North to Chalon

Mon 27th apr
Rains stopped but its a chilly and damp morning.
As it's monday most places are shut. Take walk around centre of Troyes with it's multitude of skewed wood frame house and ornate gothic churches; fascinating place. Although extensive renovation work has been underway for many years much still neeeds to be done. The cathedral still has a lot of moss growing over the gothic carvings which gives it an organic feel I really like. Find free wi-fi and an internet place so update blog and add a few pics. Sun makes an appearance late afternoon. Watch strange antics of mayflies in the evening, thousands of them fluttering up then floating down with their forked tails, by 21:00 they've all gone.

Tues 28th apr
Another grey, cold and damp morning. Visit fine arts museum in Troyes. By the time i'd seen the painting, sculptures, natural history, geology and 2/3rds of the archeology section it was lunchtime and I was thrown out. Shame as the archeology section was quite good. Sticklers for their lunchtime these french. Have bite to eat then wander round cathedral. The outside was much more interesting than the inside. Off to modern art museum, many famous names and a few interesting ideas but a couple of sculptures by Rodin were about the best things there. On way back when heavens opened again, hail, lightning, strong gusts, the works. Shelter for 15 mins and the suns out again. Call in cybercafe to dump pictures from camera to the web. Been having problems with corrupt image files, found odd file (fun.xls) on storage card. Get back to camp and reformat the card, hopefully that will cure it. More mayflies in the evening; checked up on them whilst on internet, strange creatures.

Wed 29th apr
Weather still looks unsettled. Head north a short way to Arcis sur Aube. Low, featureless undulating landscape and straight road make easy but uninteresting cycling. Pleasant friendly campsite but Arcis itself has little of interest. Weather starts to clear in evening.

Thur 30th apr
Clear blue skies and sunshine. More undulating landscape with large hedgeless fields and big skies as I head for Chalons en Champagne. Only a slight breeze, the wind turbines are static. Reach Chalons en Champagne in good time and campsite is well signposted, book in for 3 nights as get 20% discount. Have cuppa then walk 1k to large hypermarket to stock up, it's Mayday tomorrow and shops will be closed. Have another cuppa then walk 3k into Chalons and the tourist info. Get guide to town and discover there is the 13th Templar fair on Sunday at one of the places I was going to travel through. Things seem to have worked out well.