Cycling to Paris: Day 1

What a fun day. We set off from the close on time but that’s about where the organisation ended. Next stop City Thameslink, where Ed buckled his back wheel. Next stop Trafalgar Square for the photo call. Then we navigate as far as Brixton before stopping at a bike shop for the wheel. Nothing doing there so we moved on to Clapham High Road to another bike shop, who managed to true the wheel st virtually no cost! Onwards and southbound to meet Dai in Horley. After a mediocre lunch (Dai thinks we’re a bunch of soft-drinkers!) on to Lewes for more coffee. Next Newhaven for beer, fish & chips and more beer. We watched the first half of the THFC vs Man City match before scouring to the ferry. Did you know, cyclists are expected to queue up like the cars? We opted to wait in the reception then push into the front of the car queue – well they gave heaters in their cars we were not so lucky, I’m sure they didn’t mind waiting for 8 cyclists to check in individually! Eventually we did board the ferry for the all too brief ferry crossing to Dieppe. Total of 60-something miles; almost no rain.  On the ferry we got our heads down, the under-50s did, the over-50s required a visit to the bar first, then Dai got his first taste of D’s snoring, so did the whole boat.