Metal spaghetti in the lasagna

Thought last night was going to be the night where I got the on the spot fine for stealth camping in Switzerland, with a helicopter circling over head last night and again in this morning.
The mountain hardwear trango 2 ain't the least bit camouflage being orange and grey.
Pushed off about 10:30 after coffee and obligatory hang the fly to dry there is always quite a bit of condensation. I got to lake Maggiore and followed it to the Swiss Italian border. Where I met Andre a Mexican moving to Switzerland with his family we stopped for lunch at what seemed a posh lake side restaurant but when the wine arrived it had cork in it, i didn't mention it, just fished it out but when i found metal wire in the lasagna I had to say something. The waiter brought me a new plate but no discount or free wine. Oh well should have made a bigger fuss. Don't remember the name of the restaurant may be Andre if he reading this will let us know.  Now setting up camp in campo del flors a national park next to a ruined house. Great day, nice weather got the thermals back in the deuter panniers and shorts back on.

Location : Valganna Varese,

Gotthard to the north

The weather was fantastic today set off from Andermatt at about 10:30 with the temp at about one deg it was 12km to the summit and was surprisingly easy. Not the steepest road we have encountered so far the mountains where snow capped and plenty of people giving thumbs up and cheering as they drove by. I stopped at the top and got stove on for coffee. After about a hour it was starting to get cold so started the decent on the cobbled road  now 1853M and still got about another 100M to descend before starting the next climb before making it to Italy. The temperature is  much warmer here. The road broke in to tarmac at Airolo. I stuck to the road all the way. Not  the route bikeroutetoaster had made was more for walkers but if you had a unladen mtb and didn't mind walking some of the way even carrying it over some big rocks, a good man could have done it. Terrific ride some of the best scenery so far.

Location : 6524 Moleno,

Andermatt and chilly

Left the hotel with clean dry clothes and well needed rest cycled  past lake Lucerne where i stopped for coffee, with magnificent views of Buochserhorn 1807m snow capped and just as i sipped back on hot coffee admiring the view the swiss air force came over doing loop da loops in formation they buzzed about for quite a while having all kinds of fun. propeller driven planes on the nose quite big I thought I was at biggin hill watching the red arrows again, finished off the coffee and went through quite a few tunnels great cycle path all the way to Erstfeld where i caught a train to Andermatt 1000m gain in  altitude. The road signs say Gotthard pass open and icy....   great :-P

With snow forecast for tomorrow night and 4deg C temps during the day i think it going to be my last chance to make it over before it to cold sets in. Think ill put the Patagonia thermals on for tomorrows ride along with full length gloves. Ive still got about 600m altitude to climb to summit the pass should be fun the start of week fives map and then on to Italy.

Location : Gotthardstrasse 2-18, 6490 Andermatt,

Snow ice sun and rain

Stopped for a rest today to wash clothes and charge batterys. The weather clearing and i can now see the snow on the alps still many meters to climb looks as if the temperature on the gotthard pass is -1 yeah its cold wonder what the night time temp is. Wednesday the temp is going to rise to 8 deg C so itooks as if that will be the day to cross over to the south side of the bump into Italy. Thinking of getting a train to Andermatt where i will keep a closer eye on the weather got way tomuch kit for such a climb i think Andermatt will give me a good start at 1820m and me being at 440 and the summit at about 2107 it going to save me breaking my self a bit worried about sno and ice on the road wish i could have my mtb for a day or 2.

Location : Müswangerstrasse, 6288 Schongau,

Location : Mattenstrasse, 6343 Risch-Rotkreuz,

Wet wet wet

Swiss rain has been getting the better of us. Tried to find hotel but every thing is booked out. Just found out there on the spot fines for stealth camping in Switzerland. I'm going to have to recycle my clothes tomorrow ugg. Dry in the tent for now.  phone battery getting really flat.

Location : Müswangerstrasse, 6288 Schongau,

Basel and Tinguley

Well we made it to Basel for lunch first stop the Tinguey museum we are hoping to find a laundry, post office here going to send a few things back to England to lighten the load for the impeding hills/mountains that stand in the way to Italy. Had to show my passport to get into Switzerland i guess being neutral means passport control,  although a quick flick through the pages was all that was needed. We passed novartis lab the old sandoz laboratory we one Swiss chemist had the bike ride of life time after playing with a fungus ergot found on rye grass. 

