Château-Thierry lies along the Marne at a point where the river valley narrows and the hills close in, and it is the town where the poet Jean de La Fontaine was born in 1621. His house is now a museum, and the fables he spun about foxes, crows and cunning grasshoppers are still learned by schoolchildren across France. Above the river, the ruins of a medieval castle crown the hillside, with walls and towers that once guarded the road to Paris, and they give a good view over the roofs and the water.
The town has a solemn side as well. In 1918, the area saw heavy fighting in the Second Battle of the Marne, in which American troops played a significant part, defending the river crossing here and fighting at nearby Belleau Wood, to the north-west. A cemetery and memorial in the woods commemorate them, and there are other monuments around the district. The farmland near the town is rich and rolling, with fields of wheat and rapeseed, and the western edge of the Champagne vineyards begins in the hills around, making this a quiet end to the route.
On a motorcycle, the road along the Marne valley is a pleasure. It is smooth, bendy and gentle, with the river on one side and vines or woodland on the other, and it passes through villages with stone houses and old wash-houses. Traffic is light outside the commute, though lorries use the main road, so choose the smaller departmental roads when you can. The town has nearly sixteen thousand people, so fuel stations, bakeries and cafés are never far, and the riverside is a nice place for a sandwich in the sun.
Autumn brings mist on the river in the morning and the smell of woodsmoke by evening. In summer the shaded lanes are a relief from the heat. If you have time, taste a regional cheese such as Brie de Meaux from a local market, and think of La Fontaine's crow dropping hers.