Bombers and Bikes, Day 7. Etten-Leur to Brilon

A nice inclusive brekkie set us up for the day, the worst day so far. It was raining again, as we packed the bikes. Waterproofs on.

We only had 2 memorials and 2 fuel stops today. The rest would be taken up with motorway riding to get to our 'sightseeing' stop.

First up was a visit to the grave of probably the most famous Lancaster pilot of all time, Guy Gibson. It was only a short ride but 99% of it was in peeing rain. As I'd been before, I avoided the dreaded wet hand syndrome (bikers will understand) but Phil understandably wanted to take photos, so off with his gloves. Of course, we had no choice at the fuel stop, and it was still raining cats and dogs. We struggled on to our final memorial, tucked away in a back street housing estate, somewhere south east of Antwerp. Off came the gloves again, and yes, it was still hammering down. 

No info, just this 'sculpture'

Photos done we started the long trek towards Germany. This should have been easy but was anything but, as there was a road closure. In an attempt to find a suitable route, we ended up heading towards Antwerp, up one side of the motorway, back to where we started and beyond, but unable to get tomtom to find us a route east. After much frustration, google maps came to the rescue and we made some progress, albeit having lost an hour or so, and still in the pouring rain, I should add.

With yet more, road closure diversions, motorway roadworks and traffic jams, we eventually made our second fuel stop of the day. This was a chance to also have a coffee, try to warm up, hope the rain would stop. It looked like it might but back on the road we hit torrential rain again. Finally, we arrived at our next destination, the Mohne Dam. Phil had never been. I had been last year, so was able to show him where to park, before we walked out to the middle of the dam. At last it had stopped raining as was starting to look like a nice evening, so I took the chance to take the waterproofs off. They'd only been on for about 8 hours!

We still had some way to go, about 50 miles to our hotel, in a small town called Brilon. We arrived at the hotel just after 18:30. Weather and delays had made us quite a bit later than I had anticipated. The lady of the house led us to a double garage, where we were able to store the bikes, alongside a 70s Rolls Royce and an even older Harley Davidson.

We enjoyed a nice dinner and a couple of beers, before retiring for bed, reflecting on what a terrible day it had been.  

Tomorrow we will make our way to our digs for the next 5 nights, in Altenburg. Forecast doesn't look too promising though. 😞