Location : Am Umschlagbahnhof 17, 79576 Weil am Rhein,

Basel here we come

Left the hotel and cycled down the Rhine all day, just  few km from Basel by we found a great swimming place and with the very hot weather we have been having and others swimming  here as well we took the plunge and got wet. The water was fantabulous still here having hot chocolate :-) tomorrow we will make it to Basel, but from what Gary a German we met here says it big and industrial.

Location : 79588 Efringen-Kirchen,

Bike issues.

Woke up on the banks of the Rhine with heavy mist packed up camp only to have a previous puncture start to leak again, where glue didn't hold I ripped off the old patch and put new one on. It stuck really well this time so it should hold for a bit longer.
Further down the river there was major surface repairs going on there was a detour in to town, should have been easy but was unable to get back onto trail.  My bike transmission started to play up chain jumping every so often it was covered in grit, grass and crap needed a good clean stopped in small village to get diesel although we just brought half liter of petrol minimum delivery for diesel was 2ltr so a can of WD40 is what I brought and sat in forecourt to disassemble and clean the transmission after a hour Bernt the mechanic came to see what we where up to he brought his brake cleaning kit out for us to use seemed most amused that i had chain breaker on tour but when he realized how far we had come and going it seemed ok. Top chap even brought out hand cleaner for us before going home to see his wife.  It was getting late by the time i had it all clean and back together so we checked into local hotel "Kreuz Post" where I'm eating one of the best cold breakfasts I've had

Location : Landstraße 1, 79235 Vogtsburg,

Is it a rest day?

After waking up bright and early this morning and on the trail quickly  we only cycled  7km to a wonderful picnic site down the river Rhine where we had pasta and hung the tent out to dry. We both promptly fell asleep on the benches for a good few hours. The suns out and its a absolutely glorious day.

We set off at around 15:00 along the Rhine managed to loose the Rhine cycle path altogether,  but we are still on route to Basel had wonderful views of the swiss hills with the sunset.

Location : Pfarrgässle 7, 79369 Wyhl,

Bloody ticks

Woke up this morning with a bloody tick stuck to my head covered it with washing up liquid to suffocate it and pull the little blighter off hope no limes disease sets in. We then started to travel  down the canal to Strasbourg.  what a wonderful city Strasbourg is, very old streets and the most impressive cathedral we stopped for some real grub at the Grenada i had snitchzal it was gulped down before the veg arrived. They had ran out of ice cream so i got one in a cone by the cathedral.

 Got back on the trail only to fine the gamin was having a few problems. It kept switching off as the map where loading, seems to be  ok now but had me a bit worried. I was convinced it was broken for a while. Now sitting on the Rhine river on the German side having coffee. The day seems to have raced away on us again. Now following the river to Basel and to start the Switzerland accent. So much for a rest day every thing seemed to expensive, even the camping ground which charged extra for bikes.

Location : Kronenhofstraße, 77694 Kehl,

Location : Kronenhofstraße, 77694 Kehl,

Towards Strasbourg

Woke up to a lovely sunny day but noticed the tent had the start of the dreaded mildew on the fly sheet so a quick call to hiking legend puk in new Zealand had us sitting about to 1300 to get it dry he recommended vinegar wipe over followed by baking soda and a good dry. Once on the road we climbed out off mouterhouse to breinstine standing stone where we met 12 cycle tourist from Quebec with a average age of 70 sure hope im still as fit as them when im that kinda age. Great decent through the forest to have lunch in a twee french town attracting attention of the local kids on  bikes. By the end of the day we had reached the Canal de la Marne au Rhin which should take us in to Strasbourg to join the river Rhine.

Location : 67170 Wingersheim,

Mouterhouse campground

We left the cycle way this morning to start climbing more hills through Germany and on to France stopped for lunch at Ligne Maginot the worlds strongest fortress at the start of the second world war the Germans weren't stupid and went around it through Belgium to take Paris the fortress is 700km long and underground. Leaving there after lunch for some more hill climbs legs really feeling it and descending down one hell of a hill to a camp ground by lake very picturesque but not looking forward to the climb out of here in the morning hopefully the tent will catch the morning sun and dry out getting worried about mildew on the flysheet it hasn't had a chance to dry out in days.

