Day 11 - Luxembourg to Kaiserslautern

 19th June 20.50
Now in the warm and comfort of Bill & Ali's house, I thought I would up date this blog.

After a night of very little sleep in the Youth Hostel (I forgot how noisy these places were with my dorm reminding me of Picadily Circus) I got up early and was on the bike at 8.45. It was raining but with a long day ahead I had to get going. After 10k I was soaking and after 20k I was starting to get very cold. The main problem being that my waterproof wasn't. In a bid to cut down on weight I left my heavy waterproof at home and took a lightweight one with me - big mistake, now rectified as my heavy waterproof has now being sent out here. The wet day across Belgium was OK because the temp never dropped below 17C but on this morn it was a miserable 11C and also the wind was against me adding to the chill factor. I stopped in a barn ate all my biscuits not sure what to do and decided to cycle as hard as I could to get warmer and if necessary stop in bike shop and buy some more clothes.

For the next 30k I put my head down followed the white line on the side of the road and cycled as hard as I could. The rain did ease a bit and at least I didn't get any colder. I stopped for an early lunch in Mettlach. The first thing the lady running the retaurant said was to offer me a towel (what great service - she got a good tip). After eating soup, bread, toasted sandwich and a side salad. I started to get cold again. Time to get going again. I bought more biscuits and coke for the ride and bought a large flapjack which I ate straight away.

One thing that I have learnt from cycling is that if you are cold and hungry you will soon get very tired, and when you are cold you must eat even more food as your body uses up lots of energy trying to stay warm. (If you get any 2 of the following: cold , hungry, tired: the third will come soon).

The good news was that it had stopped raining, I cycled on staying to the main roads as these are quicker, but there was loads of traffic, but to go on side roads would take too long. Slowly my body dried out and the temp rose to 13 or 14C. My feet were soaking and cold, so I changed socks every 20k or so.

One other problem I had is maps. I highlight the route on to maps, either photocopy them or cut them up into A4 sized paper, and fold this paper up and put it in my back left pocket of my cycling top. So as I ride along I can take out the paper and see where I am going. I don't bring spare maps and rely on being very careful, also if I did lose a map I can easily buy another.  I don't like bar bags as they rattle and it's hard to read the maps through the plastic. My method works well apart from in the rain when the map is unreadable, therefore it has to be left in the pannier. This means that you have to stop on a regular basis to check the map which is a right pain and adds to the journey time, but I still find it the best overall option.

I ploughed on into the wind via Thealy, Oberthal, Sankt Wendel & stopped at Schonenberg-Kubelberg at about 6pm. Here I had the best salad and Penne Ariabatta ever. (As my dad says - hunger is the best sauce). From here on it was flat and feeling refreshed I biked the last 30k to Kaiserslautern feeling normal, happy to have made it.

Todays Stats
Distance 165.75k
Climb 1719m
Riding time 8:08.00
Average Speed 20.9kph
Total time 12:15:00


  17th June 23.55
I have 2 mins to write this before being kicked out ot the internet cafe  - will update later

It was wet, cold, into the wind, miserable,cold, busy roads, cold,
165k of being cold. 12 hours of being cold

I am sure I have had worse days on a bike - just cant think of any at the moment

(apart from the Goacher-Wiseman trek across Route 57 of the Sustrans rides in South Wales)

Looking forward to seeing Bill Ali & kids tomorrow