Day 17: Robert St Comte – Sezanne. The Sun Has Got His Hat On

A fairly decent kip allows me to wake at 6am refreshed and ready to go. As Ive had no dinner and not unpacked much I decide to just go without breakfast and have some further up the road. Thomas Stevens liked to do this and it's the first time I've had a chance to copy him. I say goodbye to my comfy bush and continue down the bike path. It brings me back out on my road to Provins. 20Km later I spy the 3 of 4 of the holy quadrangle. A Seat, A Supermarket and Entertainment. The other being free WiFi. I make up my breakfast and get the tea on whilst small children at some sort of playgroup poke their noses through the fence and say bonjour to me. I reply and I think they can already tell that I'm not of these parts. Brecky done and off to InterMarche for some pain. I slide the baguette through the straps on my panniers but the end snaps off so I eat this whilst riding along on the way to Provins. A storm rages off in the distance and lightning lights up the sky. It looks to far South for Provins and I whizz on thinking I'm safe. I reach Provins or lunch and the thunder is quite loud now. Spits of rain come down and I dive into a bus shelter. I have to get dry before it rains as I have been drying washing on the back of the bike, not to mention my baguette. The place is dead as are most places I have been to outside Paris. Everyone is on holiday. Perhaps I'll see them there.

The storm starts up but its over before long and I enjoy lunch in the safety of my glass bus stop, the sun shining on my back. Next stop Vaudaxe which I missed when plotting my map. Thomas went a bit off course here and remarks on the hilly terrain. I come down a very fast hill into the town, again dead and I take shade under a tree lined walkway on a bench. This is the first time I have really noticed the heat and I apply sun lotion for the first time. It's a bit late though and my shoulders are burnt to a crisp, not having had any exposure at all except for the last few days.Whilst I take cover in the shade somebody is playing guitar in a garden. The notes drift towards me and put me in a stooper. I'm feeling a bit perculiar and head out of town in search of the vinyards stevens mentions.

As I start to ascend a steepish hill I see signs for the champagne trail and the vinyards come into sight. The hill takes a lot out of me and the shoulders are burning. I'm now on the detailed map and notice there is a large wooded area up ahead. I leave the road and head into the woods. I've covered 55miles and beat my target so I'm happy. The bridleway has seen no wheeled traffic and is too lumpy to ride on so I push for a good few hundre metres until deep into the woods. I find a spot right next to the path, too hot to go any further. Im dripping in sweat and the flys are all over me. Today is the day to try out my 55p ebay mosquito net that I cycled 70 miles to get. It takes a while to get it the right shape and I attach the strings to various trees. With the net surrounding me and my matress on my big plastic bag on the floor I have created a netting tent. I move all my stuff inside the net and pass out. I think I have got mild heatstroke. Fear not I have survived and a cheese baguette and a lie down you will find can cure most things. Im tapping away writing this from inside my net. Ive been here 3 hours and not seen a soul. Not sure if I will bother with the tent or not tonight as this is perfect letting the breeze in and keeping the nastys out.