Why this ride
A 158 km round trip from Mareuil-sur-Ay - roughly 2 h 50 in the saddle. The stops in between: Caves Pommery, Coteaux d’Hautvillers, Colline Saint-Nicaise and back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground and Colline Saint-Nicaise
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 158 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 50
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Champagne Tourist Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 29 km this is Champagne Tourist Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 29 km
- Named road
- Champagne Tourist Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground
Beneath the quiet village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, in the Marne valley east of Épernay, lie cellars cut into the chalk, and they are where the story of champagne is really told. The wine is made in two stages. The first ferments in vats in the autumn, and the second takes place in the bottle, down in the cool and dark, for months or years, and the chalk is the perfect place for it, holding a steady ten degrees all year and breathing out a faint damp, mineral smell. The tunnels, hewn by hand centuries ago, branch and bend beneath the vineyards, lined with bottles stacked neck to base.
Read the complete Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground is where the day begins. Next is Caves Pommery.
2. Caves Pommery
Eighteen metres below the streets of Reims, a stone staircase of a hundred and sixteen steps leads down into one of the most remarkable wine cellars in the world. The Pommery caves were dug as Roman chalk quarries, the crayères, whose tall, pyramid-shaped galleries were later linked by tunnels into a network about eighteen kilometres long. When a widow, Madame Pommery, took over her late husband's champagne business in 1858, she saw the potential of the chalk pits and built her cellars there, as well as a huge neo-Gothic and Elizabethan-style estate above ground.
Read the complete Caves Pommery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Caves Pommery comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coteaux d’Hautvillers.
3. Coteaux d’Hautvillers
On the hill above Hautvillers, the rows of vines run straight down to the Marne, and the colour changes with the season: bare, brown and clipped in winter, green in summer and red-gold in October. This is the cradle of Champagne, or at least one of its most famous corners. The Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre, in the village, was home to the monk Dom Pérignon in the late seventeenth century, who did not invent the sparkling wine, as legend says, but improved its making and blending, and whose name now belongs to a prestige cuvée.
Read the complete Coteaux d’Hautvillers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Coteaux d’Hautvillers. Next is Colline Saint-Nicaise.
4. Colline Saint-Nicaise
Planning note
Colline Saint-Nicaise, about halfway. Next is back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers.
5. back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Coteaux d’Hautvillers write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Caves Pommery.
6. back through Caves Pommery
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caves Pommery write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Caves Pommery comes up about 133 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground.
7. Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground closes the day.
Leg by leg
Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground to Caves Pommery
Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground → Caves Pommery is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caves Pommery to Coteaux d’Hautvillers
Caves Pommery → Coteaux d’Hautvillers is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coteaux d’Hautvillers to Colline Saint-Nicaise
Coteaux d’Hautvillers → Colline Saint-Nicaise is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Colline Saint-Nicaise to back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers
Colline Saint-Nicaise → back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers to back through Caves Pommery
back through Coteaux d’Hautvillers → back through Caves Pommery is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caves Pommery to Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground
back through Caves Pommery → Cave de Mareuil-sur- d’Aÿ - Underground is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Champagne Tourist Route from Reims · 97 km
- Champagne Tourist Route · 110 km
- Champagne Scenic Route · 140 km
- Laon Ridge and Aisne Valley · 281 km