Day 4 – 18 miles to Herkingen

I think I am being tested! Woke up at 5.00am with my mattress feeling a bit cold and lumpy…..puncture!

At least it makes you get up.

From there the day got better. Having an early start I had another look at the tent pole. Not as bad as I thought – the insert had detached and gone inside the pole. Last night there was no sign of it, this morning it just slid out. An application of glue to hold it back where it should be and all seems OK. Still pretty shoddy from MSR.

An hour’s walk and then a detour to the beach where I took the mattress for a paddle to find the leak. It was in the underside, at the foot end. No idea how that happened…there was nothing sharp in the tent, under the tent etc. Anyway, glad I remembered to pack the mattress repair kit.

So an hour detour to fix everything and the wheels are back on the train.

Scenery last couple of days has been varied, with quite a bit of deciduous forest. Very nice. Today was more what you would expect of Holland. Large flat expanses, and most of it metalled bike track. Very hard in the feet.

But

1. I have a full set of working equipment again;
2. The sun was out all day;
3. A shop in the village has let me camp on their lawn;
4. The village has a bar, which is where I am now.

Sweet!