The Off !!

December 17 2009. The day of our departure had arrived! Feelings of excitement and anticipation tempered by reports of some pretty extreme snowy weather forecasts for the south east of England and most of France. I met Mike at his old work, MacMillan Cancer Support, down on Albert Embankment. It was a great feeling riding the fully loaded Africa Twin across Waterloo bridge right under Big Ben's nose.

After a coffee and some last minute load adjustment we rode off farewelled by a gaggle of Mike's former colleagues. Leg 1. London to Dover to Calais. 70 odd miles.



We arrived in Dover well in time for our scheduled 13:55pm departure. Our punctuality however was not rewarded by P&O with our departure delayed by two hours. So we sat in line at the terminus as it began to snow and sleet and we looked on at the surrounding motorists tucked up in their automobiles. Mike bought us a couple of whoppers from BK which we washed down with a big bag of onion rings and a cup of tea. Good warming stuff!



The ferry trip across the channel too was delayed It took about 4 hours and we ended up landing in Calais at 8:30pm. Just as we rode up and checked in to our hotel, it began to snow. Tomorrow should be interesting....