Location : Rue Neuhammer, 57620 Mouterhouse,

The river Sarr

The thunder clouds passed by last night and woke up this morning with a dry tent got the coffee on and it started to piss down, tent wet again :-( .

Climbed a few hills to join the river Sarr to sarrbruken great path met plenty of other cyclists some passed us as we turned of and cut through a city to rejoin the cycle path only to realize that we had got in front of them while drinking coffee well done bikeroutetoaster saved us a few kms there. We have now started week 3 off the trip and will leaving the river sarr in the morning covered 70km today, a good day in the saddle.

Location : Elsässer Straße 70, 66271 Kleinblittersdorf,

On we go to Germany

Heavy rain last night but we stayed dry again the fly sheet is now very wet and I'm a bit concerned about tonight with the big black thunder clouds rolling over so it looks like another wet night. Stopped for lunch in Luxembourg city for lunch and to get a spare inner tube found a great bike shop velo center where i also brought  new bottle cage to replace the minora one that broke it made the stove bottle rattle and was starting to annoy me, at only 6 euros I  went for it. The bottle fits nice and snug.

We Left Luxembourg city and passed through vineyard's to then  passed over the river mosslle and enter Germany it was on the route that i planed but still unexpected.  Had a steep accent to the summit where we found a lovely picnic table with one of the best views so far and even a few pear trees. Once again struggled to find a good camping spot so a litle near the road but have a great view of a castle.

Location : 57480 Merschweiller,

Adieu belgique

Set off about lunch time from the campground nice ride through the woods and on to Arlon for lunch where cafe Miami said we couldn't use the toilet so we moved on to a friendly kebab shop where we got a durum chicken wrap from a very friendly man and a Brazilian couple wanted to take a photo off us. They told us about there cycling  trip around a few pacific islands and of a  pub in town that had over 50 Belgian beers down stairs in  cave sounded great but we didn't make it there. Pushed off to Luxembourg where we are now, found a number of outside taps for water but none of them worked :-( one friendly man gave us water including 2 bottles of spring water. We followed a traffic free cycle route it had very good surface but we struggled to find a place to camp. We are here now just off cycle path in industrial area.

Thank god the stove works now. Back on the unleaded petrol. Phew

Location : Rue de Strassen, Strassen,

No rest for the wicked

Quite heavy rain last night stayed dry which is the best thing, set off about 10am did 1.8km before we found a basic rual camp ground "a la ferme" so it looks as if we are going to get the intened rest day after all. very helpfull owners gave us fuel for the stove and full service wash of the cothes all for 11.25 including camping. unfortunately i think we go leaded petrol and the stove didnt like it. So after going to town 3.5 km away for food i had to cycle back to get white spirit totaling 14 km. Then had to service stove with new jet and nozzle luckily i had the exepedition service kit with all the  spares. Now cooking pasta on  sightly yellow flame always used unleaded petrol in the stove just glad to be having somthing hot in a few minutes.  Not feeling that rested after the hilly road to town and the stress of the stove.  But at least its been sunnie all day and clean clothes for the ride to luxemborg.

Location : Rue de la Mande Brat 15-20, 6860 Léglise,

Location : Rue de la Grotte, 6860 Léglise,

Sunday bloody sunday

Well we pushed off as the sun came out only for showers for the next few hours got back on the route to climb up hill only for angelia to point out that the we where going back to the start doh. Silly me O:-)  back up the otherside of the valley no shops or petrol so it looks like the last of the bread and cheese is comming out for dinner. Luckily we found a vending machine where i brought mars and coke got the sugar/caffeine  content back up. For all the good it did we found a place to camp in the same woods as the supposed camp ground just a little futher round. Wondering if we could get a indian deivered to here wouldnt that be magic but i aint seen any indians let alone a restaurant so its unlikly boo hoo must have good meal and rest soon we are both cream cracked.

