Day One

The day finally arrived for the London to Paris and back again ride.

After the U2 concert I arrived back at the B&B in Twickenham for a good nights rest. The post gig tiredness was not too bad as I had decided to be good and not queue too early, kept fed and watered, out of the sun and sat as much as possible while waiting for the best band in the world to do their stuff.  When the bands came on though I had other ideas and forgot about a little bike ride. Maybe bouncing up and down for 4 hours is a good pre ride workout anyway.

Sunday morning and I had a whole day of waiting until the 6 pm start time in Trafalgar Square.

Luckily the airbnb owner had stayed out last night and I had the place to myself. So shower, breakfast of granola, juice and coffee was consumed and I headed off.  Thank you Caroline for a perfect stopover in Twickenham.

Heading back into London was a 12 mile ride through Richmond, Putney & Chelsea. Along the way I planned to stop at a bike shop for a coffee and found a brilliant one in Richmond called Pearsons. There I met the owners and a few of the lads who had just done their usual Sunday morning ride to the Surrey Hills. They helped me sort out a creaky pedal and I shared an hour with them drinking coffee and chatting.  They said they regularly plan a London to Paris ride and last year took over 200 people that way. So they had loads of great advice for me. Mainly around the French drivers being good to us cyclists,  the Avenue Verte pros and cons and the ferry.  I must admit I wasn't looking forward to the ferry after that but thanked them and headed off into the city.  Great lads and a great bike shop.

The route in took me past a memorial to Marc Bolan near Gipsy Lane in Barnes SW15.

So how do I relax in one of the busiest cities in the world on a Sunday with a bike. After loading up with sandwiches, cakes and drinks I headed for Parliament Square for a quick impromptu solo picnic with Gandhi.

Then it was an easy choice really.  The Tour de France was on and the Rapha shop was packed for what would turn out to be one of the best stages so far of the tour.  Great coffee too.

Luckily they stayed open until 6pm on a Sunday but I could not wait any longer so at 5 I headed to Trafalgar Square.

Waiting...waiting...waiting.

As Big Ben struck 6 I set off down Whitehall towards the Houses of Parliament and south out of London.

I crossed over Vauxhall Bridge and then right onto the A203 towards Brixton. As I turned right onto the A23 by the Brixton O2 Academy the traffic was intense.  Note to self.  If ever doing this again pick a less busy time to set off.

After about 30 minutes I looked down at my Garmin to see I had done 4 miles !!!!  Oh no, panic on the streets of London came into my head. Morriseys voice rang in my ears.  I had not planned for all the traffic and traffic lights which I had to stop and start at every hundred or so yards.

After about 5 miles just outside Streatham I unclipped accidentally and the pedal scrapped a huge gash in my shin.  It was very painful but I had to keep going.  I was now worried I would actually get to Newhaven harbour by 10 pm !!

The road turned left and the A23 became the A22 which I would follow now all the way to Forest Row for about 22 miles.  Thankfully the road traffic thinned out the further from London I got.

By the time I got to the Caterham bypass the traffic was fairly light which gave me the confidence to take this road rather than go into Caterham.  It was a very different scene on the return and luckily I had thought this one through and learned both ways from my endless hours of looking at google maps.

At Forest Row I turned right onto the A275 and enjoyed a nice 5 mile downhill run into Chailey.

The beautiful South Downs are quite visible on your right as you head south and they are stunning and also quite daunting but the rise up through Offham and then down the other side were quite calm.

One thing to be wary of however is the very steep roads in Lewes.  If you want to avoid the 15-20 percenters go the long way round.  I slid down Winterbourne Hollow (Prison Hill) and swore that I would not try coming back up this on a TT bike with my high speed gear ratios which are not built for climbing.

It was then a matter of following Kingston Road through Swanborough and Piddinghoe into Newhaven and leg one done.

I also learned here that it pays to develop a rather pathetic shiver and ask a driver near the front of the queue if you can quickly check in at passport control to stop you from having to join the large line of cars, coaches and lorries waiting to get on board the ferry.

Then it was another wait in the shabby holding room where you just wait to be called onto the boat. The timing of this leg is crucial to get right but impossible to achieve as no doubt getting there with one hour to go until launch is too close to getting terribly wrong if you have a mechanical problem or excess traffic issues. In hindsight a 6 pm set off for an 11 pm ferry is about right.  Ofcourse, you can choose a more uncomplicated starting point than the centre of the busiest city in Europe !!!

Once on board you are shown to a rear corner of the lower deck where you leave your bike to be tied together with all the other ones with a rope.

DFDS are nice ferries and on board you can relax and get a meal and drinks in the cafe.  If you imagine school dinners on a budget of 20p per person per serving then you have got it.  I had fish and chips and was hoping being on board a ship the fish would have been a bit tastier and fresher but alas it was more like a crispy pancake with a faint taste of the sea served with chips which might actually have tasted OK on their first or second reheat.  Top tip is 3 sachets of tartare sauce and ketchup to add flavour.

Another top tip is to take ear plugs as the noise of the engines is unbelievably loud.

I hit the sack in my cabin which was awesome and worth every penny.

By the time my head hit the pillow it was 11:30 pm and I had all of 4 hours until my alarm call !!!!