World Tour

July 13 - Thursday Valognes, France to Dorset, England We awoke surrounded by thick fog. I was actually cold! I can't remember the last time I was cold enough to want to bundle up! By the time we left camp the fog had all but burned off and the sun was out and shining again. We pulled up to the train station and there was a young woman outside seemingly waiting for someone. Jon went in to buy tickets and I stayed with the bikes. The young woman approached and began talking to me in French. When I explained that I didn't speak french but did she speak english she replied that she wasn't very good. I thought her english was actually very good and told her so. That must have been all she needed because she proceeded to ask me questions about the bike in very good english - that was cool. Jon came out with the tickets. We had about 40 minutes before the train arrived. We pushed our bikes to the tracks and Jon double checked which platform we needed to be on, hoping we wouldn't have to cross the tracks. No such luck. Not only that but there was no elevator to take you down to go under the tracks and there was no cross path over the tracks to push our bikes across. What was there was a bridge going high over the tracks - all stairs. OK, not a problem. I'm stronger than I've ever been and was determined to take care of my bike and bags all by myself. Jon offered several times to give me a hand but then I think he saw the look of determination/stubbornness on my face and gave up. Off came the bike bags and I lifted my bike up and started carrying it up the stairs. The overpass was about 20 feet high. I got the bike up and over and had to take a little break before heading back down the other side. Jon was up and over with his bike and setting it down on the other side by the time I reached the top of the stairs. I got the bike down no problem. Now, the bags. Man those are heavy, a little stubbling on the way up but I got over and down just fine. It was only a two car train and we actually had the same conductor as the day before which was nice and I only put a small little scratch in the back of the chair in front of my bike as I was getting it secured into place - oops. I guess I left my mark on France! It was less than an hour's ride past fields and countryside - beautiful. Cherbourg is a pretty urban place and definitely has rush hour - the roads were busy. We looked for a city center sign knowing it would take us to the information center. We found both and it turned out that the information center was merely a city map with hotels marked -not very helpful for us. We decided to go to a pastry shop and reorganize there. Our last french baguette and baguette sandwiches. Ah well, I'm sure the UK will have something equally as wonderful. We rode around the harbor and found where they were selling tickets for the ferry. The next ferry didn't leave until 1050 but the cost was €83 each which was way more than we figured. We rode around some more to see if there were any more companies ferrying to England. Nothing. Back to the original company and out came the credit card. We bought our tickets and road in with the rest of the cars and got in the lane with the motorcycles. We initially got some attention with the bikes but what was really drawing the crowds were a vintage car - a 1928 Duselier with the front crank to start the engine. The ferry reminded me of the one I took with my friend Jennifer from Vancouver to Nanaimo one summer. We found our seats and promptly fell asleep for a good hour of the two and a half hour ride. As we pulled into the harbor we watched as military personnel jumped from a low flying airplane for pracitce parachuting exercises. They looked like the little green army men toys slowly drifting down to the water. A gentleman and his daughter asked us about our travels and gave a little background on the area surrounding the harbor. He was another ex-pat living in France visiting England for a weekend festival. Riding on the opposite side of the road - right. No, I mean left! Poole is a busy place. With the directions we gleaned from the man we met on the ferry we headed into town. At one point Jon stopped and asked me if I noticed anything different. I did notice that I could understand what people were saying more than I ever have since entering Europe. "The signs are in english" So they were. This should make travelling a bit easier. We found the information center and got a couple of maps. It was really overcast and gray outside, windy but not cold enough to wear a jacket. The PDA battery was completely drained so we had no way of getting Rory's number so it was back to the info. Center to find the nearest internet café. Jon still had Rory's mom's phone number on the email he had just sent Jon. The only internet was at the library at the other end of high street. It was their weekly market day so the street was packed with people and stalls. I was missing the quite roads of France and was wishing I could be back playing frisbee with Jake and Jasper. "I miss France." - S We trudged on and passed a T-mobile store. Light bulbs! Jon went in and activated his cell phone, called Rory and let him know where we were. Rory didn't get off til 1800 so we had some time to kill. Here's pretty much the first thing I did once we arrived in Poole (in order of importance). 1. I bought a double tall nonfat latte. 2. I bought a light fleece jacket. The had some good camping stores that we went into but no public restrooms in sight. The pedestrian walkway ended at a mall - there's got to be a bathroom in there. Jon went in to do a little recon while I stayed outside with the bikes listening to a three man band. They were very talented. There's something about the combination of a harmonica and stand up bass that just gets your toes tappin'! Jon came back and gave me directions to the restroom. Wow, to be in a mall again. A sense of calm came over me as I rode the escalator. Back amongst my own people! OK, that's a slight exageration. Of course I didn't go directly to the restroom but strayed a bit into a couple shops. After my return we decided we should probably go ahead and get some maps since there were a couple bookstores nearby -like, directly across from the bench we were sitting on. I went in and found the travel section. There was about a million different maps for England and the UK alone - I was overwhelmed but tried to find something helpful. After a while I figured I should go back out to Jon as he would surely be wondering what was taking me so long. I walked out empty handed and told him what I found. He went in and I waited probably equally as long when at last he too came out empty handed. He figured we'd talk to Rory first before buying anything. We decided that it was a good time to head over to Rory's. Ugh, riding in more rush hour traffic. Luckily, I had picked up a bike map at the information center so we were able to ride nearly the whole way on trails. We got a little lost and new we were close but Jon stopped and asked a woman if we were headed in the right direction. "What can I do for you, my love?" We told her where we were going and she suggested we walk with her since she was going in the same directions and gave us a "Good on you!" when we told her about our travel plans. We parted ways and found Rory's place. What a great place he has - a great starter home. Two bedroom one bath. Living room, kitchen and even a really nice sunroom and a detached garage. Prices for houses in England seem comparable to those in Seattle. It was handshakes all around as Jon and Rory reunited and I met Rory for the first time. It's been about six years since they last saw each other. We unloaded our bikes and stashed them in his garage. Rory is a master mechanic for Audi, ironically, he rides his bicycle to work! I love it! There was lots of catching up and the best part of the day - taking a shower. Feeling like a new person we were both ready to eat but wanted to wait for Holly, Rory's girlfriend, before going anywhere. She arrived around ten pm - now that's a long day at work - and we took off for a chinese restaurant. It wasn't a buffet but it was all you could eat for one price with table side service just the ticket for two hungry cyclers! I think we tried everything as we talked about hobbies and other interests. Oh, and we also got to ride in the ultra posh Audi A8. A wonderful car with everything you could possibley want in a vehicle. We closed the place down and left after 11pm back to Rory's. We were all pretty tired but chatted a bit more before hitting the sack. Rory and Holly had to work the next day. We planned to spend another night with Rory in order to make preparations for the next few weeks.