Planning the Route: Part 1

Ferry’s ticket in the pocket I have now to look a bit more into the route I’m planning to ride along. For France, I’m not really afraid of it, I know the French motorway system and the rules, and I if I want to have a good and safe ride, I know I’ll have to stick to D roads (départementale) which are usually quiets and perfect for cycling.

However my main worry is more about this side of the channel; indeed as if I’m used to cycle in the city, other kind of roads are totally unknown for me. Wouldn’t like to end up on a road where cars can drive at 70mph!

There are bunch of routes on the internet, all of them around 60-65 miles from London to Newhaven where I would need to be at 9am on Saturday 25th of August to catch my ferry. I spend 2hours comparing maps between google maps and my road maps, as well as looking for different routes by other people. I didn’t thought that planning a route could be so complex, and I can’t rely on someone else as I would ride alone. Plus the pressure of getting on time at the ferry is real.

Finally I think I’ll stick to my first thinking with this route (via) which looks quite alright, the most annoying part of it being to exit from London to join Redhill, after that it would be a piece of cake. I am just a bit worried about the part between Purley and Redhill (brighton Road, A23) as it seems being a big road heading to the M25. The only way to figure it out is to ride the route at least once before the big day (and comeback by train from Newhaven). Soon then… And it’s still pourly raining in London.

Ferry Ticket: Checked

Just booked my ticket for the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe. I took a bit of time to book this one because I couldn’t decide what ferry I’l jump in. Indeed, there is only 2 ferries a day from Newhaven… The first in the morning at 10 o’clock and the second one at 11 pm… This is a bit ridiculous in my opinion to have a ferry so late. If I was taking the 11pm ferry, I would have arrived in France at 4am on Sunday, too early to really start the ride, too late to sleep at the hotel. So I assume that the logical choice was to book the morning’s ferry at 10am. Then I’ll need to be there at least at 9am, so I’ll need to be on the bike at 4am at least on Saturday morning. Early ride for early bird. Well at least I won’t be too much annoyed by the traffic…

I paid £31.50 for the ferry.

Been silent on the training this week, but i’m still on, I rode a bit more than 40 miles yesterday, but the weather is absolutely awful in London right now, hard to keep myself motivated to go out!!

I’m currently working on the mapping of the trip, as well as finding and booking hotels.