Todays ride on Komoot
Let’s start with an apology for there not being many photos today. There wasn’t much to photograph. I really just wanted to get to the terminal and onto the ferry.
Reluctantly, I got ready for my last little ride in Europe, this morning, however, I decided to enjoy it.
I followed my rule of having hotel breakfast whenever it’s available in France and I ate like I had a hundred kms to do. (Next stop is England and I’m not going to get baguettes and croissants like this anytime soon). Then it was onto the bike and out of town along the now familiar bike paths of Dunkerque. Even the headwind didn’t dampen my spirits.
I went back past the refugee camp and along some easy paths as far as the interestingly named Loon Plage (idiot beach ? 😀). There I managed to take my final two wrong turns of the trip but eventually found my way to the ferry terminal where I joined the queue of cars for the immigration and customs processes.
They inspected most of the cars, so it was interesting to see the huge amount of alcohol and cigarettes in full view when cars and vans were opened up.
It’s also interesting that the officers will thoroughly inspect every car, truck and van but I’ve never opened my bike bags to be inspected anywhere. Often at ferry terminals, there’s an scanning machine but the guys just look at my bike and decide it’s too hard, then let me straight through.
Every ferry terminal seems to treat bicycles differently. Here, I was a car, other places I’ve been a foot passenger or a piece of baggage to be loaded last and let off last. It was quick and easy here though and I was soon sitting down at a window seat with a plate of delicious beef rendang and rice. The English guys behind the serving counter firstly offered me chips or pasta instead of rice. When I told them that beef rendang and chips was sacrilegious, they agreed, but said that most people order it. What “Most people” do, is rarely a good recommendation.
Pretty soon, we were underway and I watched as France, probably my favourite destination here, slowly faded into the distance.
Getting out of the terminal at Dover was a nightmare with lots of construction works in progress. I assume it’s because of Brexit. Once out, it was pretty simple getting to Dover Priory station and onto the train to London. What a change from Europe. I could take the bike on the train but there was no place to put it, so people just squeezed past it for the duration.
After so long on the other side of the road, it’ll be fun to see how I cope with riding on the left. (Note from future self – it’s a nightmare).
I’m here to visit Timo, Kath and Minou as well as catch up with a few good friends before the journey to Sydney and then a short ride up to Maroochydore.