Will set the alarm, so he could retrieve our clean laundry out of the dryer from the Laundromat, it was suppose to open at 7am, but it bloody wasn't. He came back for breakfast then tried again, it was just after 9am and open.
By the time Will had run his "save our clothes" mission, he was a bit stressed and anxious as we weren't sure exactly where we had to go or how long it would take us. Davo GPS would not locate the Car Ferry Port, even though he had made us ride right past it yesterday. So we just headed back the way we came in, and followed the directions the receptionist had tried to give us. It wasn't that hard, or far, and we had just under one hour to complete the check in.
Will was riding along, we came to the point we had to go left, and it was a huge complicated round about with heaps of big trucks etc heading around to go on the ferries. We decided we could just cut across the road and get on the bike path to take us to the passport control area. Simple! So Will checks and zips across, bunny hops his bike up the big kerb, and carries on. I am feeling rushed and think I need to try to repeat Will's manoeuvre (God knows why, we had heaps of time to get 500 meters) and as I approach the big kerb, a mid sized truck came around the bend towards me. I totally miss judged my bunny hop, smacked into the kerb and crashed in spectacular fashion in front of the truck, who narrowly avoided me, and sped off.
This was a big crash, as far as mine go, I smacked my elbow into the kerb, right on the funny bone, which made it useless in helping me get up and off the road. Will did come running, and dragged Betty off me and helped me get off the road. I felt so stupid, I didn't have to try that, I could have waited and taken my time to carefully lift the Nike up the kerb. Now I have a bruised and bleeding elbow, and several other bruises. I was really angry, and blamed Will for not thinking about me when rushing at these things. But really, I'm the one in control of my bike and I can ride my own ride. Poor Will, he tried to help me and get me cleaned up, but I was very upset. We rode to the check in in silence.
Line 20, first inline. Too easy.
Kids just waiting for their boat ride.
It was super easy, we just lined up with the cars, and waited our turn. The French passport guys didn't care and waved us straight through to two English passport guys in a booth, 10 meters away. They asked us the usual questions, then directed us to the P&O check in lines a couple of hundred meters further. We'd pre-booked, so gave the details, got our tags and directions, then road around to our lane and we were first in line. We were the first ones to board and the last ones to disembark the Ferry, the trip across took 1.5 hours.
The Pride of Kent, our ship.
The Ferries don't look that big, but look what comes off them.
Time to get off this boat and into the "Mother Land".
Follow the red line to get out of the maze. And in England it rains. It is warm and wet.
Once in Dover we just merrily rode out of the Terminal & then up a very steep hill until we were on top of the White Cliffs. From there it was a very easy ride to the Campground at Kingsdown. Nice and spacious with views over the English Channel. Unfortunately we haven't had time to restock our food and fuel supply so it looks like we'll have to eat at one of the four English Pubs in town, about a 10 minute walk away.
Now that's a castle. Had to ride up a 13% gradient to get this view.
View of the Dover Port from on top of the White Cliffs.
This is a bicycle route. Whose bright invention were these stupid gates?
Sunshine and rain and a downhill run on the National Cycle Network 1. Dover to London.
The beach at Kingsdown.
We had awesome steak pie and veg at the pub, now back to our little tent down there.
After the iffy start to the day, it was a pretty good one. Some bruises, some lessons, and another country. But now I find myself riding on the wrong side of the paths, and looking the wrong way. Very funny, we got used to the right hand side pretty quickly. Now to flip the mind back again.
Howdy...Oh shite! Hope you are ok Jen. xx Terrible place really, did you get patted and searched too .... Bright side you can buy heaps on this ferry back to Dover really cheap..including liquor :-).
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