Day 19. 2131km, 12th of Aug. London! "Keep to the left"

Last day of cycling today!

Got up early, just before six and was on the road by six thirty. I wasn't Surat what time the ferries would leave and how often as it was a Sunday so I wanted to make it there as early as possible, as I almost had 20km to do before boarding th ferry and another 140 on English soil.

I had a baguette and some cheese as soon as I entered Calais, and that is pretty much as French as I got.

There where a lot of people waiting to board the boats, and a lot of cars too. No cyclists though. I bought my ticket and rolled on to the DFDS ferry just before they closed the gates.

Once on board I relaxed, more than I had done on the whole trip. I started to realize that it was soon over and that a couple of months of planning had actually got me this far. I really did not want it to end, but I really did want a shower.

Getting of e ferry was interesting, keeping to the left took some getting used to and you could tell that so did the French drivers unloading the vessel behind me.

I had arranged with my friend Erik to meet me in Dover so that we could do the last leg together, when I found him at the train station in Dover we waited a couple of minutes for a some of his friends to arrive before setting off.

Dover-London proved to be one of the hilliest parts of my trip. This was no problem for Ed, James and Erik who where riding road bikes and a fixie, but for my loaded Brompton and me it was more of a challenge. Luckily enough the English countryside is full of English people, and with that comes a great selection of pubs. We found one with an appropriate name and stopped for lunch and a pint. There is a lot of water in beer and the temperature was about 28C so we filled up our water bottles as well. With normal water though.

 

Erik had printed out a 23 page long google map with what allegedly was a good cycle rout from Dover to London. We did however manage to get ourselves onto propper downhill bike inclines and other off road paths. By nightfall and a pub stop later we did start to see the city of London and its financial district towering up in the sunset.

We crossed tower bridge just as the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, lots of lights and loads of people on the streets so it was a great welcome party.

Our goal for the day was to get to St. Paul's Cathedral, and so we did. We took some photos and then headed our separate ways, tired but happy. Erik and I cycled up to Liverpool st. where I folded my Brompton for the first time in quite some time. 160km exactly with an average speed of 15km/h for me. I saw some other Bromptons at the station so we felt well at home.

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home we passed the Olympic stadium where the ceremony was still going on. That is basically what I saw of the Olympic games and from what I've heard the city is now in post Olympic depression with nothing good to watch on tv anymore.