We zig and zagged as usual (thank god for our offline GPS) with cycle conditions starting to deteriorate after our dream experience in Holland.
En route to Sint Truden the heavens finally opened up and with well oiled F1 precision we had wet clothes on and bags c OK vered almost in time for the rain to ease off !
Not long after gearing up we took a turn and almost ended up in the middle of a criterion race, all thumping along on dead flat roads (where are the touries !) dressed in their Saturday best lyrca no doubt aware of the 2 imposing Aussies in their midst !
The scenery was beginning to get more interesting with wide sweeping plains both cultivated and non cultivated fields - this unbelievably has been the type of land fought over for hundreds of years - hardly a hill anywhere to provide a terrain reference point !
Wed experienced a number of problems exciting large towns and Hingelom was no different as directions given to H soon had us both in competition on a narrow road with high speed motorists - taking the village route was a lot quieter but the 25 kms we travelled took only 8 kms off the direct road journey to Namur !
In Braves we were given an ominous warning by a local - watch out for the steep mountains approaching Namur .. we laughed him off but his words came back to haunt us !
Not only did it start to rain again but our riding was now direct in to a fierce head wind at times only managing 9 km/hr on the flat open roads!
If that wasn't bad enough the last 5 kms into Namur included an extremely hard 1 & 1/2 km climb .... I mean prior to this going over a speed bump was classified as a climb in Holland or Belgium but this was the real thing and we struggled - how will we cope in the Pyrenees !.
Now pretty buggered we had one final challenge a speed descent in fast moving traffic into Namur township.
Henley adopted the Eddy Merckx position and steamed through the first downhill round about and then the second one immediately after (not seeing it) narrowly missing cleaning up a not too happy motorcyclist !
Somehow we made it in to the center of this busy Historic town where H found us a goodish hotel straight opposite the main railway station at 7pm
Wet & tired we went out for dinner where H after much perusing again settled for the tried and tested Carbonara
Tomorrow its France !
PS Bike updates - after the Avantis recent fall the other day we've noticed the rear wheel is retarding - similar to its owner !
And yes even the mighty Canondale is in trouble with a slipping gear problem and a missing bolt off the back pack rack .... what next !
Kevin. You go from male model in your first photo (not sure what your selling) to very unhappy pasta eater the next? Why the up and down emotions?
ReplyDeleteMike. Ever thought of getting some go pro cameras on your helmets? Capture an entire day of riding. People would watch it ;-)