I’ve given up and booked into a hotel this evening. I’ve done this for two reasons. The first is that I  forgot my sleeping bag and mat – yeap not just my docs. I managed to swing by Decathlon in France on the way into Germany and bought a €20 bag and a €10 sleeping mat – I can confirm the mat feels like it cost less than €10 to make – every slightly bony part of my body hurts today. Fortunately I don’t have many bony bits.

However, that wouldn’t be reason enough to wimp out of camping this evening on its own – the second reason is that I have been rained on all day. It’s managed to work its way through two layers of waterproof gear, through my top and soaked my thermals right through to the skin. Theres nothing worse than camping in the rain when you’re already soaked through. I’ve found a nice little hotel for €50 just this side of the Hungry border – about 400km west of Budapest.

The run out of France was dull. Belgium was dull, Germany was dull up to about 200km west of Austria. Austria is stunning – what I could see of it through the rain and clouds. It’s fair to say any seven day adventure has to blast through northern France, Belgium and a lot of Germany before it starts getting fun and interesting. But boy was it worth it. Despite the horrid horrid weather I’m still smiling and can’t wait to get out into Hungry tomorrow.

Oh, whilst I remember, Siemens know how to have a work party – hire out an entire camp site, issue everyone with camp fire song books and sit around a very large fire singing into the small hours. I can’t imagine many British companies managing to pull that off without 25% of people off in the bushes doing things with another 25% of people and the rest totally bladdered.

Before I go – a quick photo for Stace

It’s 7am here in Calais. I’ve woken to a feeling that I’ve forgotten something. A quick check of my camping gear reveals it…. I’ve left my sleeping bag and sleeping mat on the spare bed back at home. I’ve also left my V5 and insurance docs.

This is becoming horribly predictable on my little jaunts. Morocco I forgot a set of poles for the tent, Russia I managed to leave my thermals and now I’ve managed to drag all my camping and cooking gear out of the UK only to leave the most vital components.

The plan now is to drop into a cheap camping shop this side of Germany and see if I can grab a cheap mat and bag for less than €100 – which I estimate is what I’d spend on two nights in ETAP or F1 hotels on the way to Budapest where I’m crossing fingers Catherine can bring out my gear.

Oh, and the weather is really crap this morning. Okay, okay I admit it – I’m having quite a lot of fun The run out here was great – Stace would be proud of my 120 miles in one sitting, almost tank to tank I had a whole carriage to myself on the train and the weather here was stunning when I arrived last night. As I type this I can see the clouds have broken up and a quick google maps search has located a Decathalon just off my route to Germany. Germany here I come.