arras - Reims

Day 3
Into the wind!
We left Arras this morning with the rain soaked flags on the square pointing in the direction that any sensible person would travel - but we are not and we did not!!
You are probably familar with the hats fishermen wear when inclement weather is brewing- yes Sou'wester. Now have you ever heard of Sou'Easters?? - well soon you will because we will market them! The whole day we had the wind and rain right in our less than enthusiastic looking faces as we were cycling through lanscapes littered with cementaries with the poor young chaps who were sent to the trenches. At least the weather helped us maintain our sombre mood! Onwards south eastwards
We had the first stop in St Quentin where we on the rainsoaked square found an excellent establishment to  fill our bellies with large doses of protein and carbs - and several litres of Orangina.
We sped (perhaps not an accurate description!) on up and down hills and as the rain increased we reached Laon - about 20 miles from Reims and we decided that mortal men could do no more and we bought traintickets for Reims (bikes free- vive la France!!) - the moment the tickets were bought the rain stopped and blue skies appeared! That didn't fool us and we stuck to iur plan snd boarded the train for Reims where we have just had an excellent meal accompanied by some local barley brew Affligem rouge and Edelweiss - small glasses, we are pilgrims on a mission! On the way back there was a spectacular Son et Lumiere show in the cathedral with bagpipes, choral music and organ recitals ( we only had two beers each, honest!). It was a beautiful warm evening and we do have some expectations for tomorrow when we will hopefully meet up with Feoff from back home!
Todays travel was 75 miles, 970 metres up and a few down. No mechanicsl mishaps today!!