The building of the cathedral
lasted 400 years, from the 12th until the
16th century.
18.30 h
Dinner
Day 3
(Mon): Meaux – La Ferté-sous-Jouarre
Biking: about 35 km. Sailing
time: 6 hours
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h Today we bike through the valley of the Marne into the direction of La
Ferté-sous-Jouarre. On the way we
pass the Châteaux de Montceau, the building of which was started by Catherine de
Médicis in the 16th
century.
In Jouarre, 4 km from La Ferté, the beautiful abbey from the 12th century, with the 7th century crypt st. Paul, is
definitely worth a visit. In Jouarre we can also visit a cheese dairy and taste
brie de Meaux and brie noir.
18.30 h Dinner
Day 4
(Tue): La Ferté-sous-Jouarre – Château-Thierrry
Biking : about 45 km. Sailing time 5 hours
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h Today we leave the valley of the Marne. We bike through the hills north
of the river while looking for the
valley of the little Clignon river. Final destination of today is
Château-Thierry, which owes its name to the
castle that once was situated on the slopes above the Marne. You can still see
some remnants.
Here we visit the centuries-old champagne cellars of Pannier. Château-Thierry is
also known as the native
town of the world-famous writer of fables Jean de la Fontaine. The house of his
birth now is a museum
18.30 h Dinner
Day 5
(Wed): Château-Thierry - Epernay
Biking: about 40 km. Sailing time: 8 hours
8.00
h Breakfast while sailing
9.00 h The bike tour starts shortly before Dormans. In this quiet village on the
Marne there are a castle and chapel
in memory of the battle of the Marne. During World War I this neighborhood was
the scene of close battles.
From here we bike really through the champagne region. We are surrounded
by extensive vineyards and
will pay a short visit to some champagne cellars. We pass Vandières, where we
look at the Roman
church. Further along we come across the Châuteau de Boursault. This large
castle was built in 1848 by
the widow of Mr. Cliquot, who gave her name to a famous champagne wine. Finally,
we may visit
Hautvillers on the southern slopes of the Montagne de Reims. According to
tradition Dom Pérignon (1638
1715), who was in charge of the wine cellars of the abbey of the Benedictine
monks, was the first to
succeed in blending various kinds of wine into a wine of superb quality. Double
fermentation,
characteristic for the making of champagne, was introduced also by this monk.
We meet the Fleur in Ay, shortly before Epernay,
18.30
h Dinner
Day 6
(Thu): Epernay – Sept-Saulx
Biking: about 40 km. Sailing time: 7 hours
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h Our first visit of today is Epernay. Together with Reims, this city is
the major wine center of the
Champagne, where three extensive wine regions meet: the Montagne the Reims, the
Côte des Blancs
and the Vallée de la Marne. Epernay has many town houses dating in
neo-renaissance style or classical
style dating from the 19th century, especially around the avenue the
Champagne where prestigious
champagne houses such as Moët et Chandon are situated.
After this we bike after the Fleur, still through the valley of the Marne
for a little while. We pass Mareuil
sur-Ay with its beautiful castle, of which in 1830 the Duke of Montebello became
the owner. He established
a champagne house there. After Tours-sur-Marne we definitely leave the Marne and
bear off to the north.
We retrieve the Fleur in Sept-Saulx, a small village on the canal to Reims.
18.30 h Dinner
Day 7
(Fri): Sept-Saulx - Reims
Biking:
about 40 km. Sailing time: 6 hours
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h Today we bike along the northern side of the Parc Naturel Régional des
Montagnes de Reims via Verzy,
where we can admire the ‘Faux de Verzy’. These odd crooked birches owe their
curious forms to a
genetic disorder. Then we bike past old wine villages until Rilly. From there we
can see Reims, final
destination of our tour. This old city on the banks of the river Vesle is
especially known for its wonderful
cathedral, where the French kings were crowned. The Notre-Dame cathedral is one of the most famous
cathedrals of the world, because of its unity in style, the magnificent
sculpture and its prominent part in
more than 1000 years of French and European history. But the Basilique St.-Remi
is also very much worth
a visit. Together with Epernay,
Reims is also the center of champagne production and the city has
numerous cellars, which we can visit.
18.30 h Dinner
20.00
h Town walk
Day
8 (Sat): Reims
8.00
h Breakfast
9.00 h
Departure
