Charny, France

Day Twenty-Four 108 miles 4950ft

That was the noise that I heard in my ears most of the day from the incessant and very strong headwind.  This year has been very windy but I have not cycled in such a strong wind as today. It kept on blowing too. 

The wind is the bane of cyclists and I did question what I was doing as I struggled to do 10 mph on the flat. Going uphill sheltered from the wind was a plus. In addition, after leaving the Champagne region, the Isle de France is one of the most exposed parts of France with no trees for cover allowing the wind to hit you with full force. No fun at all. The village name below summed it up !

 
Starting out today from a damp and drizzly Epernay, ( before some of the Polish grape pickers I would add) heading south through more Champagne vineyards, I negotiated the town centre rush hour quite well and then got covered in mud, rain and grape juice, feeling very sorry for the poor pickers who looked even more miserable than me!   

 We all then met up (me plastered in mud) at a small champagne house for a quick private tasting, before finally leaving the champagne area near Sezanne. 

  There were a number of different warning signs for the harvest but this was my favourite.  The harvest started last Monday and should be over in the next two days so the many Poles will need to find other work. It makes you wonder if anyone is left back in Poland.  The coffee stop was after the champagne stop today! and was adjacent to the huge, but ugly monument to the victory of the battle of the Marne in the First World War, as approved by Marechal Joffre  

 The drizzle stopped, but as I mentioned earlier the wind just seemed to get stronger and stronger making cycling a real challenge.  

 As you can see from this photo there is just no protection and two short stints of 25 miles or so for lunch and tea were taken, leaving just over 30 for the final blast to the campsite. 

Pleasingly this last segment was more sheltered and the wind seemed less fierce allowing me to finish just after 7.30 and well before sunset at 8.06. 

Interestingly, as we go south and west,  sunset is staying relatively constant at just after 8.00pm but sunrise gets later. 

The news is full of the first autumn Atlantic storm hitting the shores a month early, and the forecast for the rest of the week does not look great. 

Nigel and I will monitor and if necessary cut some days short and use up part of the rest day.  Not something I want to do but that is why they are designed into the schedule. 

As I write this the rain has started again………