Woke up at 7.50h and walked over to the cafeteria in the rain. Had borscht again, along with 2 fried eggs, bread and coffee. Went back to the hotel and packed everything up and was out the door by 9.30h. Rain was fairly light, but immediately I noticed the heavy wind. Got back out to the highway, and turned full frontal into a 40km/h head wind.
The going was fairly rough, and I struggled for km after km. Stopped numerous times to take a break and take on water, and a few espressos on the side. Eventually, made it to Baturyn, and tried to find the Hetman museum, but got pissed off after a few km of riding around and decided to push on.
Rode 30km on route to Konotop on segmented pavement, which a nice jolt every 10m or so. Still had headwind to deal with too. Finally pulled in to Konotop at 16.30 and found the Hotel Ukraine; however, the lady at the front desk was aghast that I would consider bringing in my bicycle into the hotel and said that I couldn't have a room. So, I decided to head on toward Sumy. Got a flat tire about 10km out due to a staple?
I pulled it out and fixed it out of the wind behind a hedgerow. Rode another 10km, and found an open shop selling staples (the other kind) and beer. Grabbed a few provisions, and was immediately befriended by the 10 or so Ukrainians having beers on the patio. I had a vodka shot and a couple of beers. One asked me to stay over at his house, but then he called his wife who quickly put the kybosh on the that... Rode another 5km at sunset, turned off on a sideroad and then found a good camping spot and set up for the night...
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