Without a shadow of a doubt the hardest day yet. An early start because the tent was like a sauna and this did not do any good to the unearthly smell that my sleeping bag continues to kick out. There are two major annoyances for cyclists in my eyes. Head wind and having to go back on yourself. Today I had this within the first hour and the head wind stayed for the whole day! Heading towards Reim from Laon i noticed that some joker had seemed to duct tape out the town Reim from all the signs. I was pretty sure that the place still existed so continued to push up and down countless hills into the wind with the heat now reaching 30. It just so happened that there was a roadblock and instead of blocking the road fully the French like to put a cone in the road that anyone can go around and just duct tape out the town. My diversion wasn't too bad and too be honest unless a bridge has collapsed or the town has literally been wiped off the earth, bikes can go anywhere!
Reim turned out to be a very lovely town which actually had people. Some of these people were amazingly under the age of 30 and weren't farmers! Today you would've spotted me being very French collapsed in front of the Notre dame cathedral eating a baguette with Brie. As I headed toward my next destination it came apparent that a whole baguette and 250g of Brie makes you unable to cycle or do pretty much anything so I had to have an extra stop before powering through the relentless headwind and coming dangerously close to no water for miles.
If you're wondering about the shower situation as it has been 5 days now, then here's the deal. Rivers where I've been have been not existent and the two that I have seen have had more green skin on than shrek. The truth is I have only had two ways to shower, once in the morning when you shake the top sheet off the tent you get a nice splattering of dew on your body. I have to be sure to do this topless as to not let my t-shirt steal all the moisture however. Secondly as I'm cycling along and it's been a couple of hours, I squeeze my helmet against my head and the protective cushioning in the helmet releases a fine dribble of salty water onto my legs. Got to keep your mouth closed and lean forward slightly for this one as not to not get in your eyes though, stings a little.
Hope this makes you feel better and if not, alot cleaner at least!
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