Like most people coming to the end of August, I wanted to get out of London and have some time exploring somewhere new and relaxing before the September term routine started all over again. I looked on Google Maps and logged in the distance between London and Paris. Since moving to London last July, I have gotten reacquainted with two wheels using it my commuter tool to get to and from work, covering maybe 50miles a week. I had a route planned, had some cycling bags for a small amount of luggage and I was ready to go.
I left my home in Balham at around 3pm on the Sunday with the bike fully laden with my luggage for the few days I had booked in Paris as well as my travelling essentials. I was using a cycling computer to navigate a pre-loaded route β all I had to do was follow the line.
The weight made the bike much trickier to control and the positioning of the bags made it difficult to change gear initially. With a little adjustment outside of Sutton and swallowing a bit of ego and lowering my gears, I quickly found my rhythm and cleared London averaging a happy 15mph. I was met by some beautiful countryside leading in Surrey, which also meant some steep hills but the views were rewarding at the top!
I arrived in Newhaven at around 7. This gave me time to refuel at a local restaurant and join the queue to board the ferry.
After four hours of broken sleep curled up in an arm chair, we eventually disembarked into Dieppe, which is a small yet pretty harbour town in Northern France. It was around am when I eventually cleared security; pitch black with only the street lights illuminating the route out of town.
