Bikepacking 2024 - Hindhead to Banstead

Day #

38

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	39 miles	km	2388 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1337.7 miles	km	49843 feet	metres	1

Today's Route

The Complete Bikepacking 2024 Route!

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Travelogue

And today is and was the last day of this trip! And what a wonderful trip it has been. But we'll save that for the post-trip retrospective that will doubtless be posted at some point.

We loaded up the bikes outside the (terrible and somewhat filthy) hotel and set off, immediately joining a path through woodland and on the edge of National Trust owned land at Hindhead Common and the fabulously named Devil's Punchbowl. The view across the "punchbowl" was excellent.

The general cycling today was much nicer than yesterday. The route we followed was mostly the reverse of the route we'd followed on day 1, but with a few tweaks. Until we were about 6 miles from Dorking, there wasn't too much traffic and we rode a few miles on paved and unpaved paths rather than on roads. At one point we followed a former railway line. 

But we did hit one issue. A dreaded Road Closed sign. DISASTER thought M1 (as usual). M2 pointed out we could just follow the diversion sign (as she usually does in these situations). So, fair enough, it was more of a MINOR INCONVENIENCE.

We looked at the map and guessed we'd be cycling a mile to a mile and a half off route, up a fairly big hill away from the route but then turning left and following the road back to our route further along, having bypassed whatever work had warranted closing the road. But after climbing the hill and arriving at the left turn, there was no diversion sign to indicate we should go that way at all. We looked at the map again and the only other possibility was to continue some distance to join a major road and by the time we returned to the planned route, it looked like this would be a detour of at least five miles. We did not fancy adding an extra five miles to the day's cycling, so we headed down the left turn anyway, determined to see if we could get through the road blockage on our bikes, risking more wasted effort but perhaps to be rewarded with a shorter detour if things worked out.

On rejoining our route, we quickly hit another Road Closed sign but this time we could see the roadworks that were the cause of the closure. It was a tiny little hole that had been dug in the road and fenced off. Only half the road was affected. We cycled past without issue and continued on our way. Why the whole road had been closed we have no idea but are glad to have ignored the signs and avoided incurring a five mile penalty!

Soon enough we were on roads we know well. We cycled along a fast and narrow road to Dorking. From there we continued on a combination of road and cycle path. We discussed options for which way to go to take us all the way home and decided we hadn't done enough climbing on this trip and that Box Hill was therefore a must. After all that training, repeatedly cycling up and down Box Hill to build strength and stamina it seemed a fitting end to the trip.

So, up Box Hill we went. Slowly but without any difficulty, even on these heavy bikes (can I mention just one last time that our bikes are really heavy?). This was no Basque Mountains.

And finally..... we're home! All's well on the home front. We were greeted by our son who has been house-sitting. And M1 was amazed at how much the garden has grown. It's in the process of being returned to nature and has not been mowed for over a year now. Nature really went to work whilst we were away. Brilliant.

The day's photos.....

DISASTER! (etc)

Much of today's route followed National Cycle Network route 22

Pit stop - hob nobs and full sugar Coke!

So many nettles on this path! Not great for M1 in shorts!

Subway near the foot of Box Hill

Box Hill!

The garden - so many wild flowers!

So much growth!

Bikepacking 2024 - Portsmouth to Hindhead

Day #

37

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	36.4 miles	km	2073 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1298.7 miles	km	47455 feet	metres	1

Today's Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

Today we cycled roughly half way home from Portsmouth. 

Neither M1 nor M2 enjoyed today very much. There was rarely a time we could hear ourselves think. There was just so much traffic almost all of the time and regardless of the type of road we were on, including on the narrowest of country lanes. 

There were cycle lanes in places but they were very fragmented, ending abruptly and dumping you onto the road, only to resume 10 metres later. Or starting with a ramp to take you off the road and out of harm's way but with so much broken glass, you had to miss the ramp. Or with cars parked right in the middle of the shared cycle lane and footpath. Or on the road but with so little space for cars, they passed close to you anyway, regardless of the cycle lane.

A lot of the route followed the A3, often on a path that ran right alongside it. This is a road with multiple lanes and a 70 mph (120 km/h) speed limit and we were right next to it for many miles. It was noisy and the polluted air made our eyes sting. And this, it is believed, is part of Britain's National Cycle Network. After the cycle network we just used in France, it's pretty dismal.

At one point, M2 nearly got squished. M1 was ahead of M2 and heard a horrendous squealing of brakes from what sounded like a huge vehicle somewhere behind. It turned out to be a tractor towing a trailer that was wider than a single lane. Why it had had to brake so hard as it got to just behind M2 we don't know but it does suggest that the driver wasn't paying attention. Scary stuff. But no harm done, thank goodness.

Very few photographs were taken as we didn't see much we wanted to photograph and to be honest, we just wanted to get the day's cycling over and done with.

So, we're in a pub/hotel for this, our final night. We cycle the remaining approximately 40 miles home tomorrow.

DISASTER! Oh hang on, we can follow the diversion signs.... SLIGHT INCONVENIENCE!

