Being back at The Cottage felt strange this morning. Partly because we've never been here over the summer and partly because we had no cycling agenda for the first time in nearly a month. Having a good shower was amazing and we both felt properly clean for the first time in a while; especially with a huge choice of clean clothes available to us. It actually took a while to decide what to wear - not a scenario I'd had recently with only two sets of clothes with us on the entire tour! Having a few chilled days to enjoy the luxury of The Cottage has been great. As we were traveling so light, it didn't take long to pack the kit away and do some washing. We even gave the bikes a bit of TLC and washed away the dust and sand that had been accumulating during the tour. The weather was great and on Thursday afternoon, we had some textbook cloud formations appear overhead.
It was quite hard 'adjusting' to normal life and not thinking about bikes, maps, food and where to swim next. We both felt quite disorientated for a while. The 'mackerel sky' is a classic indicator of a change in weather, so we got any outside jobs done quickly. The next morning, there was, as predicted a few hours of rain.
The rain didn't last long and we even managed a short ride, but I think my bike needs a bit of attention as the front brake is rubbing, so didn't go far. Nice to work the legs in an 'active rest day' style.
As per the 'alpine rest day' rules and after having been living without a kitchen for so long, we made sure there was a generous intake of good food and drink. The Cottage Cafe really upped its game with the production of some homemade pain-au-chocolates!
As well as plenty of other snacks throughout the day...
And any respectable rest days should involve the consumption of a few pancakes! After having had only a single camping stove, a spork, and two pans to cook in and whatever ingredients we could find on the day, The Cottage felt like the land of abundance and plenty! Oh, and having a shave felt pretty good too...
Now we're unpacked, (semi)-rested, fed and watered, we could kick back and relax in a traditional summer holiday fashion.... Or we could get out the rock climbing equipment, pack a new set of clothes, pocket our passports and set out on the next phase of the summer adventures!
Oh yeah, let's do that!!...
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