Location : Léglise, 6860 Léglise,

Location : Léglise, 6860 Léglise,

The promised land

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 49.745081
Longitude: 5.498832

Checked the forcast last night the forcast was afternoon rain so a early start to get to a unamed camp ground for a rest day. Should have realized that unnamed tent marker on the map wasnt 100% certian but we need a rest and wash our clothes
When the gps said follow a dirt track into the forest the liklyhood of a camp ground was unlikly but it could have been a short cut right. It was only 2km off the tarmac we had nothing to loose steep muddy track led us to a lake with a covered picnic table great place to camp but not a camping ground with hot showers and laundry in such a rush to escape the pending rain, i failed pick up any supplies including petrol for the msr wisperlite stove.now just having bread and cheese for lunch. The next camping is a good few miles away and prob not going to happen for a few days. Nice place to stop for a rest if we had all we all we need just about to push off to find food/water and shelter.

Up up and away

This is My Current GPS Position:

Latitude: 50.014010

Longitude: 5.187872

Woke up this morning to the sound of chainsaws and lumber jacks. Seems we where camping in working forest shame really hope the wood was going to make furniture and not firewood. Theres huge stacks of firewood in peoples gardens it must get bloody cold here in winter. Stopped for lunch in in wellin had no idea what i had ordered and when trout arrived i was pleased, it was amazing with bacon and cream sauce followed by coffee ice cream. Pulling out of town for some more hill action and through some splendid country side. Very leafy hillsides and freindly people.

It was my turn for  a punture today a certian bike shop in bristol hadent fitted the tube correctly, the valve ripped away from tube had spare tube so back on the road quickly altho it went flat so quick i fell of the bike again into the road. Just getting used to the shoes and clips. I like them alot but so many years of toe clips that i forget to twist my foot in a emergency.

Camping in a nice wooded area and even seen a wild bore but ran of before i could grab my knife errr camera. Only did 30km today but stayed up to 3am last night having a fire in remembrance of my mum who passed away a few days ago in new Zealand. Time to hit the hay for  early start and its nice to just lay down oh my tired body.

Location : Rue de Jehonville, 6890 Libin,

Location : Rue de Jehonville, 6890 Libin,

Hilly me come hilly me go

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.124633
Longitude: 4.919301

Over stayed the guest house get out time by one hour the luxury of  bed and view was irresistible. Breakfast was superb best bread ive had for a while. Pushing our way up hill away from walcourt for a onslaught of hills great views of the valleys had to change the route slightly as the road turned way to big and busy. Around phippville so we went into town and hd a great ice cream my teeth wouldnt allow me to get another beigium cake :-*  picked up supplies in Givet and made coffee on the river Muse. Lovely town quint little streets i even fell of my bike trying to turn around people rushed over to see if i was ok. More embarrassed than hurt if i could only speek french i feel more comfortable but getting by, wish i had a phrase book. i know ive be banged in the English box again. Now having pasta and beans next to army site in wood sourounded by razor wire.

Wifi and rain issues

This is My Current GPS Position:

Latitude: 50.251945

Longitude: 4.431883

The rain stoped yesterday morning enough for us to make coffee and pack the tent. Mananged to keep ahead of the rain most of the day but by the time we got to Walcot it caught us up. Took shelter in bar and had a coffee found hotel with fantastic view of church at 55euro a night it blew the daily budget but it had free wifi and breakfast. As soon as i started to make geo tagged photo map it went down and has been intermittent ever since. So map still comming. A good few photos didnt geotag correctly im unsure why job for another day with stable connection. Just had breakfast and checked todays ride plan looks like a senic jaunt across the hills. Nothing to extreme just a fair amount of up and down. Heres a pic from the hotel more of a guest house really but beautiful all the same. 



Location : Address not available

Rain rain go away.

This is My Current GPS Position:

Latitude: 50.425031

Longitude: 4.172151

Heavy rain last night took shelter in the woods and more rain this morning, had  lunch in the bus stop shelter. Got soaked right through started heading for hotel in Binche but when we arrived thers no hotel, just heavy rain pitched  tent pretty quickley after not finding a hotel. Really need to charge my phone and power monkey battery. Every thing dry except the tent. I wonder how much weight im carrying with the dew and rain water on the tent fly. Bike feeling really good. Just brought tiger balm for the knees we both feeling it. im riding fully loaded need to cut weight at some point. Cycled along a very good canal path around mons massive barges carry 900 tons alzo fully loaded.