Leaving Portsmouth behind

The delights of cycling by the A3

 

Bikepacking 2024 - Bilbao to Portsmouth

Day #

36

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	3.2 miles	km	108 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1262.3 miles	km	45382 feet	metres	1

Today's Route in England

Route So Far

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Travelogue

We spent 27 hours sailing from Bilbao to Portsmouth. The biggest challenge was dealing with the utter boredom!

We both managed to get some sleep, despite the ship's antics. The Bay of Biscay is notorious and whilst for us it was by no means rough, there was plenty of cavorting around in the night as we sailed north from Bilbao.

We were up before 7:00 and had breakfast in the cafe as soon as it was open. That was almost the highlight of the day. 

We read our books. We watched some shows on the laptop and on the TV in our cabin. We sat outside on the deck in the sunshine for a while. We even got talked into playing a dumb music quiz game by the ship's entertainment staff when we ventured into the bar for cold drinks. At times it felt like we were inmates in a psychiatric hospital or residents of a care home (a glimpse of our futures perhaps?!). Surreal.

And M1, with the short memory that he has, suggested a game of Travel Scrabble with M2. And got slaughtered. Again. But it passed some more time!

Finally, we sailed into Portsmouth at about 21:00. We disembarked with more cyclists than we'd realised were on board and cycled the 3 miles from the port to the Airbnb apartment we're staying in tonight. 

That's it. Photos!

First thing in the morning - a breath of fresh air

The rear of the ship in the afternoon sun

The cabin

About to disembark

Bikepacking 2024 - Ride to Bilbao port from the city

Day #

35

State of Legs

:-)

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	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	12.5 miles	km	226 feet	metres	1
Trip Totals	1259.1 miles	km	45274 feet	metres	1

Today's Route

Route So Far

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Travelogue

Today marks the end of the European part of our trip (unless you still consider Britain part of Europe, that is!). 

We checked out of our apartment at about 9:30 and with a ferry that sails at 19:00 later today, headed for the local park, intending to chill out there and kill time before cycling the ten miles or so to the port. On the way to our favourite local park, we detoured to see a church called Virgen de Begoña Kalea. We'd seen it every time we'd gone anywhere but not taken a look at it so it was now or never. It was nice enough, with a fine collection of religious paintings.

From there we went to the park and sat on one of the benches we've enjoyed relaxing on each evening, admiring the view of the city and doing a bit of people watching. But despite the weather forecast, today was not a day for views. It was very overcast with low clouds looking like they really wanted to deposit their contents on us. So we didn't stay there for very long.

We left the park, taking the bikes down towards the old town using one of the elevators.

We stopped for coffee in a bar in the old town. Anything to kill time. Another pair of bikepackers happened to be there and they too were British. We had a nice chat.

After coffees, we jumped back on the bikes and started following the cycle path up towards the port. This largely meant following the river. We encountered a protest by city hall on the way.

 A few miles up the river we came to something we'd read about and wanted to see. In fact, we wanted to use it if possible and from talking to the other British bikepackers, who had arrived by ferry in Bilbao this morning, we'd learned that it was in fact possible for us to do just that. The Vizcaya Bridge is a UNESCO listed industrial artefact. It's a gondola bridge with a large platform suspended by cables from it. It carries a small number of cars and bikes as well as a fair number of foot passengers at each crossing and goes back and forth across the river all day. M1 bought tickets from a machine (95 cents each!) and we boarded when the gondola next arrived. The crossing was surprisingly swift.

The town of Portugalete lies on the other side of the river. We stopped at yet another bar and had a light lunch of pintxos, specifically tiny tuna sandwiches. M1 also had a cocktail stick loaded with olives, anchovies and chillis. Did you know "pintxos" actually means "pointy stick" or something like that? It's the fact that most dishes consist of something stuck to bread with a cocktail stick that gives rise to the name.

A little further down the river, we stopped at Santurtzi in the park and sat around for a while. We then relocated to the harbour for a change of scenery. Eventually, we got restless and went to a nearby bar for cold drinks. 

Time was ticking by and finally it was time to go to the port to check in for our ferry. The route was weird. There were no helpful signs at all and occasionally there were barriers or signs that made it seem as though we really shouldn't be cycling on these roads. There were enormous articulated lorries as well, just to add to the feeling we were in the wrong place. But at each barrier, a member of staff assured us we were in the right place and going the right way.

Things improved when we arrived at the Brittany Ferries check-in. We were grouped with a load of British motorcyclists and eventually moved to the very front of the queue with the only other cyclist, a Dutch woman who we chatted with whilst waiting.

And then the time came to board. And M1 was first to board the ferry! This was like a dream come true. Being at the front of the queue and the first to board?! Living the dream. M1 can't help being like this :-)

We're now in the cafe on the ferry. We've eaten an over-priced meal and now have a mere 27 hours to get through before we dock in Portsmouth tomorrow. 

The whole of the Spanish part of our trip ended up looking like this:

 We did of course take other photos. Here they are:

A very misty day