Sorry Gent, you don't do it for me.

I think I may have overdone the Red Bull yesterday, I went to bed at 1130hrs after updating the blog, then read till midnight, then tried to sleep, however I was awake reading again at 3am till about 3.30am, I finally managed to sleep, and woke at 8.30. That is the latest I have slept this trip.
Once I was up and showered, I looked out of the window, and yes, it was raining, the receptionist seemed delighted to tell me that this weather was set for the next 7 days, whatever, I have still got to make the effort to get out as the cleaners wanted to do their jobs in the hotel. But first, I delayed , by buying a hot chocolate from the machine and sitting outside watching the rain, hoping for a break.
Well, the break never came, so once again, on with the waterproofs for the short 3km ride into Gent. I parked up near one of the canal bridges and secured the bike, and started to wander, the very quiet streets on the edge of the old city, however, as I got closer to what I presume was the centre, it was a hive of activity, but the wrong sort. It would appear that there had been some sort of festival in the city over the past few days and there were men and lorries everywhere, dismantling numerous stage and stall areas, it was bedlam. There also appeared to be a lot of building work taking place so the first impression of the town was not good.
The second impression did not improve things either as it appeared to be just another city with the same shops as everywhere else and a general dowdy look to it.
I wandered around a bit but just could not get worked up at all, it did not do it for me in the slightest. I don't think it helps that I may have a bit of the end of holiday blues I suppose.
There are no photos today I'm afraid, one, because I could find nothing of interest, and two, I had forgotton my camera and had left it in the tank bag strapped and secured to the bike.
By 2.30 I had had enough and, after buying some fruit and a baguette for mr my tea, I rode back to the hotel in order to read and chill, do a bit of washing, and re-pack for tomorrow.
I am off to Brugge tomorrow, a city I like very much, and from there it is on to Zeebrugge for the boat to Hull. In view of this, this is the last blog entry until I get home, when I will put a post script on the site on Saturday evening.
I do hope you have enjoyed reading about this trip, and hopefully you will all read about the next one that I do......oh yes, I am sure there will be another one in the future, I just need to save a lot more pennies. I will be looking at reviving my interest in riding across Newfoundland, Canada and Alaska, but I think that that may have to wait a couple of years as the planning will be quite extensive, maybe a 60th birthday treat for myself.
In the meantime, I am looking forward to meeting Chris on Friday lunchtime in Liverpool.