Out & About in Champagne

23 October 2019

An historic region, perfect for exploring the great outdoors

Credit: Fred Laures

The illustrious past of Champagne is intertwined with the present with extensive champagne vineyards stretching southwards from historic Reims, the coronation city of France, in a stunning mosaic of straight lines and vistas. They travel over the hills to the south-east into the realms of the Knights Templar and the Counts of Champagne.  Continuing onwards, you will see the beauty of the varied landscape, exquisite orchids by the roadside, mysterious forests, bubbling brooks and an abundance of rare and wonderful wildlife – a land to explore by cycle, motorbike or foot, rewarded by a glass of bubbly at the end of the day.

Credit: Phovoir

Credit: Christine Tomasson

Migratory birds:The great lakes of Champagne are magnets for migratory birds en route from their Nordic breeding grounds to over-wintering sites in Spain and Morocco. Created in the 20th century to control the flow of river water of the Seine and Marne, the low levels in autumn and winter are ideal landing grounds for cranes and other migratory birds such as wild geese, ducks and birds of prey who appear in vast numbers during November and December. Up to 250,000 cranes have been sighted at the Lac du Der alone – the largest man-made lake in Europe.

Credit:  Sophie Martineaud

By foot: With 3,125 miles (5,000 km) of sign-posted footpaths in Champagne and neighbouring Ardenne – both circular walks and long-distance routes, there’s ample scope for walkers, serious hikers or those wanting to explore the varied landscapes: great forests, deep valleys, open plains, hills, vineyards, lakes and rivers. Hiking sheets for 15 circular walks in Champagne and five in the Ardenne can be downloaded from the tourist board’s website.  There are also nine “Grand Randonnée” long distance paths running through Champagne and Ardenne with two of these being part of the old Pilgrim routes.

The three lakes of the Forest of Orient: Nestling in the heart of the Regional Natural Park of the Forest of Orient, these three lakes were created to control the flow of the Seine and Aube rivers.The largest, Orient, is designated for all non-motorised water activities, the Temple for nature and fishing and the Amanda for motorised activity. Together these three lakes offer over 12,000 acres of water to enjoy aquatic sports, bird-watching, walking and cycling.

Geo-caching: Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices and is an unusual and enjoyable way to explore areas and places that you would not normally access. Participants enter the GPS coordinates of a specific “cache” and follow the compass or map instructions to find the cache (normally a container with little treasures and a logbook) hidden at that location. The finder takes one of the treasures replacing it with one of their own and logs comments in the book. The experience is then shared online with other geo-caching fans. To join in, simply register at www.geocaching.com and choose the area you are interested in for a list of the caches in that vicinity.

• Lac de la Liez – the largest of the four lakes with a leisure base at Peigny
• Lac de la Vingeanne – with a leisure base at Villegusien-le-Lac
• Lac des Charmes – with a leisure base in the village of Charmes
• Lac de la Mouche – reserved for nature and fishing.