| Day # | 42 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 51.5 miles | km | 1771 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 1443.7 miles | km | 50246 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
We're back in England but not yet home. If all goes to plan, that will be where we are tomorrow afternoon.
Our day started in Calais, of course. We were due to sail to England on the 10:30 ferry and so aimed to get to the port by 09:00. The port was only a few miles from the apartment, so that allowed us to get up at a civilised time, have some breakfast, finish packing our bags and head off.
But for one small detail.
The apartment was on the second floor and as the photos from yesterday showed, that's where our bikes were. And they did not get there by magic or into any of the other apartments rented on this trip. Regardless of how many floors up an apartment is, if the bikes are to join us rather than be left in the street then M1 has to carry first one bike up the stairs, then go back down to street level and carry the second bike up. And then, go back down to street level and carry a set of bags up whilst M2, who has been on guard duty all this time, carries her own bags. And of course on checking out of an apartment, the process has to be executed in reverse. So by about 08:30, M1 was truly awake and shall we say, "warmed up"!
Anyway.... we set off and followed the signs to the Calais Car Ferry Port and had no problem finding where we were supposed to be. There were quite long queues to the check-in booths and at both the French and British passport control booths but patience is a virtue and we were soon through and in line to board our ferry when the time came.
And when the time did come, we were happy to be summoned to the very front of the queue by a port official and told to cycle up the ramp and board the ship first! M2 was amused because she knew that some of the car drivers had paid extra for "priority boarding" and all we'd done was to show up on a bike! There is this thing called karma though.....
Because when we arrived at Dover, 100 minutes or so later, the reverse happened. We were following the cars out of the ship and expecting to head down the ramp onto the dock when we were instructed to wait to one side. And you guessed it, every other vehicle was allowed to disembark before we were permitted to cycle down the ramp and off the ship. Doh! :-)
We managed to find our way out of the port (you just follow a painted red line) and set about cycling across Dover, heading west. There are cycle lanes in some parts of Dover but not in others. And part of the footpath was completely closed. In short, Dover isn't the worst city to cycle in but it's far from the best. And they drive on the left!
From Dover, we retraced our route from 41 days ago, cycling along a path that takes you up onto and along the cliffs to Folkestone. Most of the day's ascent was probably clocked up in this section.
On the outskirts of Folkestone, there's a pub we vaguely know. And today, England were playing in the Women's World Cup Final! We knew we'd missed the first half but hoped to watch at least some of this historic match. We went into the pub and sure enough, the match was showing on a TV. 76 minutes had already elapsed and sadly, the score was 1-0 to Spain. And that's how the score stayed. England were fantastic to watch but it just wasn't to be their day.
Cycling through Folkestone itself was a bit of a nightmare. There was an airshow on, with world war 2 aircraft like Spitfires flying along the coast. This had attracted hundreds and hundreds of people and their cars which made cycling hazardous and stressful, to say the least. Obviously, nobody was watching where they were walking, with Spitfires and Lancaster Bombers flying past!
We cycled into Hythe and then started to head away from the coast, following National Cycle Network Route 2, mostly parallel with the Royal Military Canal. The cycling was good, on a gravel path.
We had to wait a while as some enormous agricultural machines reversed into an arable field. Presumably it's harvest time. We didn't mind. It was wait or be squished!
Our route took us next on to NCN 18.
We stopped in Cranbrook to buy more food than we really needed and then headed to the campsite. It's a low impact campsite with solar powered showers.
That's it. Tomorrow we have a moderately tough final day ahead of us. But then we'll be home :-)
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