31st March – 4th April 2026
We departed our final Premier Inn of the trip early in the morning on Tuesday 31st March – no time for an all you can eat buffet breakfast this time. The ferry itself was all a bit of a blur. I think I fell asleep for a bit. I had been adamant that there would be other cyclists on the ferry but Holly was right – it was either too early, too cold, or they were on a nicer ferry route than Dover to Dunkirk, which seemed to be a popular route with the lorry drivers.
Seeing as we have been uber bad at keeping the blog current we’ve added a map and table with a somewhat more up to date overview of where we are each day. There is of course every chance we won’t stay on top of this either. Have a look in the dropdown menu under “The route” for “The actual route” and you should find it there – uber good!
26-30th March 2026
What have we done?!
We got off to a fairly good if a little late start; the flat looked better than it ever has with us living in it and our vintage spice collection is no more. The problems started when we got onto the bikes and started pedaling off.
It’s my turn to sit on the sofa and mull over why we’re doing this trip and how we got here. The fact that my Dad had a bicycle shop for 33 years possibly has something to do with my passing interest in bikes. I even considered taking it over at one point and did the official Cytech mechanics course, but I wasn’t what you would call a “natural”, and ultimately decided that it wasn’t for me and my soft hands. Whilst I grew up around bikes (and Bromptons in particular), I don’t think it’s fair to give my Dad all the credit/blame – although Freud would have a field day I’m sure.
I am sitting on the sofa, not long before we are due to leave, surrounded by boxes containing various essentials that I have, to the frustration of Ben, left to the very last minute to order. If I’m honest I feel physically and emotionally underprepared for what can only be described as a mildly overambitious bike ride, and so naturally I thought to myself – time to write a prologue.
holly and ben go adventuring. 