2005 - Greg's Europe Tour by Bicycle: Day 30: Fri 15 Jul

24 to 30 deg

If I come to any city in France again, I will certainly stay out of the centre, or get a room with aircon so I can close the window to keep out the noise. It was noisy again last night, and very hot, so didn’t sleep well at all, mainly due to fireworks being let off at all hours up to 2:30am, right outside my window! Managed to wake up at exactly 4:59am, one minute before the alarm was went off. Got packed and was at the gare (station) by 5:20am. I was hoping to have breakfast, or at least a cup of coffee at the station, but there was nothing open at that time, which is a bit silly as there were heaps of people waiting around to catch trains. Got the bike locked in its carriage, but there were no racks or hooks to secure it so it was just sitting there. I sat nearby in a seat compartment.

Had a stopover in Paris and I got to call Besi, she is OK, bit of a cold or something. Found my way to Paris Nord (not with any help from the froggy signage, hopeless, this station must be used by 1000s, with very few signs, except one little one on the inside of the station. Boarded and left on time. Had an Algerian sitting next to me and he stunk so much he almost made me physically sick. His breath and BO were awful. Unbeknown to me, I had a ticket to Calais Frethun station as opposed to Calais Ville station, so I got dropped in the middle of nowhere and had to find my way to Calais city. It wasn’t far and the wind was with me so it was a nice ride.

Once in Calais city it took me forever to find the ferry terminal (again, a lack of signage). I did find the Town Hall though and it was very nice as was the garden of flowers in the form of a peacock on a roundabout. Eventually found the ticket office and got a ticket for €25. The ferry was late so didn’t get going until 2:52pm and the crossing to Dover took 90 minutes. Had a sandwich, bun and cup of tea on board. The “cup” was £1.30 – a complete rip-off, no doubt about that! Arrived in Dover and found the rail station and the train to Putney via Victoria and Clapton junction. Finally arrived at Dale’s place about 7pm. Clint had organised dinner – nachos; it was very nice of him to think of me. Dale was working nights.