Travel – drive to Portsmouth, ferry to Caen.

Cycling: 3.2 miles

Travel is going to be a key component of this holiday. But there are different kinds of travel and today’s was of the “to be endured” kind rather than the “to be enjoyed”.

A six hour drive to Portsmouth was happily without incident but also almost completely devoid of interest. So we’ll skip to the next stage.

We’d booked parking at a restaurant/bar car park (£50 for 2 weeks) on the east side of Portsmouth where we unloaded the bikes, popped the panniers on the Kinesis and carried out a final documents check. 

Komoot then handled the 15 minute ride across town to the ferry terminal. It wasn’t a great route, but it was probably the best available. A stiff and chilly breeze kept us on our toes on our heavily laden bikes. 

We passed through the Brittany Ferries check-in in the same lanes as the cars, but then found ourselves directed to a pre-boarding lane dedicated to cycles and motorcycles.

To our surprise we were the only cyclists. A quick customs check – rucksacks run through an airport-style scanner – and we were cleared for boarding.

After a short wait we – the cyclists – and the motorcyclists were directed up the boarding ramp (we were asked to push which was fine as the ramp was steep and looked slippery). 

All other vehicles were held back until all two wheeled machines were safely stowed. A French crew member showed us to an alcove on the car deck where he lashed our bikes to railings with a rope.

We then had the luxury of having the entire ship all to ourselves for perhaps 15 minutes until the motoring masses began to join us.

The absence of children (term time bonus) was notable and the ferry felt perhaps 25% full. Another bonus! 

The Channel was pretty choppy so our crossing was marked by a number of staggery walks to buy food and drink.

Arriving in Ouistreham in the dark, at 10pm, we had to wait for the vehicles to disembark before leaving ourselves.

We then rapidly overtook most of the vehicles as they waited to go through customs. A heavy rain shower doused us during the ten minutes ride to our Airbnb, but we found it promptly and our host was waiting to put our bikes in his workshop/shed before giving us a quick tour of our accommodation.

A bit damp and chilly, we soon settled in and headed for bed!

Bird(s) of the day: On the crossing we encountered small groups of gannets and fulmars low over the water, using the winds.

Julie. Arriving late in the day and tired from travelling I struggled to focus as our host went into a detailed description in Franglais of how to work the coffee machine and boil water in the microwave as there was no kettle for tea making!