After ten days of no rain, (except a couple of spots in Newbury on day one) our summer holiday weather turned decidedly British yesterday. Our day wandering around Ghent had been sunny and increasingly humid so it wasn’t much of a surprise that as we departed and headed towards Brugge the sky was beginning to become darker and darker. About ten miles into our thirty mile journey, (the shortest one of the trip) the heavens opened. Riding in the rain is one thing, but riding in the midst of a ferocious thunder and lightening storm is quite another. It was at times quite scary, I found myself considering the odds of a cyclist being hit by lightening and (on a more positive thought) that if one was to be hit by lightening, being on a bike with rubber tyres was probably as good a place to be as any. By about 15 miles the sky were well and truly ‘raining on our parade’ with us having to dodge or ride through the vast puddles that were forming. Any semblance of waterproofing in my jacket was well and truly fading – but to be honest everything else was wet so having a dry top seemed a bit futile. As we arrived in Brugge the storm passed. Johan our Warm Showers host was waiting for us and soon warmed us up with coffee and a nice shower. After throwing our damp gear into the washing machine we headed into Brugge town for dinner, with Johan giving us a quick tour of some of the locations used in the film ‘In Brugge’. After dinner and a sample of the local beer (for me and Johan, Mike stuck with orange juice), we headed back to Johan’s house – alas in the rain again, but at least not so heavy this time. We’re cycling to Rotterdam today via the coast over some impressive dykes – so fingers crossed for a favourable tail wind!