Leaving London yesterday by underground and train was easy though I felt more relaxed when actually cycling between my stations especially as the Farringdon to Waterloo route includes the CS6 cycle way making life safe.
The South Western Railway services have excellent provision for bikes including at least one dedicated area sufficient for three bikes and straps to secure your machine. The side benefit of this arrangement is that you get to sit with fellow cyclists and compare cycling notes. My companion was on his way to a 3-day tour on the Isle of Wight and was kitted out with a gravel bike and assorted bags attached in the modern bike-packing manner. He said he wasn't brave enough to tackle a 30-day tour; later on the ferry I met someone who had done a 300-day round the world cycle tour which was very humbling.
Arriving in Portsmouth far too early gave me time to bask in the sun and watch life pass by. This included a traditional chimney sweep dressed in black with waistcoat and a pocket watch on a chain. I am guessing he had just come from providing his services at a wedding with his small, clean hessian sack clearly labelled "SOOT". Last year when I had checked in at the ferry terminal I toughed it out in the bike shed trying to dry out. This time I locked my bike and made use of the smart new terminal building.
Today, I managed to escape the ferry quickly and the day was mostly a repeat of last year's first day as I headed up the coast towards Mont St Michel. Oysters at Cancale just had to be had and rather than a photo of the oyster market I made use of low tide to show the oyster beds.
I learnt today that whoever worked out the route favoured a bit of off-road which doesn't work when it's damp and you have a fully loaded bike. I'll watch out for those detours in the weeks to come.
Though I am mostly camping and haven't booked much, today is a Chambres d'Hotes as the campsites near Mont St Michel are pricey. After 40 miles of fairly continuous cycling I crashed out (not literally) in Pontorson waiting for my accommodation to open, and was gripped by leg cramps; left inner thigh and right hamstring simultaneously probably due to not drinking enough.
Not too many photos but I include these to emphasise the benefit of cycling; it let's you stop and see.
My host for the night only spoke French but as I have experienced in other trips she kept it simple and slow (just like me) so we were able to chat and that got my French confidence back.
Having recently visited Istanbul my choice of eating establishment chose itself.
Then onto more prosaic matters I decided it was time to start filling my panniers with camping provisions especially as tomorrow is Monday when everything closes; as it ought to have been on a Sunday night. This is pretty much my daily menu for the month with some minor variation and vegetables thrown in.
I have called this adventure "A Hopeful Journey" though perhaps that is getting close to being a tautology like "a sabbatical holiday". All journeys carry with them a sense of hope, a feeling of expectation, desire and anticipation of good things to come even if we don't know what those good things are. It is in the nature of hope and hopefulness that there is a high degree of vagueness; we hope that someone has a good trip without defining what constitutes a good trip. Despite the title I am unsure of my hopes for this journey though it is hope that carried me through the tortuous planning process and it will be hope that will bolster my resolve to get to the top of Mont Ventoux and - as NASA would say - safely back down again. Though scratch that, it will be fear that guides my descent of Mont Ventoux which might explain why we talk of hopes and fears; hope the positive to the negativity of fear. This is a rather long way of saying that you can't write a list of hopes and if you did it would turn out to be better described as a list of wishes, to-do-tasks, items to buy/eat/drink. The only thing we know for sure is that hope is a positive force.
That said, hope was included in Pandora's Box which contained the evils of the world so I am now wishing (not hoping) I hadn't started this conversation with myself.
