After a long walk in the rain yesterday, I collected my bike from the cycle shop and rode it home, arriving with a big skunk line down my back from the spray. I spent most of last night fitting the panniers and things that I'd bought in Britain last week and transforming it into something huge that I'm not sure I can ride up a hill fully loaded. We shall see.

I'm hoping to leave here shortly after my birthday and cycle south into Germany and towards Belgium and France. I haven't worked out the details yet, and I'm not sure how far I can comfortably cover in a day, but I've found a cycling organisation here that has a lot of information on routes and stocks foreign cycle maps, which should be a big help.