When animals attack!

One of the common themes on our trip so far has been our struggles with the various creatures we have encountered while camping. The most infamous example of this was the "ant incident" that occured while we were camping in Ypres. After a nice coffee in the main square, we returned to our campsite to pack up and head to Germany to meet a friend of David's. As soon as I opened one of my bike bags something seemed amiss (a little back story - at that point in the trip we were simply leaving our bags on the ground and covering them with a tarp in case of rain, whereas following "the incident" we keep them in zipped, waterproof bags). A larger-than-usual number of small bugs (initially thought to be spiders) were scurrying about on and in my bag, and upon further investigation we realized that a larger-than-usual number of the bugs were scurrying around on ALL of our bags. Shear numbers led us to one of David's red bags, where the bugs were moving around with considerable frenzy - upon opening it, we realized it was TEEMING with bugs, and upon pulling our a pair of blue and purple windpants, David discovered the bugs had moved into the bag and brought a surprisingly large number of their eggs with them. David will tell you that this discovery was met with a "manly and measured response, " however, as the only witness I can testify that David released a high-pitched shriek and flung the windpants in my general direction (prompting me to release a shriek of my own). As a result of the "ant incident" (it turned out in the end that they were ants, not spiders), we spend the rest of the day washing our clothes and pressure washing our bike bags, and shelled out an extra 20 Euro to spend the night in a safe trekkers cabin instead of braving another night outside at the mercy of the ants.

Other "animal incidents" to this point have included:

- Pulling out our tarp to put over the bags, only to discover that when we had put it away a week earlier with a slug still attached (the slug, now deceased, had not stood up well to the pressures of travel)
- Putting up our tent under a number of large trees to provide shelter from the rain, only to return to discover it proudly displaying wide a variety of bird poo
- Waking up on one morning after a night spent camping next to the ocean to find our tent and bike bags covered with snails
- and most recently, experiencing a strange sensation in my eardrum, which, after having David repeatedly flush it out with water, was discovered to have been caused by an ant that had crawled into my ear (it emerged after the second flushing)

Fear not, we will continue to bravely battle nature and will try to stay one step ahead. And, I must admit, it's refreshing to camp without the constant fear that something will maim/eat you. Stay tuned for more (though hopefully few) episodes of, WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK!!!