May 10-17, 1996 - Germany -->
Belgium --> France --> UK
We flew into Frankfurt on May 10, picked up the bike from Lufthansa's
cargo area (quite a straightforward process, they seem to be very familiar
with shipping bikes), drove rapidly through Cologne, Brussels and Calais,
then caught a ferry to Dover.
The whole drive to London was pretty uneventful, the main roads are
excellent, border crossings non-existent, and traffic isn't too bad as
long as you stay out of the towns. Dunkirk was much bigger than we expected,
and we managed to get lost trying to find something to eat, and then get
to the ferry in Calais. It's an easy crossing, only an hour and a half,
but they could learn a thing or three from BC Ferries. Not nearly as nice
or well appointed.
The first border we actually had to get our passports stamped was UK,
although we would have stopped anyway as we had to get the entry stamps
for my right of abode visa and Susan's equivalent. That was interesting
- the guy said that there were two ways to do Susan's visa, and the consulate
found a third! However, we managed to sort it out and now we're legit
in the UK.
We stayed in Dover the first night in England, a pretty little town
and the "cutest" B&B you could imagine - the room was all
pink and frilly with pictures of little girls playing tea etc. on the
walls - amazing. Did a little sightseeing in Dover, which has definitely
seen better days.
We moved on to Canterbury, but the weather was so bad - really cold
and wet - we didn't see much, will have to go back later. Canterbury was
packed with tourists, apparently it was a long weekend in France, and
Canterbury is directly on the route between Dover and London. We've been
setting a blistering pace, with our usual crack of dawn starts. One day
we even managed about 20 miles. (Dover to Canterbury).
May 23, 1996 - Tonbridge (near London)
We've holed up in Tonbridge, southeast of London, to await better weather
and catch up on odds and ends of things, such as entering bits and pieces
of information and then throwing away the paper, to reduce the amount
of paper we're carrying on the bike.
Weather here is wet and cold. We had to drive in to London to get new
tires for the bike, a central but sleazy / industrial area of town, and
then drove back in the rain, so we were cold wet puppies by the time we
got to the hotel. Rain gear worked okay, though, clothes underneath were
dry, and a hot bath works wonders.
We have to leave tomorrow, and rain is predicted on and off, but we're
only 250 miles from Liverpool, and our ferry is Saturday morning, so we
should be able to make it at a reasonable pace, and if the weather gets
really frightful, we can find a restaurant and hole up until it clears.
At least we have two brand new tires, the old ones had a lot of mileage
on them. Next destination is the Isle of
Man.
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Home Shop the Souk
Grant & Susan's RTW Trip
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