Home » France » Reports from the European and Middle East leg - On The Road (18 September 2001)

Finishing my breakfast, waving goodbye, pedalling up the hill round the corner and out of sight for 3 years was very odd indeed. My first cry helped. My round the planet bike ride had begun.

Reports from the European and Middle East leg - On The Road (18 September 2001)

Roundtheworldbybike
2005-11-17 20:15:48

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Finishing my breakfast, waving goodbye, pedalling up the hill round the corner and out of sight for 3 years was very odd indeed. My first cry helped. My round the planet bike ride had begun.

After day 1 I was exhausted and the face-punch of reality had kicked in. There was no glamour at all and this was going to be very hard work, in every way imaginable.

By London I was very very depressed and felt an almost unbearable reluctance to leave England. But I had the horrible feeling that I had no option - that I was trapped. By Dover the sheer scale of what I had got myself into was absolutely terrifying me. The delayed, rain-sodden ferry and 7am lager swillers made the memorable "au revoir" somewhat less than satisfactory.

Soggy SocksIn France I was wet, lonely and cried a lot. But finally the sun came out, I settled into a relaxed pace, took up sketching and coffee drinking with reckless abandon and things began to look up. A rainy morning merited a lie-in: a huge duvet sleeping bag, pistachio nuts for breakfast and the sports pages from the newspaper (albeit last Saturday´s) - and I claim this to be tough!

In sunshine I rode through quiet cornfields aimless country roads: the killing fields of World War 1. Soldiers are admirably remembered in immaculate cemeteries. One highligted the madness perfectly: row upon row upon row of Allied soldiers graves, lieing in the same cemetery alongside similar numbers of German graves.

Mum had given me a handful of Belgian coins. I embarked on a 16 mile detour to Belgium, mouth watering at the prospect of burgers and gluttony. The first shop across the border sorted out the obsolete coins, handed me a can of Coke and 3 small chocolate bars and packed me off back towards France! Luxembouerg was nice. And small. I met Chris, a fellow cyclist. The company is great, his demon speed uphill is not!

A garage owner became my new hero when he gave me free rein on his cappucino machine and sent me on my way with a new map a bottle of beer and a very large sausage!

Someone vaguely mentioned to me something about the World Trade Centre - what incredible happenings I am unaware of in my weird little world, yet they may have huge repercussions later on my journey.

The beautiful Romantische Strasse stood out in the rain; the village of Rottinghen boasted no fewer than 27 different sundials. If only they had some sunshine!

And now, replete from the astonishing hospitatlity of Biggy and Guy Thornton (OS) I turn towards a gentle meander down the Danube towards Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. The calm before the storm.