Headed south towards Calais. It seemed the entire population of Hull was heading to Wembley for the match against Arsenal. Apart from endless roadworks, the journey was uneventful. We reached the Tunnel ahead of time and got on an earlier train.

French motorways were empty so we reached Reims in good time. In the distance we could see the slag heaps of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coalfields and the twin heaps that are rather imaginatively known locally as the sleeping woman. We saw a cycle race on a bridge with lots of team cars following it. When we got to Reims there seemed to be an event at the velodrome and we wondered if they we related.

The hotel was on the canal and about five minutes from the centre of town. The centre was vey busy and bustling with folk. Though there were plenty of restaurants, there weren't many dishes for veggies so pizza it was.

Above our bed there were, weirdly, pictures of Formula 1 cars.