The forest

As promised, some photos of the forest.  I love the forest, you can breath fresh air and even though it can get very busy around the Faux de Verzy during a weekend, there are places where you can escape from the maddening crowd.  On Sunday we took a long walk of almost 2 hours through the forest.  We forgot the hunting season opened and had to turn around twice to avoid being in the firing zone.  There are suppose to be signs to warn you on which day in which area hunting takes place, but needless to say, that is not always the case... And as some people in France are sometimes affected by the lack thereof, we didn't want to take any chances!
The forest also hosts an accrobranche (where you can do tree climbing with ropes, passing from one tree to the next, following a circuit), a champagne bar situated at the same site where you can follow a wooden walkway to enter the bar where you can have a coupe de champagne (included in the entry price, thereafter you can buy more per glass or per bottle) and look out over the forest, as well as Les Faux de Verzy.  These are beech trees with twisted stems and there are no explanation for this.  It appears in only three places in the world, with this forest having the biggest concentration.  A short circuit was developed for people to walk through the forest while appreciating the faux.

Some can grow tall, like the one below, called fau de la demoiselle (fau of the young lady)

During summer time when the leaves are dense, you can see some entrances to below the trees.  Perhaps the inspiration for fairy tales?  One feels there must be a little creature inside...

You can access the forest from many different parking areas around the Montagne, some areas have wide easy walking/cycling roads, some are more narrow and wild.  In some areas you can walk through the forest to the edge, to get a view over the champagne vineyards and the valley.

One can easily walk from Verzenay to Verzy, following the CBR (Chemin de Fer de la Banlieue de Reims, that is the old railway line linking the Montagne with Reims).  The line was inaugurated in 1896 and played an important role during WWI to transport injured soldiers and military equipment.  Unfortunately, with the arrival of cars and trucks the line was less and less used until it eventually closed down before WWII.  Today you do not see any of the remains, except that the road is flat and an easy walk between the two villages.