I was surprised to be in one piece when I woke this morning, camped out on mole hill. It is right next to a public park and walkway. It was overcast, and there was going to be a good chance of rain today with thunderstorms in the evening. Ugh, but 60kms to Luxembourg City, should be ok before the worst hits. First we need food. Shopping and breakfast.
Another dodgey campsite survival. Didn't break an ankle.
We head off towards the shopping centre area, with a brief stop for map checking. Two guys out for a scooter ride, were stopped also, so I asked if they new a cafe we could go to. They directed us over the bridge to the marina. Great, not far lets do that then the shopping. Over the bridge, we found the cafe, Closed till 11am, ugh, ok back over the bridge to the shopping centre. It's a bit strange, as it is after 10am, and no cars are around the place. The shopping centre is Closed! The sign says it should be open, but it definitely isn't. It is starting to look suspiciously like a public holiday.....
One last attempt, we ride further into the town, and spot a cafe open. Yay! I asked the lady if they were making food, as I'd seen a menu on the table with words like spaghetti and lasagna. She nodded, so we ordered a couple of cappuccinos, and looked through the menu. The only hot food (it was 10C) were toasted sandwich or waffles. We could manage that, so we tried to order it. Nope, no cooking today. "What about the spaghetti?" I ask. "Yes, yes" she says pointing to the ice cream menu. On closer inspection, they make ice cream Look like real food. In desperation, we ordered some, with fruit, to try and get some goodness. It was massive, half a ton of cream piled high with a ton of ice cream and a few bits of fruit and topping. Oh god, this is going to kill me! All that dairy in one go. As a kid, I would have been in heaven right now.
This is not going to end well in my stomach.
After that disaster, we discovered it is a public holiday for Pentecost Monday. All the countries we could go to today would be closed for it! Poop, and no food. So we decided to head back over the bridge to McDonalds, get some half real food, then go on to Luxembourg City. While we're there we'll book some accommodation. Gees we are feeling good now. Half a ton of dairy and some Maccas! Goodo for dogs, ugh!
A pirate ship adventure playground. How cool is that?
Ugh, now it is starting to rain.....yuk!
Finally we get going, luckily, not over that bloody bridge again, but under it. Along the Saar river again. Before very long, it started to rain. Bloody hell, this is not good. We stopped under the next bridge, where some recreational cyclists were sheltering too. They were three brothers, Kurdish born, living in Merzig. They were really nice guys, happy to be living and working and having their families with them. They were out for a short ride. Medeni had very good English, but they all spoke Kurdish and German. This always impresses me. Language is really important.
Will and shelter sharers, Kadri, Hadi and Medeni. Very nice to talk to.
Will checked the weather, and funnily enough, the rain eased off just as predicted and we farewelled our shelter sharers. The weather was not looking good, and getting darker, as we left the river through the fields, rolling (and bloody long) hills and villages. It started to rain heavily again, so we took shelter in a bus stop. We'd only done about 20kms, and sat waiting for a break in the rain for half an hour or more. It was cold too. Bugger, not my kind of riding weather.
These very long barges are used on the Saar. This one was in excellent condition.
It's pretty dark, and cold, but the Saar is very pretty. Big too.
We seem to be getting closer to the black skies.
The bus isn't coming, and neither is the sun.
Now we are weaving our way through the farms and forests, up and down the hills, more up than down, and it is really hard work. I am completely disorientated, no idea which way is which, and it is just getting darker and darker. Then suddenly, we come out of the fields to the river Mosel, and the little country of Luxembourg. Wow! Cool! Oh and there are restaurants open and lots of people. We decided to eat as it may be our last chance. It was 4pm and we still had about 28kms to go.
Country number nine, and they are serving food, yay.
While we sat and had some food (schnitzel, salad and chips), the weather cleared and the sun came out. So nice. Everyone else was eating ice cream, ha ha ha, but not us! Happier, we headed off again, for one last push. It was 5 o'clock and at the speed we were going, it was going to be 7pm before we got to our hotel. Ugh! But we can do it.
About 20 minutes later, the weather changed again, and it started pissing down. We pulled into a track off the road, whipped out the tarp, and circled the wagons. Just got that sorted and it started to hail. Frickin great! Just to top it all off, our little sanctuary started to flood. So here we are on the side of a busy road, under a blue tarp, in the hail, standing in mud. Gees we're happy!
Rained on, hailed on and now we're flooded out.
After another 20 minutes, we decided it wasn't going to get better, so we will just have to ride in the rain, and hope they have plenty of hot water. Bloody hell. So, we do what we can, and head up the hill in the pissing rain. Again we are weaving around the farms and villages, more farms though, and bush land. The rain just kept coming, although it did ease a little. We were both very tired, and this riding the hills in the rain was really hard work. We'd given up the slug dodging (they are huge, and disgusting, and all over the paths), as it was too hard to see.
Friggin, great Davo, you peddle up this shit in the freezing rain.....Bloody Romans!
Davo GPS, had no idea the weather was ruining us, and kept trying to show us the sights. We're blind you dumb ass, our glasses are covered in water, and we can't see shit. Who cares? Oh roman ruins, an archeological dig? Great, nice roman road you want us to ride up...ugh, come on, haven't you heard of straight lines, shortest distance and all that?
The face of a million swear words......
Honestly, I didn't know which way was up. We were both saturated, cold and tired, when we finally came to the city. More bloody hills, traffic, and just as we finally found our hotel, in the Gare district (apparently the dodgey area), the rain stopped and the sun came out. At 7:45pm! Huh!
What a day! A tough one, and we got through it. Everything is covered in slug guts, mud and God only knows what else. We'll have to sort that out...later...for now we can have hot, hot showers and dry some clothes on the heater. No dinner, no beer, but who cares, tomorrow is another adventure day, and maybe another country.
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