The plan today was chip away at the 120 miles to Dieppe, from Dunkirk. There was a ferry from Dieppe to Newhaven near Brighton that we thought we'd catch.
We set off quite optimistically, with the idea to just chip away at the miles. If we felt good and the weather was ok, we'd push on, but put no pressure on ourselves to achieve any great distance.
The first port of call was Saint Omer which was only about 25 miles.
Unfortunately the bad luck with weather continued. It was a fairly strong wind that alternated sideways to head on.
Coupled with this, the routes our navigation was taking us down were very poor quality bike paths. Good if you were on a mountain bike but poor for us. Very bumpy and painful for tender parts.
When we did go on decent roads they all seemed to be busy with traffic and had no shortage of Arctics.
We paused and contemplated the next 2.5 days. Winds were supposed to get stronger and go in exactly the opposite direction to us. We also had no confidence in French roads and cycle routes. We'd been completely spoiled in Holland and Belgium.
We made the decision to completely change plan and head for Calais. Once there we hoped to jump on a ferry to Dover and pretty much finish the trip.
It was painless enough final push. It was interesting being first on and first off the ferry, herded each time by huge lorries.
We got the train to Brighton where Joel finished his trip. He was keen to fight through to Dieppe as he is much fitter and fresher than me, but he didn't object too much when I'd had enough. He was good to journey with and definitely helped motivate and encourage a part time cyclist (me).
We rode approx. 40 miles today. I've cycled 506 miles since Berlin but cheated and got the train about 150 miles. It was completely necessary though.
Riding completed!
I'll be getting the train back to the West Country tomorrow. While I do, i'll be blissfully unaware of the (probably mild) wind outside.
We set off quite optimistically, with the idea to just chip away at the miles. If we felt good and the weather was ok, we'd push on, but put no pressure on ourselves to achieve any great distance.
The first port of call was Saint Omer which was only about 25 miles.
Unfortunately the bad luck with weather continued. It was a fairly strong wind that alternated sideways to head on.
Coupled with this, the routes our navigation was taking us down were very poor quality bike paths. Good if you were on a mountain bike but poor for us. Very bumpy and painful for tender parts.
When we did go on decent roads they all seemed to be busy with traffic and had no shortage of Arctics.
We paused and contemplated the next 2.5 days. Winds were supposed to get stronger and go in exactly the opposite direction to us. We also had no confidence in French roads and cycle routes. We'd been completely spoiled in Holland and Belgium.
We made the decision to completely change plan and head for Calais. Once there we hoped to jump on a ferry to Dover and pretty much finish the trip.
It was painless enough final push. It was interesting being first on and first off the ferry, herded each time by huge lorries.
We got the train to Brighton where Joel finished his trip. He was keen to fight through to Dieppe as he is much fitter and fresher than me, but he didn't object too much when I'd had enough. He was good to journey with and definitely helped motivate and encourage a part time cyclist (me).
We rode approx. 40 miles today. I've cycled 506 miles since Berlin but cheated and got the train about 150 miles. It was completely necessary though.
Riding completed!
I'll be getting the train back to the West Country tomorrow. While I do, i'll be blissfully unaware of the (probably mild) wind outside.
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