17. Day 9. Friday 30th August

Sometimes I think it's all psychological. You know the feeling, you have something planned and you think, I couldn't have lasted another day or another mile. I had planned to do three days cycling then have a rest day. Today, the fourth day, I could not have got on my bike for anything, and I slept all afternoon! I wonder if from the outset, I had planned to do 4 days cycling and then a day of rest, would I have managed it, and would I be writing this blog on the fifth day?

So, nothing big to report today. I got a bug bite yesterday on my finger on the knuckle just in front of my wedding ring. During the night it was itching and swollen, so I decided to remove my wedding ring. Impossible. In fact, it made things worse, so for 15 minutes at about 3am, I sat with my left hand in a bowl of cold water. Today, the ring is still stuck there, but the swelling has gone down. I think due to the heat, my fingers are bigger than usual, so it won't come off, but I am not worried as much as I was in the middle of the night! Here is a picture: (no, only kidding!)

I haven't really got many pictures today, but I did walk into town this morning and realised how stunning this building is. I am in a hotel which is called The Hotel of the Chateau Fort. The Chateau Fort being the medieval castle that is built on high ground in Sedan, France.

I have mainly stayed in B and B's on the way, usually spending about £40 or 50 Euros a night. I was surprised to see this on the bookings.com website for 65 Euros. There must be a catch I thought, as it looked stunning and was competing at that price with some very basic budget chains. I still don't know how I got the price I did, and there has been no catch! The only thing I can think is they hope you will eat here and the menu is silly money! So, pizza across the road tonight at a café with table outside on the cobbles!

The first photo is off the hotel's website:

This picture is on the inside of the Fort Square. My room is second from the left and fourth from the top. At the left hand side just above the very bright light, you can see an archway which goes into a tunnel down towards the town. The next two photos show this entrance tunnel taken from the outside coming into the fort:

And finally, here is the map showing where I am (blue spot) and where Wengen is (red)

For clarification, I am at the halfway point between Alsager and Wengen (Total is about 800 miles) and I am at about 4/10ths of the way across the European bit. Not forgetting, of course, that the big climbs have yet to come. I looked ahead last night at the elevation profile, and most of the biggest ups and downs each day have been 500 or 600 feet. On one of the days towards the end of next week, there is a climb of over 3000' over a distance of only 5 miles!!