Norwich to Uppsala (Sweden) day 5. Game over?

Day 5. Game over? 

Today was meant to be a straight forward one after yesterday’s battle through the edge of storm Babet. The weather forecast suggested little rain and the route seemed very straight forward. The only jeopardy was likely to be a short ferry crossing and getting through Hamburg.

I was therefore not impressed when I loaded my bike, ready for prompt pedals down, in the pouring rain.

However the wind had certainty died down as I made good progress to the ferry port/bus stop.

Unfortunately there was no sign of the ferry just a very damp looking Hamburg on the other side of the river.

I was now very cold and wet  y the time the ferry did eventually arrive. But once inside i was pleased to be in the warmth for a few minutes.

Apart from getting across Hamburg as quickly as possible my other mission was hopefully to buy some working gloves. I failed in both.

Because as the rain got heavier and with no glove retailer in site disaster struck! I didn’t notice a high curb and bumped into it causing an instant back wheel puncture (that wouldn’t have happened if my tubeless tyre hadn’t failed me, see day 3).

Anyway in these situations there is only one thing you can do. Yes swear very loudly, a lot. So I did.

With swearing out of the way and with very numb fingers I got down to business and changed the inner tube.

I was cold, wet and basically not happy. To make things worse I was very behind my 6.30 hotel deadline as that was when their reception shuts.

Fortunately I had restocked the portable emergency bakery so decided no cafe stops today but I would rely on that and should then catch up the time. How little I knew.

By mid afternoon the rain had stopped but all 3 of my pairs of gloves were sopping wet and so called water proof boots full of water. All shops except supermarkets seemed to be shut so no gloves or replacement inner tube today.

The route again was super dull as it went by the side of the A421 for mile after mile. It’s certainly safe but much slower than if you could cycle on the road. To add to the problem the tracks were littered with leaves, twigs and branches from yesterdays storm which I kept having to avoid.

I couldn’t avoid riding over all the branches so thought it was surprising I hadn’t had another puncture but not that surprising as with 30 miles to go I did.

This time my swearing went up a notch as I was down to my final spare tube. Fortunately I repaired and pumped it up without any issue but was in a quandary. I couldn’t continue the journey without a spare tube as the route was already getting more deserted. The thought of being in the middle of Sweden with a flat tyre and no help in sight was not a good one. It could be game over for the dream of cycling all the way.

I obviously would cycle to the hotel tonight, and pray I didn’t get another one,  and then try and find spares on Sunday. It was certainly going to make things a lot harder.

Then a German chap turned up and asked if I needed help. I said “No, just inner tubes” and  he replied “well I can’t help with that” and we both laughed. However he told me there was a hardware store called Tooms 5km down the road and they had a bike section. So with hope in my heart I sped off to Tooms.

Tooms was like a  B&Q but with added bike section and they did indeed have the right inner tubes. So I got 3 plus 2 types of puncture kit and a mini track pump. 

I had to repack me bags to fit it all in and unfortunately have since discovered that I now have sock MIA.

It was starting to get dark and so I contacted the hotel who said they would leave a key and see me at breakfast. Progress was now extra slow as I had to make sure I didn’t hit any of yesterday’s storm damage

So I live to fight another day. Tomorrow the weather looks rain free with the first helpful wind. There is also a 45 minute ferry crossing on the Baltic Sea that will take me to Denmark. What can possibly go wrong.

One last thing, puncture of the day was the one in Hamburg.

Tomorrow’s weather 

Stats

	Miles	Time on bike	Average speed	Meters climbed	Miles to go
Day 1 Norwich to Harwich	77.64	06:05	12.8	784
Day 2 Hoek of Holland to Deventer	102.95	09:02	11.4	366	884
Day 3 Deventer to Cloppenburg	103.48	08:16	12.5	231	782
Day 4 Cloppenburg to Jork	90.45	08:20	10.8	538	678
Day 5 Jork to Heiligenhafen	96.11	8:18	11.6	604	582

Todays route