Arrived at Sally and Rich's home in Ipswich this morning at 1045. I first met Sally in Bonn in 1977 when she was working with Margaret at the British Embassy. She has invited me to stay for as long as I like but I think she may change her mind in a day or two. We went for a walk on the common today with their dog, Cody, who had a great time playing with other dogs, terrorizing local golfers, chasing rabbits/birds and going for a swim in the local pond.
Since leaving Calais on June 18th I have travelled by ferry to Dover (1.5 hour crossing). I left Calais at 9:30 and arrived in Dover at 10:00 local time. There was an hours difference between France and England. I was amongst the first to get on the ferry but on arrival in Dover had to wait until everyone had gotten off before I was allowed to get off. I was the only cyclist. I was told to follow the red line until I got to a gate where I had to press the buzzer and someone would come and let out of the dockyard area into the customs area.
The customs officer was very curious about where I had come from and where I was travelling to. We had a 10-15 minute chat and he wished me well and warned me about keeping to the left. I cycled to Canterbury where I was eventually able to find an cash point (ATM) so I could get some English pounds. I had stopped at a petrol station earlier on the A2 but they wouldn't accept Euros. I found a pub and went in to have lunch. A bowl of soup and a coke cost me £5. Wow have prices ever gone up since the last time I was in UK. I know I should have taken more time to take in the sights of Canterbury but I thought it would be cheaper to find a place to stay for the night if I was in a smaller village so I set off for Sittingbourne. I couldn't find and B&Bs or hotels and eventually after talking to a couple of bus drivers was directed to the Premier Inn about 4 kms out of town. At this point I had done 78+ kms plus the 1.5 hours on the ferry so when I was told that a room for the night would cost £64 I just capitulated and thought of it as 64 dollars. If I had waited to arrive on Friday the rate would had been £59. Go figure. I refused to pay £8 for breakfast and thought I would take my chances with breakfast at the nearby McDonalds.
Had dinner in the nearby Bobbing Apple and went off to bed for a good nights rest.
The following morning went over to McDs for sausage McMuffin breakfast, hot chocolate and cost me only £3.
From Sittingborough I cycled to Brentwood crossing over the Thames at Gravesend to Tilbury. Only pedestrians and cyclists allowed on this small ferry which cost £2.70 and took about 15 minutes to make the crossing. Before the Dartford bridge and tunnel were built this was a major ferry crossing point. Arrived in Brentwood at 2:00 PM. Found a room at the Holiday Inn for £59. Once again I had to decline the breakfast at £12.99 and decided to stop at a Tesco or petrol station convenience store to get a bite to eat for breakfast. Cost to use the internet was £3 for 15 minutes.
There was a wedding function going on at the hotel that evening and of course several of the wedding guests decided to make a night of it and carry on into the wee hours of the morning. Finally at midnight I'd had enough. My room was right next to the main reception area which was next to the bar. I called the reception desk and complained about the excessive noise and told them if they didn't do something about it I would have to demand a refund. About 10-15 minutes later the noise stopped but I was so pissed off I had a difficult time getting to sleep!!!!
Saturday, June 20, it was off Colchester. But before setting off I called a B&B there to make a reservation for the night. The 2nd one had a room for me for the night at £45. According to my GPS it was a 60 km ride to Colchester. As I approached Colchester I plugged in the address of the B&B and was told it was another 14 kms. I ended up taking some very narrow country lanes and eventually came to a cul-de-sac (dead end) which lead into a forest. I tought there must be something wrong so chose to ignore the GPS and went the opposite way for about 2-3 kms. No sign of Colchester or the B&B. I returned to the dead end and went around the barrier and through the forest for about .5 kms. It came out on a paved road. Still no sign of the B&B. I gave up on finding the B&B and programmed the GPS for Colchester. Ended going over some of the route I had already cycled. I arrived in Colchester at 4:00 PM. By this time I had done 95 kms and it was only supposed to be 60 kms!!! A light rain had started to fall. I called the B&B and was told that they were located in Earls Colne about 8 miles outside of Colchester. They just had the same postal code!!! Since I had already booked and given them my credit card info I set off in search of the B&B. I did eventually find it and was given a nice comfortable room for the evening. Total distance cycled 114.89 kms 6 hrs 49 mins. Freshened up after unloading the bags and walked into town to the Lion Pub for dinner where I'm sure the locals enjoyed watching me eat a very hot lasagne and burning my mouth. Oh by the way no McDs or petrol stations available for breakfast so had to paid £8 for a cooked breakfast.
On Sunday I set off for Ipswich a short ride of 57 kms which took me 3 hrs 35 mins very hilly and a bit of rain slowed me down quite a bit. I did arrive at 12:00 but by the time I managed to find a suitable hotel for the night it was 2:00 PM. I stayed at the Carleton Hotel at £39 for the night which included a full English breakfast. Go figure.
I managed to catch the last 20 laps of so of the British GP at Silverstone. Possible the last F1 race at Silverstone - not sure why?? I looked to a lauderette and found one just a half a block away but it was closed at 2 PM on a Sunday. So had to wait until this morning to get my laundry done. There goes the smoke detector so I think"tea" is ready.
Cheerio, Roly
