One Life ...

We have been cycling for 2 weeks now and have covered a lot of ground.  We have had varying weather of heavy rain, scattered showers and dry but cold.  Night's in the tent have been pretty cold! THE ROUTE (Le Havre) After our last night in a 'proper bed' for a while, we stocked up on food and headed out of Le Havre. We cycled through farmland to a pretty little town called Harfleur and then on to Lillebonne. We saw 2 massive birds nesting at the top of a post. Our first night camping was beside the river, very tranquil. (First night camping on the River Seine) We followed the Seine down to Rouen. This is funky town with lots of bars and restaurants all along the river. Unfortunately the heavens opened just as we approached so, after taking shelter for a while we continued on to find a camping spot for the night, this time near a railway line. From Rouen we headed throy St Aubin Les Ebeuf and Les Andleys following the river.  We saw lots of beautiful houses and chateau ...

After a leisurely breakfast we loaded our bikes up again and headed off towards the ferry port, via Waitrose! The cycle ride was only 3.8km. We arrived and checked in and were sent to a cycle stand to wait for our 11.30am ferry to Le Harve. Although the sun was shining there was a rather cold breeze. We boarded the ferry, secured our bikes and headed up to the deck to watch as we pulled out of Portsmouth. We saw the naval base, HMS Victory, the Spinnaker Tower and the old fort. It all looked glorious with the blue skies and sunshine. We saw about 10 cars on the ferry and a couple of vans, that was it! Inside we counted approximately 16 people, so there was plenty of choice of seats! We wandered around the bar area, restaurant and duty free. We found some seats and watched the world go by ... for a while ... until we both fell asleep in the warmth of the sun shining through the window. We passed over a shipping lane where suddenly there appeared to be boats all over the place. ...

Up at 6.55 to meet our 7am breakfast slot. Breakfast was amazing and we ate the lot from dried fruit to double bacon and eggs. All washed down with posh coffee - awesome. Packing the bikes was easy but it takes a little bit of time ... We started our journey about 8.30. We passed our friend's house, his kids school and his allotment. We got a little lost in Southampton due to road closures but after a little back tracking from the scary dual carriageway, all was good. A lot of our route followed the National Cycle Trail 246, however it kept disappearing into nowhere. We eventually found it again but miles away from where we last saw the signs. We passed over lots of water today, saw lots of boats and had puncture number 2! Fixed, we headed off again. A few diversions, some nice tracks and now we could see the Spinnaker tower in the distance. This added a little motivation to the pedalling. A quick stop in Waitrose to stock up on goodies and we arrived at our destination - Portsmout...

The rain came in early and it didn't stop but we had to leave or we wouldn't make it to our destination-Lyndhurst in the New Forest. We loaded our bikes, said goodbye and started our journey through the rain. First puncture on Darryl's bike 3 miles in! Tube replaced in the rain. Next, a bridge was closed blocking our route over to the Avon Causeway. We diverted - 6 miles! We made our way through small country lanes and it was a pleasant route. However, the rain had caused extensive flooding and we diverted again! Into the New Forest, passed wild horses, dead badgers and many deer. It was a little hilly and hard work on loaded bikes. The rain eventually stopped and we started to get a little warm so off came the big yellow ponchos. Not super stylish but they kept us dry.  We decided to take a main road due to various floods. The cars were a little fast and furious however it got us to Lyndhurst before dark. We have stored our bikes carefully inside our rather luxurious accom...

The alarm worked! We were ready to go! Breakfast with our last rupees at the 24 hour caf'. Short walk. Bag rearrangement and we checked in at the desk. First flight to Abu Dhabi - done! We needed to pass immigration to change airline. All went well. Next stop - Bucharest. Smooth check in, good flight and an over night at the airport. Sleep? We watched an opera playing in a lounge and snoozed. When the sun came up we found a shop and bought some bananas and baguette to fill our tummies. At 8am we headed out to find a bus into the center of Bucharest.  We found the bus stop and a ticket machine.  Purchased 2 tickets and we were on our way.  It was a little chilly but the sun was shining.  We hoped off in the centre of the city and first headed to the parliament building, which is huge!  We wander d though a little park and went in search of coffee.  We were surprised to find that coffee as quite expensive, on a par with the UK which we hadn't expected.  However, we found one chai...

Check out time was 11am and we stayed in the room until the deadline approached. We packed our bags and tried to arrange them to meet airline requirements. Tomorrow, is the start of our flights home. Bags packed, we walked for tea by the sea. We then munches our lunch at our little restaurant before catching the ferry back to the mainland. This time we went to a closer metro station. We rode on airconditioned comfort for the half an hour journey to Aluva. Here we switched to the airport bus. Another short ride and we were dropped at the airport. We had a 10 minute walk to our hotel so we stopped for a short tea break at a 24 hour cafe. Hotel was great. Clean friendly. Perfect. We went out to eat dinner at the all night cafe. A masala dosa and a masala uttapam. Yum! We had a short look around at a few shops and cafes before waiting at the hotel for our airline check in. No mobile boarding passes could be used and the app issued invalid ones. The hotel helped us print the documents which...

We woke up at a lazy place and took a ferry to Willingdon island. First stop near the ferry stop was for dosas and chai! Pretty good dosas and real cheap. We walked along the beach front passing many Chinese nets and a church running a service. The church was next to a convent. It was quiet so we assumed everyone was inside the church. It was pretty packed out! We got the ferry back as we didn't want to walk to far on the heat. We went for lunch at the awesome little cafe overlooking the sea / harbour. A Kerala meal each hit the spot. Full ... The afternoon was spent on another ferry over to the mainland. Coffee in the India coffee shop before mall exploring in air con style! Fancy shops though quite expensive. Ferry back to homestay followed by an evening beach prom walk with Indian snacks.