What a Stupid Idea - February 18th

From the forest of doom, past St Omer and on towards Arras with a lot of pushing bike uphill. This is hard work. I arrived around 6pm only to find that the Youth Hostel had closed permanently. Then a nice lady walked me right across the centre of town to get advice from the taxi stand. This reaffirmed my faith in the people of north France as before then they seemed to be men with barking dogs and old ladies without smiles - I was wrong. It then strarted to pour with rain but I followed the suggestion to hotel Formule 1 on the edge of town and cottage pie for tea. But the question kept comoing bqck to me - whydid I do it?