| Day # | 24 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 49.8 miles | km | 2766 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 880.7 miles | km | 30086 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
The weather for most of today was pretty awful. Very few photos were taken, other than towards the end of the ride when the weather improved and therefore there is no visual record of the conditions. This means that the reader will need to rely on the eloquence and descriptive power of M1's beautiful prose to attain an understanding of what we went through today. Here's how M1 would describe the weather we cycled through for the first few hours of the day:
"It abso****ing-lutely ****ing ****ed it down and we were soaked to the skin, like a couple of ****ing drowned ****ing rats"
Does that do it for you, dear reader? What's that you say? Wordsworth could not have done a better job? Excellent.
So, it rained. Persistent drizzle to begin with, then quite heavy rain. The waterproofs didn't stand a chance and we were soon absolutely drenched. If the temperature had been a degree or two lower, we would have been freezing too. And at times, it was proper windy and of course it was a headwind or a cross wind and the wind did a great job of lashing the rain into our faces.
But, c'est la vie and most of all, that's bikepacking. It's all part of the adventure.
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| A nice foresty bit |
We crossed the border into Belgium without knowing and eventually hit the town of Arlon. There was a bar open, so we parked the bikes and went in. We joked with the bar tender about the crappy weather (largely in French, can you believe?) and ordered coffee. The coffee was hot, tasty and hit the spot. So, we ordered another round and M1, who was feeling rejuvenated and unusually generous, got to his feet and shouted to the whole bar "The next round of coffees are on me!", just like in the movies.
OK, this didn't actually happen, but it could have and if it had it would have made a great story! And the fact that there was nobody else in the bar at the time would not have detracted from this grand gesture one little bit :-)
It's hard to describe the route as most of the time our eyes were barely open more than a squint to keep out the driving rain. But there were towns and villages and open countryside, and there were roads and unpaved trails. There was even a Roman road, which if you look at the map above, you can easily see. It's more or less as straight as an arrow, something the Romans liked in their roads, big show-offs that they were.
We'd not seen anywhere open since the bar in Arlon and it was gone mid-day when suddenly, M1's keen hunting instincts and sense of smell kicked in!
"Chips!!!" he cried to M2. He wasn't wrong, but "Frites!!!" would have been more apt. Because by the side of the road they were cycling along, was a place that specialised in that Belgian delicacy, apparently constructed from a series of shipping containers. The intrepid, wet and hungry cyclists screeched to a halt, as they so often do, parked the bikes and went in, ordering Frites Grand with Mayo x 2.
There was a Belgian family eating at the next table and the man spoke good English. He was friendly and quite witty, making some good jokes about the weather.
We carried on, feeling better for our hot meal and getting closer to the town of Florenville, our destination. The River Semois, which we're now camped near was crossed a few times.
On arrival at Florenville we bought a few things from Carrefour and then headed for the campsite. Obviously, it started to rain as we were checking on. Obviously. Neither of us had any appetite for putting up the tent in the rain so we found shelter and waited. As luck would have it, the rain stopped after about five minutes and would you believe it? The sun came out! And it was glorious and it was very warm! So, we put the tent up in warm, sunny conditions and all those wet clothes started drying quickly, assisted by the insistent breeze (AKA wind!).
Thanks to the wet weather, the bikes and our luggage are all somewhat filthy, but it will all wash off. M1 is looking forward to a dry day which will allow the bikes to have a proper wash and the chains to be cleaned and lubricated. He likes that kind of thing.
Cheese of the day was Port Salut.
Fin
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