Spent a day trying to get some unsecured wifi or a internet cafe in Hamm and failed miserably. Therefore spent 103 eur on a hotel instead of being able to find Brauhaus Wilhof which would have been free. Later found it on the internet in the hotel that night and made the rule to stop by 3 to give us time to find accommodation. We stayed there the next night for our first night in the brand new tent and a few of Willie‘s lovely dark beers. I also fitted the chain oilers.
The morning brought rain as promised by a couple of local people we met at an Aldi up the road. Helen remarked that Germans seemed lovely and I asked what she expected? She replied that they seem to get bad press at home. It was finally dawning on both of us that the real world is very different from that in the Media where so much effort seems to be spent on scaring people to keep them under control (or something)
Anyway from my previous trip to Germany with Jonny for the Hamm Diesel bike rally last year I knew this is not good. Rain in Germany is nothing like it is at home. In NI you can expect some breaks in the showers whereas in Germany it rains constantly for days and nights on end. We managed around 100 miles to near Frankfurt where we found a motorway hotel for less than half the price of the Hamm one but much nicer.
After pushing the “defekt“ sign out of the way on an internet terminal and thus wasting 4 eur we grabbed some oil for the bike chain oilers in the shop over the road. some decent looking 15w40 that would perhaps be the nicest stuff to end up flung off a chain. hmph