2 days rolled into one, and originally planned as such. My host Judith says it was a mad attempt but for a pro cyclist without panniers in Mid-Summer, so partly reassuring...

Despite the meticulously labelled bike routes of Belgium, these were some of the tougher days, the neck is starting to cramp fairly debilitatingly with the extreme bodge below the only solution to raise the handlebars (pictured). If pain was coming up the spine, then shivers shot down it riding through the memorial Arch in Ypres (pictured), it rang of another Hertford rugby tour where we were there for the sunset ceremony.

A few lesson hard-learned recently in cycling, that would seem to apply to life quite well too:

  1. There is no such thing as an 'easy day', especially if you get up late...
  2. Prioritise experience, rather than pushing yourself though pain and hardship for the sake of it.
  3. Don't make hard plans too far in advance - they will affect the present too much.
  4. Listen to your body as much as your mind.
  5. There are free lunches (and sometimes dinners too)

Without trying to be cut and dry, I hope to start sticking to some of the above!