Whoa, rough day

First, I'm a little under the weather. It's a sore throat kind of a thing. I think it's a simple product of not enough sleep. I would have stayed at the bed and breakfast one more night but they were booked. The owners felt bad but did let me stay until 2:00 and take an extra nap. They also offered to drive me to the train station but I decided to ride

I was almost there with I heard a thunk-shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I looked back only to see the rack attachment hardware had come loose from the rack and rack supports. One was still intact but I lost some of the pieces to the other one. So, after some creative bungying, off I went to find a bike shop...

...with the help or a really nice cyclist named Richard, I found something they CALLED a bike shop, which was more a car parts store that sells some bike stuff. Well, I reattached one support and then clugged something together for the other; for now it seems to be holding until I can work on something better in France.

After that I got the train to Portsmouth and, after 2 transfers arrived, to find NO hotel rooms. :-P So, off I went in search of a B&B, which I did eventually find. It's actually kind of cute, though my room is on the 4 or 5th floor, but who counts after 3 flights when you have several trips to make with bags But, it's a room and its nice enough and inexpensive.

Now, I'm eating dinner at the restaurant that several of the English locals described as "marvelous" and where you "can't have a bad meal". Oh, the grilled salmon is tasty, as is the "potato in a jacket", also known as a baked potato; but I must say, it's been a LOOOONG time since I've had canned carrots and green beans.

Still, that's bike touring. Some days run smooth and others don't. Tomorrow will bring a new surprise I'm sure :-)

Oh, and unlike today, I WILL take my camera out of it's case :-)

Until then...