Lordag - the morning after the night before

I know that after of the excitement of yesterday some readers will be a bit worried about my ability to maintain the same energy level two days in a row.  Worry not, normal service was resumed with a day of doing more or less nothing.  Understandable under the circumstances but not necessarily interesting reading.

Over the past few days we have become experts in motorhome living, knowing how to keep our van in tip top condition and create a clean and pleasant environment in which to live.  Such is our attention to detail that even after three nights of sleeping on a slope steep enough to make staying in bed a real challenge we couldn't be arsed to move.

That said it didn't really matter today, I suspect we would have been able to sleep standing up during an AC/DC concert, during an earthquake.  And a thunderstorm.  One of the more science minded lads calculated we had had about 14 hours sleep since Wednesday morning, enough for a normal week but not one with this much activity.

view of the lake from the campsite.  "not too shabby"

Even with the post ride adrenaline sleep came easily and I was able to make up for the deficit by managing a solid 1.5 hours before the rest of the group decided that the best spot to set up the camp chairs and talk loudly to each other was directly below my bedroom.  I have honestly never been unlucky enough to travel with a bigger bunch of arseholes.  I was also beginning to notice that my earlier thoughts that my damaged knee was holding up well was perhaps not entirely accurate.  

The next task was to sit around for a few hours eating sweets, a task at which I am proud to say I excel.  The group's earlier enthusiasm for beer seemed to have abated, almost as if everyone was utterly exhausted.  The main topic of conversation was of course the ride and the subsequent Strava analysis.  Strava is a great tool for cyclists and provides one with the ability to review the training hours that have been endured before such an epic ride.  I worked out I had done about 250 miles this year so not that much further than the ride itself.........

One of the things everyone enjoys most about camping is the sense of camaraderie you can only experience on a campsite, fellow inmates are not strangers just friends you don't know yet.  In particular the American lady (who lived in Hamburg) in the van next door would not leave us alone.  Of the approximately 7.5 hours she spent talking at us she imparted one bit of useful information, specifically there was a pizzeria within walking distance of the campsite.  That made a location for dinner an easy choice, after all what kind of morons would choose to use the provided free bus to downtown with its plethora of dining options when it was possible to walk just 3 short miles through a concrete heavy housing estate to a restaurant situated in the beautiful environs of a supermarket car park.

A Swedish supermarket yesterday

Being part owner of a busy food serving business I like to think I have an idea about the best management practices that should be applied to the catering trade.  One thing I can be confident in suggesting is if you own a pizzeria and your town is home to 20,000 extra residents for the weekend there is a chance you might be a bit busy.  What I would not suggest is that you set stock levels appropriate for the level of trade you might expect on a rainy December Monday.  What my flowery prose is trying to say is that THEY HAD RUN OUT OF PIZZA.

We were not late in arriving and they were not that busy.  The morons.  The other thing I know from the consumer side of the catering trade is Pizzarias rarely do good steak, this was confirmed.  Still at least they were expensive. I will be leaving them a scathing review on Trip Advisor later, with the few stars awarded for at least having beer, even if it was training lager.

beer

Pudding was a Magnum lolly from the adjacent supermarket and various bags of pick n' mix.  Also some Euro M&M knocks offs named in my honour....

like M&Ms but with extra sugar

Following our mediocre meals we returned to the campsite planning to have a couple of beers to round off the day.  I think we managed one each before retiring for the night.  By this point my damaged knee was not only not holding up well, it felt like someone had smashed it with a claw hammer.  Luckily I had the foresight to choose a bed that could only be accessed by a ladder and a series of complicated knee based twisting motions.......

Tomorrow we are back on the road.