15. Day 7. Wednesday 28th August

Start Point: Brugelette 165'
Highest Point during the day: 840'
End Point: Lompret 645'
Total Climbing 2096'
Climbing difficulty factor 59
Distance: 71 miles
Cumulative distance: 326 miles

I didn't think much of last night's hotel. It was a few miles off my route, which got it off on the wrong foot, and it was a bit passed its sell by date. When I realised breakfast was extra, I decided to pass, and left at 8:30 hoping to find a little Belgian Bakery round the next corner. Unfortunately, no bakery, and in fact, no corners. One length of road, with a cycle path running alongside it, was about 7 miles long with not even a bend! It's quite tough cycling in a perfectly straight line - mentally I mean.

Eventually, about 10:15, I came into a town and the first building on the left was Lidl. Not exactly a local bakery, but it provided refreshments.

Whilst sitting next to my bike eating breakfast, I noticed how my bike was starting to look like it had done over 250 miles:

My indicator lights are working again. In the photo below, you can see the best invention ever, plastic ties, which now hold it in place instead of the broken bracket.

Lunch was taken on a bench overlooking the river. Behind me was a run-down farm with goats and chickens wandering around. After 20 mins or so and a phone call from Ray (Smith), I was just about ready to get up when suddenly there was a noise behind me, and a packet of biscuits had been snatched from my bench and was now on the floor. This was the cocky thief:

Today was a climbing day, with the end point 500' higher than the start point. But if it had been just a steady climb, it would have been a lot easier than all the undulations, giving me a total of 2000' climbed. However, in the afternoon, I stopped for a minute to take a photo of my sat nav as I reached the 300 miles point:

About 5ish I reached a medium sized town. I was ready for stopping here or at the most, another town 10 miles further on. I decided if I saw a hotel or BnB, then I would stop. I didn't see one, but I did see a Tourist Office, where they recommended a hotel in between the two towns in a village called Lompret. It was another 25 minutes away, but it was worth it. Here's a picture looking down to the back of the hotel:

The owners are very friendly and trusting. Here's where they let me put my bike (next to all the beers) and even suggested I could use the fridge if I had food or drink for tomorrow.

Temperatures today were a bit uncomfortable for cycling. It was sunny and 25 degrees in the afternoon. I got a shock after my shower, when I noticed my upper body was two colours, white where the bike shirt had been and brown on my face and lower arms:

After two days covering nearly 160 miles, I think I'm going to ease off tomorrow, perhaps starting a bit later and maybe doing about 50 miles. I've been pushing myself a bit, continually setting targets, so before I burn out, I think I'll just slow down a bit!

The map below has a blue spot showing my current location, and the red marker shows Wengen,