Wet. Every item of clothing I have with me is soaked. I thought I would be Ok in the wet – I’m not a “fair weather rider”. I wasn’t quite prepared, however, for 2 and-a-half days of rain followed by hail and then more rain. I’ve taken shelter in a cheap hotel in Metz.
Being France, everything is closed today (May Day). Every town I rode through was like a ghost town save the odd market here and there.
Tomorrow I’ll grab some new clothes and change how I rotate them.
With hindsight, as I’m sat here in the hotel bar wearing very wet clothes, I probably should’ve pushed on through to Strasbourg and just sat in my tent (wearing wet clothes).
I’m not disheartened though – spirits are still high 🙂
Discarding that 2Kg of “stuff” last night made today’s ride much better. And the moments when it wasn’t raining were gorgeous. Ardennes is a nice part of the world.
Tomorrow I will try and put some serious miles down. I’m enjoying pootling at 55-60mph but France seemed less vast when I had the Suzuki!
[pause for a beer]
I’ve thrown away the lambskin seat cover :(. Once wet, it started to smell like a real live lamb/sheep – blurgh!
I’ve also decided that the way to avoid getting wet socks while riding is to simply not wear socks – easy. I’m going to have a set of riding clothes and a set of evening/dry clothes. Less planning and fuss.
I really thought I’d avoid the trap of bringing too much of, and the wrong, stuff. However, the year’s procedures are forming through experience as opposed to “guessed planning”. That’s what it’s about.
[going for a walk in Metz]
Rather than sit in the Ibis hotel bar and have a couple of beers and some food, I thought it worth donning my wet clobber and exploring the town that is Metz.
The first bar I found was a locals’ bar that would not look out-of-place in Leamington, apart from the fact the only folk in there were French and enjoying the finale of May Day.
The French love to smoke… especially at the bar… even though it is illegal.
A fun night was had.