We parked in the same dubious looking car park in Portsmouth and did the short cycle ride to the ferry check-in. After checking our passports madam took a second look at the two of us on our bikes and asked if we really needed the wheelchair access cabin that I had booked. It was difficult to say yes unless we needed to take the bikes in with us. I will come back to this story later.

We were given pink labels for the handlebars to ensure we were directed to the correct ferry then cycled down the appointed lane to wait in the bike shed. We met 3 other cyclist. One from Arizona cycling Europe, and a couple from Switzerland. The couple had lots of luggage and the young American almost only what he stood in. The lady had cycled from Switzerland to Le Harvre, and the man had driven there to meet her. They then cycled round the west country together commenting that the hills in Cornwall were worse than Switzerland. I did notice she had an electric bike. The lady commented on my compatriots lack of luggage. My compatriot smiled a look of self satisfaction!

This ferry should have involved an overnight stay so I had booked the only available cabin which had good access for a wheelchair. Which, fortunately, we don’t need at this stage of our journey.

Some weeks ago Brittany Ferries contacted me to say their new boat had not arrived so our booking had been moved to a daytime crossing. This is not very convenient when travelling on a bike with an arrival at 11pm. I complained so Brittany Ferries gave me £100 for a hotel in Le Harvre but very generously left us with the cabin.

We got on board, found the cabin and then set off to find somewhere for a meal.

A bottle of wine helped ease the meal down and it was so delicious that we needed to have a second bottle. We then went back to the cabin to get our monies worth. (Our monies worth of rest that is).

Then we have the adventure of finding the hotel in the dark to look forward too. I hope google is on form this evening!