A s*** day today. It started well with a chat to some old boy over a couple of coffees. Soon I was on the road headed for Bochum. I had not gotten far down the road when the bike started to splitter and miss. I was running out of fuel. Not a big deal, the bike has a reserve tank that is good for a further 50 Kms but it can be a bit of effort getting it going again. So I started scanning for a spot to pull over. As I was traveling behind a truck, my range of sight was pretty limited and at the last second I saw a place to stop the bike. I threw on my brakes and headed for a grassy area on shoulder. I used the front brakes and the grassy area was mossy and slopping. A poor combination and before I knew it my front end shot out from under me a pitched me and the bike to the ground. My first thought was to get the bike off my leg and get my head off the road. I picked the bike up and wheeled it further onto the shoulder. That's when I noticed the clutch lever in six pieces on the road. Totally unrepairable. Then I felt a bit of a pain in my foot where the foot-peg got me. I was pretty angry at myself for making such a schoolboy error. I know better than this. After all these kilometers and this happens five hours from my final destination. Ok. How the f*** am I going to get this bike to a repair shop? I ended up getting some pliers and taping them closed on the end of the clutch cable. I then counter levered the needle nose off the lever housing to operate the clutch. I limped the bike to a service station and chatted to the guy about a possible fix. He pointed me to a bike shop 20 Kms away that was also a BMW sales place. So off I went with my dodgy clutch and found the shop. The parts will be in at 8 tomorrow and I will fix the bike. Next problem. Where am I sleeping tonight. I ended up finding a hotel just around the corner from the shop but they were full. The girl behind the desk was very helpful and rang around for me. I am spending the night very close to the workshop in a guesthouse. German for a hostel with desperate rooms. Perfect. I had two hours to kill before anyone was going to be at the desk so I had some lunch and chased down a SIM card. A bit of stuffing around and 43€ later and I was having a shower and thinking of catching the tram into the center of town. The weather again thwarted my plans as a big thunder storm rolled in. So instead I went to the supermarket and got some food and a six pack of sleeping pilsners. I am writing this watching the rain come down having a beer and thinking that it is probably time to get home for a rest and see my wife. So that's the plan.