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Published: October 14th 2009
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Lego House
coming to the BBC soon Well I was going to tell you all about our journey up the coast and how we started in 1970 at the Crossroads Motel in Rockhampton and ended up in Bates Motel in Port Douglas. On the way we had met a host of cyclists and some even joined us. But as many of you now know we needed to return to the UK to visit Ray's mum. Our flights to New Zealand and Vietnam in the bin and the prospect of living in a tent in the frozen wastes of the UK awaited us. The story started well with Ray's mum and sister joining us in Cairns for a belated birthday treat. We drove up into the hills and visited an historic town, we even made it to some hot springs picturesquely sited at the back of a run down caravan park. We booked two trips, one to the hillside village of Kuranda upon the skyrail and the other to the barrier reef. Farewell to Ray's mum and sister and we headed up to Port Douglas. A few weeks later and mum was in hospital.
Back in the UK after our last night on the tiles in Bangkok. We
Palace de Benedictine
Booze factory French style managed to visit Ray's mum a few times as she settled back into her life in the home. A week in Olney (Bucks) we managed to get Ray's bike fixed and then we headed for a week in Romford where we sorted out all our domestic arrangements and picked up our camping gear (the old lot is in a bin in Port Douglas). Then on to Crystal Palace, the only camp site near London that we could find. South of the river it seems is still in the dark ages they even have dinosaurs here! We still managed a fantastic week with full sunshine. Last day and we headed off in more typical British weather dark clouds and the prospect of rain. Destination Dorking. Well we had planned our route thoroughly the only problem being that we couldn't remember it. Croydon was our first stop and it seemed pleasant enough except that non of the signposts were of any use. Exactly where is Purley, Mitcham and Coulsdon in relation to anywhere useful? Signposts to Timbuktu would have been more useful. So finally reaching Dorking we decided to change our YHA camp site and head for Holmbury St Mary. What a
Magic Roundabout
better than the ones in Milton keynes but no less useful in trying to find directions pleasant picture we conjured up of the place. Unbeknown to us it was the highest point in Surrey. Great. We even managed to cycle up the hill twice - signposts here are none existent. We cycled up to the deserted Hostel and asked if there was any room. The seven staff looked around and thought for a moment “yes I think we have room”. Anyway a shower and food cooked for us and we became human again.
Homeless, no job and the prospect of a freezing winter in the tent, we decided to peddle through France and into Spain where we would connect to a flight to the Canaries and still in Europe should we need to return to the UK quickly. We arrived at Dieppe after a pleasant stay in Shoreham and peddled off along the coast. This involved clambering up the cliff and then whizzing down into each village. Fortunately the map showed only one village between us and our destination. Unfortunately the scale of the map omitted the eight smaller villages in between. After the seventh climb we decided to stop and so we had a night in Quiberville-sur-mer. Desperate for food we went into the
Ray asks directions
Finally a local who knew the way. only hotel in town. A feisty maid said “apres maintenant”. Our GCSE French worked out this meant “after now” or possibly “not now” or even “go away you stupid English”. Well the only thing we could do was have a beer. 10 minutes later we were ushered into the restaurant and had a fantastic meal. We struggled up and down the coast visiting Fecamp (the home of Benedictine). We wanted to see Honfleur and so went around the coast to Le Havre where Honfleur was only 4 km away. But luck not being one of our strongest suites the map failed to explain that the bridge from Le Havre to Honfleur was only for cars and bikes were sent on a 50km detour. We got over the river but headed instead to Boozeville because it was roughly in our direction and the name sounded good. It was shut. We ended up in Car-miles (or something like that) and the only hotel in town. Next day we went on to Lisieux the home of Saint Therese, a young nun who died at the tender age of 14 but nevertheless managed from her grave to cure Edith Piaf of blindness and is currently touring Britain! She was not so lucky for us as the news came in that Ray's mum was seriously ill in hospital. Before we go on I need to explain that she is now well and fighting fit. And so we are back in the UK after a gruelling 5 train journey up through France and keeping awake in order to catch the 4am ferry back to Newhaven. Yup - if you are caught out in Dieppe on any night just be warned it shuts up tighter than a clam at 10pm.
Our plan is to stay in the UK until the end of October when we head off for Lanzarote where we have booked 2 bed apartment in Costa Teguise from 8th November to 7th January. We hope to then get a ferry over to Gran Canaria for a further 2 months but as yet have not found accommodation. Suffice to say if anyone fancies some time in the sunshine we would love to see you. Just drop us a line and get those easyjet flights booked. See you soon.
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mark hodges
non-member comment
land that time forgot
you guys sure know how to enjoy yourselves...but still beats work! Hope the winter in the sun goes ok and keep posting - its good to read about some folks who've escaped the daily grind.