Departure day - Once again, my closest friends and colleagues had turned up to wave me off as I set off on my second long bike ride to England/Ireland/Scotland.
According to plan, I had wanted to start around 1pm, but the lattes at the corner coffee shop were so good that we stayed and chatted with a couple until 2.30pm.
The lifts of the pedestrian tunnel were working, so I was soon on the Left Bank. The first bit I rode with a man who was curious about my little flag and we soon got chatting.
At the Galgenweel I swerved towards Zwijndrecht, where I decided to eat a sandwich before the long stretch to Kaprijke. To my dismay, I noticed that my yellow Bubaque flag that Reach Out board member Patricia had so ingeniously stitched together, had disappeared. At the Galgenweel, it was still hanging on, so driving back blown. It was indeed - and fortunately - next to the cycle path around the Galgenweel, where I strong headwind had - like the rest of the ride by the way... Westbound riding in a NW wind means wind from the right front .
It was already foggy, after an hour it also began to drizzle, and to save time I cycled alongside the expressway. Pretty pictures were not in the cards.
However, I did see on the verge two beautiful large white birds with a very cool crest and a long tail. Afterwards, someone informed me via Facebook that it was rather rare white peacocks were.
Departure cycling tour around UK and Ireland
Beautiful weather Tuesday and yet decided to in a trek to Bray-Dunes cycling. Pity about the first 45 km of headwind, which did slow me down a bit. Once I reached the top Bruges could swing off to the south, I had it right at the back and it was great cycling.
Wednesday a day of rest by the sea to get some rest and do some odd jobs.
As expected, the ride of Bray-Dunes to the ferry terminal in Dunkirk quite boring and along major lanes. A new coastal cycling route constructed, but it is still interrupted here and there by sandy yards that cannot be crossed with a packed bike.
I arrived nicely in time for the 16-hour ferry and arrived 2 sailing hours later at 5pm local time in Dover.
Getting out of the harbour by bike was no laughing matter. I had to take a red line, but that ended at a closed gate. So I drove on and asked for directions, but was sent back. Then I had better luck: near the gate was a lady who was kind enough to open it.
To a Coastal campsite in Folkestone it was 12km of cycling, so I was counting on just under an hour, but that was outside the steep slopes, the narrow, bicycle unfriendly gates and the wretched state of National Cycling Route 2 reckoned... As a result, I didn't arrive at a campsite on the coast just before Folkestone until around 8pm. As dusk began to fall, until it was pitch black, there kept coming a helicopter with floodlights flying back and forth along the coastline.
The next morning I learned, as I suspected, that that helicopter was refugee boats tracks down. What a hell life for those refugees, hunted and chased everywhere, not welcome anywhere... Can you even imagine such a life? The fox that came here last night to search the dustbins is even better off than she....
Beach Folkestone
To get out of the campsite at sea level I had to take the cliff back on. Like yesterday, this involved some bits of steep pushing to get to the top. It was also very hot, about 26°. Folkestone is a pleasant seaside town with a moody little port.
After Sandgate swerved National cycling route 2 inland and I rode for many kilometres alongside the Royal Military Canal, built between 1804-09 as a defence against the Napoleonic armies. After that, sheep in vast fields were my only companions.
There were some passages in the National Cycling Route that I would rather not cycle in the dark, about narrow, single-track paths. As a bonus, I got the last 8 km to farm campsite Fresh Winds still have some tough slopes to digest.
Short but difficult ride because of the strong headwind and some steep climbs. My legs are not quite in climbing mode yet.
Before my departure from the 'oasis of peace and frog song' Fresh Winds Campsite I drove past Tim's farm to photograph him and his wife for the sponsors blog, as I had stay for free. He had just returned from shearing sheep.
The drive to Hastings went smoothly, including a climb I didn't think I could get up without pushing. At the top, I did have to let my ravaged leg muscles deacidify for 2 minutes, waiting for my heart rate to calm down as well.
In Hastings, I got cooled by a chilly shower and went into the museum for an hour.
Then it was the same headwind story again until Fairfields Campsite in Pevensey, where I still stopped first to photograph the 11th-century church.
Sunday 26 May I lived a miss at to have a look inside the little church. After mass, all churchgoers took their seats at a long table and were given coffee and biscuits. A convivial affair because all the villagers knew each other. I was soon included in the conversations and when I mentioned that I was cycling around Britain and Ireland to fund a student's studies in Bubaque, promptly a few pounds my way. Warm people, those Pevenseyers!
Hastings Esplanade
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
