The Irish guy told us the food offered by the owners was reputed to be great so we had booked in. Our beds were €11 each and dinner was €11 each. All told €44 so if the dinner was good then that wasn’t bad.

At 7pm the lady owner shouted dinner and everyone began to make their way outside and down to their bar/restaurant. She sat us on a table with two somatic and. The lady in our room and a tall California chap called Matthew.

Dinner was very tasty and plentiful. The Cyclist was so eased after we had been served crap each evening since last Friday. He said we were well in calorie deficit and he can’t righted his rucksack any more so that it fits him as his tummy is concave. He has been telling me his concern that he would start to use muscle which would hamper his chances of winning the cyclocross season. So his pack is now hanging from his shoulders without much help from the waist strap.

Our dinner was as follows for 4 of us:
Big terrine of Garlic soup ( enough for 2 bowls each if wanted) and two baskets of bread
A large Platter of salad the size you would put a huge Turkey on (no tuna as she knew I don’t like it. Sorry guys).
A big bowl of Spaghetti with a bowl of fresh meatballs and sauce for the chaps and a two egg cheese omelette for me and the other lady (I had told her I was having an omelette made specially so she asked for one too).
A pudding of a type of custard with a cinnamon biscuit
A jug of the local red wine.

This has not been our usual standard and so the Cyclist was making me eat more than I would usually to replenish me so I was fuelled for more walking.
The dinner table talk bantered on and the subject of the wright of back packs came up. Matthew said he found it hard to pack and had brought lots. The Cyclist offered to go through it and filter stuff down to just what he really needed.

He was actually enjoying the conversation and was talking freely so he went on to exain how to pack light like he does for his motor cycle trips and how he packed for this walk. He explained that you have to wear the same boxers/trunks two days in a row but wear them inside out on the second day. The American thought he was joking but I confirmed this is what he had been doing.

The Cyclist then explained about the sterilisation technique emoted by him and his fellow motorcycle friends. ( I am assuming that Squadron Leader is included in this but I would not be surprised if he were not). He described how you have to take your two day worn pants and put them on a plastic bag like a sandwich bag. You tie the bag tight and leave it overnight. During the night the warm air generates bacteria that cleanse your pants and they come out fresh for you to wear again in the morning. By this time both American’s mouths we’re agape.
Agape but we were all laughing at the very thought of it. The Cyclist ended by saying that he didn’t k ow why it worked but it did.

As you can imagine this generated further discussion and chuckles. I mentioned that The Cyclist had spent 3 months hearding camels they had caught across the centre/desert of Australia and was used to that type of hardship. The Cyclist then confirmed that on that occasion he had only the clothes he stood up in and they used to kill pigeons to cook on the fire they made each night and that they slept outside with only a canvas bag. That was called a swag and the rules were that you didn’t unroll it until you were getting into it and as soon as you woke you rolled it up tight and tied it. This minimised the chance of biting spiders and snakes being in their when you got in. In the mornings they often saw paw prints of dingos who had been sniffing round them during the night and the S shapes in the sand from snakes that slithered by.

Matthew said the three of them walking all that way (1000 miles) with wild camels, that they all stink and couldn’t smell each other

There is a lot lot more to this Cyclist than most people know. And with that in mind, it is why he doesn’t understand why I struggle with aches and pains and say it’s hard.