The final countdown.

I didn’t sleep well and heard James start to pack up.  Trying to ignore the fact that it was time to move I rolled over and shut my eyes.  It was futile, soon I was up and feeling all the worse from the bad night’s sleep.  The knock on effect of my idleness was a late departure which, luckily for me didn’t matter this time. 

We headed through Freudenstadt and joined the B500.  As we rode the famous road we were surrounded by trees and the smell of the pine in the crisp morning air was enough to wake me up.

Our wet weather camp in a corner of a field.

After the incredible roads we had ridden in Romania, Hungary and along the Austrian/German border the B500 wasn’t as challenging as we hoped and it was soon behind us.  We stopped in Baden-Baden for more coffee, a second breakfast and some final route planning.  Knowing that the options between Baden-Baden and the Channel Tunnel were limited made planning simple and we set of towards the Second World War Battlefields northern France, collecting country number 10 on the way. 

During our map recce we had seen a few place names that are familiar from the Regimental Colours and so we planned to stop at one of the Common Wealth War Grave Cemeteries in the area that the Welsh Guards had fought in to pay our respects. 

From the cemetery we decided that we had both had enough of my cooking and so stopped in a town for supper before heading to our final campsite of the ride.  Tomorrow we’ve a short hop to the tunnel and then home.