Location : Rue des Mineurs 22, 7134 Binche,

Back in the saddle.

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.489181
Longitude: 3.813914

A few busy roads to negotiate today after stormed cleared, that passed last night. Stopped for lunch in beloeil and sampled some of the exquisite sweets of beligium, after fresh pasta by a quiant fountain. We Set off mid day and did 40km. Camping in the woods with plenty of mozzies just ducked in to escape the bites.

Ran the garmin from the power monkey afted a full charge at the camping ground, it only consumed 25% all day but i topped it up while stopped for lunch via solar. it would really handy 2 powermoney batterys. The jurys still out on the cheeper unit anint been of any use so far but i think getting wet was a no no.

My location

Date: 6/9/2010

Address:
Rue de l'Orient 42-46
7500 Tournai
Belgium

Latitude:   50.60045224
Longitude: 3.41315216

Accuracy: 4m

http://www.google.com/maps?q=50.60045224,3.41315216

It looks as if we are in for thunder and lightining tonight, wondering how waterproof the mountain hardware trango 2 tent is.

Rest day.

We moved from the cannel side to a camping ground to day and washed our clothes only 3km today but a rest is needed. We re greased the front and rear wheel bearings of the dawes bike. The grease was old and hard also the wheel bearing was loose. It goes to show you should alwa do the work on your bike your self. After my bike having to go back to the bike shop to come up to standard and the other mechanic having a cursory look and using wrong size tube for tire causing pinch flat. I highly reccomend learning to fix your own bike before going on tour.

It looks like rain tommorow or this evening so could be testing the waterproofness of our euipment ugg.

Just stopping for some real cooked food to power us on our way in the morning.

Location : Rue des Campeaux 2-4, 7500 Tournai,

My GPS Position

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.824842
Longitude: 2.230661

Sunday in lille

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.595183
Longitude: 3.412480

Setting off with hopes to get through lille in good time for a early night and rest body just getting right in the saddle. But as we hit lille there was a very big market / fesitval  blocking our route,having to navigate around a one way system and the market. Ended up pushing our bike through the crouds and getting the worst burger that i ever seen the meat was raw inside Busy day in lille market slowed us down a bit like quite  bit and the wether turnwd out food and we pushed on feeling good to tournai and camped in town by the cannal

Day 2 france beligum and france again

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.690636
Longitude: 2.897405

After a nice early start we found one of the bikes had a puncture after fixing that we got off by about 11 o'clock. We stopped a good few times to take in vistas and supplies. We stopped in Cassel for lunch taking in a splendid views from the top of the hill where we brought a nice bit of local pear and apple juice. Thought we had a good camping spot sorted via osm map on the gps but we we arrived it was a petting zoo for kids around a lake not what we expected. Cycled about for a hour more to pitch up in a park, it was outta the way and secluded for a city like Lille.

Hey we made it..

This is My Current GPS Position:
Latitude: 50.824873
Longitude: 2.230758

We went to Canterbury cathedral  to gef our book stamped and found our names announced over speakers as pilgims at the 530 service. Amazing organ playing ans everything.

Thanks to Gray dropping us of  at the euro tunnel pick up point for cyclist at a 7.45  and a speedy boarding on the train ment we where in France for 7.55 uk time for a early start after making coffee while the other cyclist while going for bannans and power bars. Norman the driver was a great  chap  every knew him by first name from the first booth to inside the train. Nice ride today coupe of hills nothing serious . Pasta and croissants buy a lake.

The journey begins.

Here we are on a beautiful autum day just on the out skirts of Canterbury getting ready to see the cathedral and city walls, its been 14 years since I lived in Canterbury and im wondering what faces I may see on the high street or even more interesting is in the cherry tree public house. where I spent many a drunken night either working or drinking.  Tomorrow we are taking the euro tunnel  and start the journey to Rome if the old  addage is correct "all roads lead to Rome" I shouldn't need to worry about the maps on the gps or the route we should get there in the end.

Location : Address not available

Location : Fox's Cross Rd, Canterbury, Kent CT5 3,