Saturday 25th May: Weather: 14°C to 20°C: Overcast with sunny spells with a few afternoon showers
Paris: 22k walk around Bois de Vincennes
Accommodation: Hotel de Reims near Gare de Lyon
La Coulee Verte Viaduct
Au Vieux Campeur locations
Joggers on tracks through Bois
Chateau de Vincennes
Ducks on the lakes in the Bois
I’m awake at 2am but feel good, just not sleepy after 6 hours sleep. After spending 4 hours messaging and texting Ian and Bonnie, I learn that Ian has almost no chance of getting even economy out of Sydney to Abu Dhabi. So after much looking and searching for alternatives, Bonnie comes up with Plan B - Virgin from Sydney to Hong Kong econly, but the planes only half full so Ian will have a whole row to himself, the Business with Etihad to Abu Dhabi and again Business Abu Dhabi to Paris, due to arrive on Monday morning. An overnight stay in Sydney is needed, but watching the Broncos play while having a beer, he’s all OK. I have a baguette and jam with a jet boiled cup of coffee for breakfast before leaving to spend the day in the Bois de Vincennes, a 285 hectare forest on the eastern outskirts of Paris.
The Hotel de Reims is only 100 metres from the Coulee Verte. Created in 1988 by Philippe Mathieux and Jacques Vergely on the former railway line, which linked Place de la Bastille to Varenne-Saint-Maur from 1859, begins at Bastille and runs above avenue Daumesnil along the famous Viaduc des Arts, then it continues through tunnels and trenches and ends at the Bois de Vincennes. An extraordinary journey along 4.5 km planted with many types of lime and hazelnut trees, climbing plants, rosebushes and other plants. So I leave at 9am and immediately climb the stairs on to the Viaduct and head towards Bastille - the opposite direction to the Bois de Vincennes, but I wanted to see where this track started.
Once off the Coulee Vert, i walk towards Nation to check out the apartment we have booked for the week of the tennis. It’s address is 20 Place de Nation and it was easy to find. I can tell that the view from the 4th floor will be magnificent looking out over the tree lined Place. Walking back down Rue de Picpus, I soon rejoin La Coulee Verte and by now there are hundreds of joggers and walkers on the track. Through tunnels and trenches, over bridges and eventually the track comes to an abrupt halt at the Boulevard Périphérique, the ring road around Paris. It’s obvious they haven’t finished clearing the track to the Bois de Vincennes, and there’s a detour along Boulevarde Guyane to the Bois.
The Bois de Vincennes, located on the eastern edge of Paris, is the largest public park in the city at 995 hectares. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by the Emperor Napoleon III. It’s Saturday and the Bois has thousands of people either walking or cycling. I plan to do a circuit around the edge but first it’s time for a quick coffee stop and a biscuit watching the ducks and swans on the lakes.
Around the Hippodome and eventually I get to te Chateau de Vincennes, a former residence of the Kings of France. There’s dozens of buses arriving and departing with tourists. A bit further on I have lunch by another lake. It’s spitting to rain so I don’t stay long and cut through to rejoin the Coulee Verte again on the edge of the Bois, stopping a few times under a thick tree canopy to avoid the heavier downpours. I walk all the way back to teh hotel, not stopping, but continuing on to a large Monoprix store I had seen earlier in the day near Bastille. I leave with a bag full of bread, cheese and a bag of ice and get back the the hotel at 4pm after a 7hr walk, covering I guesstimate about 22k
The ice goes in the waste bin which I use as an esky for the cheese butter and milk, but not before I take a few cubes out for my now warm bottle of Rose to have with my bread, tomatoes and cheese. Bed at 8pm after a long but wonderful day in the Bois de Vincennes.