Wednesday 23rd June
Cherbourg to Poole
We were awoken very early by two seagulls sitting on the roof of the house opposite who showed no respect for humans still trying to sleep after the 4am sunrise!
The final ferry; 24 in all!
Cherbourg to Poole
We were awoken very early by two seagulls sitting on the roof of the house opposite who showed no respect for humans still trying to sleep after the 4am sunrise!
Alec had an early start anyway as an order had been put in the night before for salami and cheese so off the Carrefour I went. Vivi packed up for the last time and it was an extraordinary feeling not to have made any plans for where we’d be staying tonight.
That's it we're coming home.
Emotions have been running quite high and we are feeling nervous about the day ahead as we have no idea how we will adapt. Luckily it was a beautiful day so we arrived at the ferry port in minutes and hung around in the sunshine with all the other bikers. It is very nice always being placed first in the queue for ferries.
That's it we're coming home.
The final ferry; 24 in all!
The sea was like a mill pond and an easy 2.15 hours later we arrived at Poole. As one of our hosts said to us the other day “When you get off the ferry and start driving on the English roads it is like the wacky races” - And he was right as we simply haven’t seen this much traffic in months and worse still they are all on the wrong side of the road!.
British Rail did us proud and let us on the train with the bikes without any trouble and then we only had the few miles from Wool station back home. Annoyingly I still couldn’t bike up that last niggle-y little hill without getting off to push, but Alec sailed up. I will try it next time without the extra weight on the back!
Arriving was a real mixture of emotions and we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but the house was looking lovely and Harriet and Alfie (new 4 legged friend) were there to welcome us.
Some facts and figures;
9 and a half months spent on bikes.
France going south, St Malo to Portiragnes on the Mediterranean 1565 miles
Spain South - North 425
Italy 457 North - South
Sicily 222
Malta 30
Greece 339
France going North, Montpellier to Cherbourg 1077
TOTAL of 4115 miles recorded on the speedos. However we think we did nearer 4,500 as there were gaps when they didn’t work.
Our original intention was simply to see if we could cycle down France and make it to the end of the Canal du Midi. However having achieved that, we were still enjoying ourselves so much, the winter had begun, the swallows had passed us heading south and that seemed like a sensible idea so we followed them.
Alec carried 19 kilos and I carried 17 kilos in our panniers.
We have both gained half a stone and not sure it is all muscle!
We have stayed in over 160 different places and met the most amazing and interesting people, almost without exception charming and so friendly – except for that railway ticket man in Ragusa!
and for anyone out there thinking of doing something a bit different and a little bit testing- the time for thinking is over just get on and do it.
We are grateful to Eddie Enfield for inspiring us and Paul Riquet for building the Canal du Midi!
And a special thanks to this great man for creating the canal and rail networks and making France what it is today.
British Rail did us proud and let us on the train with the bikes without any trouble and then we only had the few miles from Wool station back home. Annoyingly I still couldn’t bike up that last niggle-y little hill without getting off to push, but Alec sailed up. I will try it next time without the extra weight on the back!
Arriving was a real mixture of emotions and we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but the house was looking lovely and Harriet and Alfie (new 4 legged friend) were there to welcome us.
Some facts and figures;
9 and a half months spent on bikes.
France going south, St Malo to Portiragnes on the Mediterranean 1565 miles
Spain South - North 425
Italy 457 North - South
Sicily 222
Malta 30
Greece 339
France going North, Montpellier to Cherbourg 1077
TOTAL of 4115 miles recorded on the speedos. However we think we did nearer 4,500 as there were gaps when they didn’t work.
Our original intention was simply to see if we could cycle down France and make it to the end of the Canal du Midi. However having achieved that, we were still enjoying ourselves so much, the winter had begun, the swallows had passed us heading south and that seemed like a sensible idea so we followed them.
Alec carried 19 kilos and I carried 17 kilos in our panniers.
We have both gained half a stone and not sure it is all muscle!
We have stayed in over 160 different places and met the most amazing and interesting people, almost without exception charming and so friendly – except for that railway ticket man in Ragusa!
and for anyone out there thinking of doing something a bit different and a little bit testing- the time for thinking is over just get on and do it.
We are grateful to Eddie Enfield for inspiring us and Paul Riquet for building the Canal du Midi!
And a special thanks to this great man for creating the canal and rail networks and making France what it is today.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI've just read about your cycling trip in the NFL leaflet. How enterprising and inspiring. I will find the time to read your blog and show my husband so maybe we could follow in your footsteps!! It's a few years off for us and a long way from Australia, but something to look forward to. I will keep an eye out for your book. Xanga Connelley (W1).