The Trip - Part 1

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Well, apologies to all those who have been checking this blog thingy to see updates but I'm back here in the UK already without having added any blogs whilst on my travels. The lack of blogs was down to the relative lack of internet access in the places I ended up visiting and also the fact that I was enjoying barely going near a computer for the best part of 5 weeks so didn't look too hard. Most internet cafes were in the big cities and big cities, poor road signs, a poor sense of direction and a heavy touring bike were not a great combination. As a result, I tried to avoid these if at all possible if the diversion didn't add too many Km's to the days ride.

So, what did I get up to in those 5 weeks, well, not quite what I had originally planned or had in mind when I set off but I've had a good time, seen lots of cool places, got out of my comfort zone a bit and ridden a lot of miles. I've also learnt a lot of things about cycle touring, the do's and dont's and the reality of cycling and camping all day by yourself!

It seems ages ago now that I set off from home on a hot sunny day in June. I've done quite a bit of travelling in the past and spent plenty of time away from friends and family but for some reason I felt pretty emotional heading off by myself that day. Within the first minute of the ride I'd learnt my first lesson of cycle touring, do test rides with the actual things you are going to take with you, not just a load of stuff you think weighs the same amount, it doesn't. The bike felt absolutely awful to ride, wobbly, unbalanced and certainly not something I wanted to spend the next couple of hours riding, let alone a couple of months. 5 mins in and my bar bag containing all my most valuable items almost fell off whilst travelling at a fair speed because I'd not clipped it on properly. At this point I was thinking I'd best turn around and do a few more test rides before heading off on a ferry! I'd planned to stop off at a friends house en-route about 30 mins down the road so took this chance to spread the weight better and leave a few things behind. This made a big difference but the bike was still wobbling all over the place and felt rubbish. Still, a few weeks touring would be a good way to get used to it and work out how to pack properly.

That first day was a long one, I wanted to get off the page of the map with Bristol on it. By 6pm I'd managed that but when I turned to the next page and looked for a camp site I had at least another 15 miles to go to the nearest one 😞 At this stage I was already done in and close to being out of water. Eventually made it the Salisbury Racecourse site after 120km and 6 hrs on the bike, probably far too much for the first day. Just the tent to pitch and food to cook, which all seems like far too much effort to me at that time so I really wasn't happy. After one day in the saddle this whole cycle touring lark just seemed like one big hard slog. The hot weather, something that most of us are not used to after the past two summers in the UK, didn't help make riding easier either. I thought I was fit and had stamina, maybe I was sadly mistaken, although once food was eventually cooked and eaten I did feel a lot better.

That evening I spoke to a Swiss guy who was just starting a trip around the UK on his motorbike. Was good to have a chat after being on my own all day. The next day I caught up with him over a cup of coffee before getting stuff organised to head further south. I headed off bright and early that day, 12.45pm to be precise, I was supposidly on some kind of 'holiday' after all!

The second days riding was much better. Quiet roads, good weather, a more leisurely pace, I was enjoying it today and I was learning to ride the heavy beast that was my bike without the whole thing flexing and wobbling around. I ended up heading down towards Swanage with the thought of getting a ferry from Poole. I ended up spending the weekend in that area. It was taking me a while to get into the trip, I still flet like I knew nothing about cycle touring. Over that weekend Laura came down to visit me and it was really good to see a familiar face, even though I'd only been away for a few days at this stage. After a good weekend by the sea, on the Monday morning I felt like I was ready to head across the channel, after all, the Lions had lost the series over the weekend so the following weeks game had less importance 😊.

I'd discovered that the ferry from Poole cost twice as much as the one from Portsmouth so on the Monday morning I rode the 130km from Swanage to Portsmouth to save a few pennies. I was enjoying the riding more now, apart from a lorry doing it's best to kill me by overtaking in a stupid place. It was a very close call as I was only just able to show him my middle finger whilst avoiding being hit. Five minutes later I almost caught up with him at traffic and was still in my road rage mode and ready to tell him exactly what I thought of his driving but unfortunately or maybe fortunately for me, he just got away from me. The ferry left at 11pm and arrived in Le Harve early the next day.

FRANCE
A night on a ferry floor isn't the best way to prepare for a days riding but at least it meant I started riding before noon for a change! Probably just as well as it took me 2 hours of riding in the wrong direction to get to the bridge and finally get over La Seine river and head in the direction I wanted to go. The motorway bridge, which was much closer to the port, didn't seem to have any way for cyclists to cross. I may have been wrong but as a result, after 3 hours of riding I could still see the ferry port across the river!

My first attempt at talking/pointing and nodding with the locals got me some water and a very tasty pastry so that kept spirits high. One of the great things about riding all day is that food and as much of it as possible becomes and necessity. What could be better, riding and eating all day. The beaches of Normandy were pretty nice but the backdrop of concrete promenades and towns with Casinos wasn't really my cup of tea. My main reason for wanting to come along the coast here was to see the landing beaches used on D-Day and it was well worth it. I visited the various memorials along the coast, Pegasus Bridge and the British Cemetary at Hermanville, all of which were very moving. On a hot summers day it was difficult to imagine what it must have been like along that stretch of coastline on the morning of the landings and the days that followed.

A tip for cyclist or tourists in France is not to run out of water at lunchtime. I'd read that everything shuts down for the afternoon but in the heat of my first day in France I'd forgotten this. The series of ghost town I passed through helped jog my memory though but didn't do much for my hydration levels. I eventually decided I'd done enough miles and found a site to stop for the night. I was absolutely done in again, tired from the lack of sleep and hungry and my mood was pretty low. All the positivity from yesterday seemed to have gone, home seemed a long way away. Thankfully food, a quick dip in the pool, a beer and a good nights sleep helped me wake up feeling good again.

The next few days followed a pretty similar pattern and after about 6 more days of this I started to question my original plan to head south to the Alps and then Italy and Croatia. I was having good days on the road, enjoying the scenery, enjoying camping but at the same time not always enjoying travelling on my own all day everyday. Generally the longest conversation I'd have during the day was when I booked into the camp site of an evening. Maybe the odd conversation with fellow cyclists if they had a grasp of basic English or I could string a few words of French together. It wasn't that people were not friendly, I lost count of the number of times I said Bonjour to to passers by, fellow campers, people in Cafes, it's just that this was usually about all that I or they could say without a bit of a struggle!

I didn't want to head home for a while, I wanted to get a good few miles in but at the same time had lost the desire to head south and commit a large chunk of time and money to heading south without any real objective, goal, or schedule. I also wanted to avoid having to fly home which would be likely if I headed too far south. I needed a new plan so decided to alter my southerly heading a bit more to the west and to head to Vannes on the south western part of Brittany. I could then tour around the coastline of Brittany before jumping on a ferry at St Malo or Cherbourg. Having resolved the dilemma of thinking I should carry on with my original plan but not really wanting to and now having a new route mapped out, the riding seemed that much easier.

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Photos

Ready to go? Possibly not......
Hill Rd, Wotton-under-Edge

Hermanville Cemetery
An incredibly moving place to visit.