I’m writing (most of) this sat on the ferry. Third day in, having ridden from Devizes to just east of Winchester, then onto just North west of Newhaven and then on to the ferry terminal in Newhaven. so that’s about 120 miles. .

I’m sat at the front of the ferry to start with, next to an electric socket to charge everything up.

May have to move to the middle of it gets rough. The wind has been strong since leaving home. But I’m pleasantly surprised that the boat doesn’t smell of a bad crossing!

First day I probably tried to do too much before stopping. When I had done LEJOG, Jay and I cycled much too far on the first day before stopping. We soon realised that the key was regular stops.

I have not really trained much, or enough for this but an often asked question is “do I need to train?”. The answer is no, you cycle into it. The bit you don’t say to someone asking this is, “but the first two weeks will be bloody horrible while you adapt. I’m well aware of this. It just means first couple of weeks will be a bit more challenging. Especially I am about 19kg heavier than when I did the big ride to Cape Town.

Nice independent cafe in Stockbridge

I stopped in Stockbridge for something to eat and a coffee. Nice Independant cafe that had fresh pastries on offer. It’d be rude not to oblige.

Before I knew it, I was in Winchester. On the way I’d thought to myself, “why have I not cycled here more often?” The answer soon came. Hills, hills and more hills. It started to get a little lumpy.

The campsite I’d contacted, Holden farm was about 7 miles out of winchester.. up a hill! I took some time out by the cathedral before the last stint. A lady walked by with the biggest rucksack I’d ever seen and a spit her spaniel that had his own doggy backpack. They eventually arrived at the campsite 4 hours after me.

The campsite was well set up. Camp wherever you like in the fields. There was a large field of about ten acres and smaller 3-4 acre field. I opted for the latter and was not far from another touring cyclist, who also happened to have a surly long haul trucker.

Some beach on the way to Brighton

Woke up quite early to head to Brighton. First ten miles had half the rides elevation.

Had a lady shout at me to ride on the cycle path. That’d be the cycle path full of potholes and strewn with glass. As soon as it looked decent again I got back onto the cycle path. About a mile later l, said lady was stuck in a traffic jam. So rode past her on the outside but opted not to stop and point out that cycle paths are not obligatory and often not fit for purpose. I am looking forward to the ones in europe though.

After 60 miles I was get to g low on fuel. Thought I’d try eating sausage roll and a biscuit. Odd but nice combination. Just needed a skip as a starter to make it three course in a mouthful.

Arrived at the campsite about 6:30pm. Blowing like mad. Luckily I’m the valley it wasn’t to bad.

Having a shower at the top was interesting g. Wind was blowing right. Well, after a 65 mile ride, everything did need a good airing!

I’ll correct any typos later. No glasses, small screen. Must be loads 🙂