1/4 Cumières/Baulne-en-brie (Champagne)
We started our adventure in Baulne-en-Brie, where we spent our first night in Reynald Dubus'
Auberge de l'Omois. We found Reynald so authentic that we began our shoot the next morning with him and his charming hotel. We then moved on to
Cumières, a little village that was crossed by the
Tour de France on the 3rd stage from Binche (Belgium) to Épernay at the Marne river in the Champagne region. Cumières is completely surrounded by vineyards producing delicious champagne. When capturing the special magic of a village without any traffic we were invited to join the friedly gathering of neighbours on the terrace of champagne-maker
Vadin Plateau. There we got some interstings insights into the field of winemaking. In the afternoon we approached the people waiting in the vinewards for the arrrival of the riders at a pretty steep and picturesque ascent to the village of
Hautvillers.
-> WATCH EPISODE 1
2/4 SAINT-Amand-sur-Fion (Champagne)
We then moved on into the eastern part of the champagne region, which is known for its endless wheat fields. On the
4th stage of the Tour de France between Reims and Nancy we found a charming little village called
Saint-Amand-sur-Fion. It was touching to see how people, from the early morning on, slowly started to gather at the sides of the closed main road. Even though it was hours before the riders would pass, they curiously came out of their houses. For us that was the perfect situation to get to know them and talk to them about their expectations, their hobbies and their life in general. We spoke to the mayor and were allowed to shoot in the bakery
Le Fournil de Saint-Amand, that was experiencing one of his busiest days in the year. Whereas in the other episodes for the passage of the riders the people progressively moved out of their village and into the nature here people stayed where they were, which gives this episode a nice unity of time and space.
-> WATCH EPISODE 2
3/4 Ammerschwihr (Alsace)
The
5th stage of the Tour de France, leading from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges to Colmar, brought us into the Alsace close to the german border. There are plenty of beautiful villages in the area, but on recommendation at our stay for the night, the
hotel "Chez Roger Hassenforder", we headed to
Ammerschwihr the next morning. The speciality about Ammerschwihr, next to Colmar, is that is has a very high densitiy of wine-growers among its inhabitants. And many of the wine-growing families there also produce their own wine, which has become less common in modern wine-making world. And of course they are very proud of the Grand-Cru produced here, the "Kaefferkopf", which is grown on one of the best locations in France. But in this traditionally men's business we wanted to find a woman working as a wine-grower. We were successful: the very sympathetic
Josiane Griss spontaneously open her cave for us, invited us to a wine-tasting and told us how she became what she became. Following the racetrack into the beautiful vineyards we met an aspiring cycling athelete, an alsacian family of only women, austrian visitors adoring the biodiversity, three british Tour de France lovers in front of their camping-cars, and the mayor of Ammerschwihr even twice.
-> WATCH EPISODE 3
4/4 THANN (VOSGES)
The
6th stage of the Tour de France lead from Mulhouse to La Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges. For this day we chose
Thann as our spot. Unfortunatelly we didn't happen to see much of the small city, because we stumbled over two fantastic protagonists with which we spend a couple of hours. Serge Mannheim and Jacques Kreider of
Cycles Mannheim run a very well-sorted bike shop in Vieux-Thann, and Serge Mannheim also manufactures hand-made bikes in his workshop. Especially for sophisticated customers with slightly off-norm body measures. We learned how he became bike-maker, what role cycling plays in the Vosges region and how new trends are about to change important parts of the market. After that we followed him to the place next to the race track where most of the locals were gathering. A place, only accessibly by foot, right in the middle of the woods where the riders had to pass on their way up to the
Col du Hundsruck. We spoke to a man who was there with his grand-daugther and a young football team was singing hymns long before the arrival of the riders. The fact that everybody had to came by foot made it particularly peaceful and made people also stay a little bit longer than in other places we have been.
-> WATCH EPISODE 4