Hello all. Day 17 was a long day. It was suppose to be only 44 miles and it ended up being only 49 miles, but we did not get into our over night stop of Bastogne until 8:30 at night. Luckily we did not get in late due to any sort of technical issues or breakdowns with the bikes... We were just really lazy.
When we woke up in the morning it was raining and since we did not have rain gear, we just lounged around and waited for the rain to let up. At around 10:00 we finally left the apartment and made our way into the old town to get some breakfast. We found a little restaurant that had eggs and bacon on the menu, so that is what we ordered. We were not sure what we would get, but when we got a plate with two fried eggs and a mound of bacon we were very pleased.
After breakfast, we made our way out of Luxembourg City and headed towards Bastogne. Along the route there was a sporting goods store, and since a lot more rain was in the forecast, we stopped in to look at rain gear. An hour and a half later we emerged with brand new rain gear equipment into the sun.
My new gear
Ben's new gear
It was now around 2:00pm and we had travelled all of maybe 3 miles towards Bastogne, so we decided to buckle down and get some miles in before the next wave of storms hit. We made it about 10 miles before we could see the storm a few minutes away so we found a place to grab some sandwiches and then went to a different cafe (since it still hadn't starting raining) to wait out the storm. We got to the cafe and got some cappuccinos just in time before the flood gates opened and it began to downpour.
It rained very heavily for about an hour, but when it stopped the sun came out again and it was beautiful for the rest of the day. We started riding and really put in the miles. The riding was fun it was a lot of hill climbing (some rather intense hill climbs) and a lot of descents. We just made our way through northern Luxembourg and eventually we made it into Belgium. The riding overall was uneventful, just some pretty views and a lot of hills. The riding did reveal to us that in Brussels our bikes might need some professional help, our brakes are just causing a lot of issues (and at times just not working at all).
Once we made it into Bastogne, we met up with our host and then spent the rest of the evening chatting with him and drinking some nice local Belgium beers he had. He also cooked us a nice meal of some pasta and a massive omelette with bacon and cheese. All in all it was a very pleasant evening.
On Day 18 we are riding to Namur, which means a lot more hills and a 62 mile day lay ahead of us. So I am going to leave you now and get some rest. Best wishes and until next time.
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