So it began, with a short ride into London, as is often the case. Miraculously the morning’s heavy rain stopped 10 minutes before I was due to leave, so I had a dry journey up through town. I’d left plenty of time to make my train, I had a fixed ticket which I’d got on a cheap deal (frugal as ever). This was just as well as it was a stop start journey, with all the traffic lights seeming to turn to red on my approach, lorries blocking the road, then fire engines and finally a troop of lifeguards and a military band beating a retreat from Buckingham Palace.
In the end I had 20 mins to spare, enough time to grab a sandwich and watch three burly policemen, grappling to the floor and then dragging a screaming man down the platform. It was all go, too much excitement for me !
Soon I was nicely settled in on the train, bike parked up, conveniently close to the toilet, the door of which seemed to be stuck open. Fortunately the guard fixed it a bit later.
…and so onto Portsmouth, where I was to meet David and sample the delights of the town for a few hours before our check in for the overnight ferry. At Portsmouth station I was greeted by a familiar sight, three police officers again detaining someone, although this time with no resistance, something which no doubt disappointed them (and me) as he was meekly led away.
David turned up half an hour after me and we were ready to go. First stop Costa coffee, sitting in the sun drinking tea and waiting till closer to boarding time. Once at the port it was another long wait for airport style security checks (only for us and the rest of the geriatric cyclists – clearly high risk ). One poor lady offered up that she had a Swiss army knife, she was immediately dragged off and subjected to a full search ( I may have over dramatised this) but she was forced to rifle through her bags to produce the knife and then told in no uncertain terms she must put it back in her bag and not take it out until in France. Thank god for that, I now feel so much safer. Finally we boarded. Tomorrow France, which according to current forecasts, will be very wet !
Steady Pedals 