Today is the day. We faffed and fannied about sorting out kit and belongings so it finally fit into Wallace's panniers. We had numerous spats about whet was needed, how big it was and how much it weighed. Needless to say I (Ray) lost most of the battles and managed to squeeze what we needed into the bike.
We were to spend the night at Pate and Barbera's house as they will be looking after the cats for the next month. Thanks guys.
After a thankfully short game of chase the cats we eventually found them hiding under the dining room table, stuck like glue with their claws to the cloth chairs. They knew something was going on but not what. A small battle later they were unceremoniously shoved in the car and the door slammed shut. Now they really knew something was going on.
We set off separatley with Karen driving the Mazda and I on Wallace. About 2 hours later we arrived at Pete and Barbara's and carried the cats indoors so they got used to the place for a few days and learned where their food etc was kept.
Sadly, Pete was working late as is the norm so we did not see him that evening. We indulged in the usual fine hospitality at P & B's and after a few beers and a Chinese take away, we went to bed.
24th August 2018 Mikles today, 112, Total Miles 228
We arose at about 8 and sorted out the final bits and bobs whilst Barbera made us a delightful cooked breakfast. She is extremely good at that sort of thing. The cats seemed to be doing fine and were settling in OK. That did not make it any easier for the crazy cat lady that I proudly call my wife. She was a bit sad at leaving them but the show must go on.
We finally said our goodbyes to P & B and departed for Portsmouth at about 11:30.
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| And we're off..... Departing from Pete and Barbara's place in Roydon (we lived in the mobile home behind it for some time) |
I found the bike very heavy. Needless to say, I was not surprised but it still took some getting used to.
Riding on the Motorway was easy till we met about 20 miles of traffic to the West of London. Normaly on a bike this is not a problem but when the bike looks more like a barge and weighs about the same, filtering through traffic is not easy. The journey took a lot longer than expected and I was glad we left with a lot of spare time.
We finally got to the ferry terminal about an hour before sailing time and were soon ushered on with a lot of other bikes just as it was starting to rain. The bike was strapped down and we sorted some gear to take up on deck. Then it was 9 flights of stairs to our cabin only to find it was not ready. Off to the bar it is then!
The ferry set off on time and by now we were in our cabin and shed our heavy biker gear for some lighter and cooler clothing. We went up on deck to watch Portsmouth get smaller and took some pictures. Oh, and it absolutely peed down too.
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| One of Her Majesties finest. HMS Dragon. |
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| Here's one she used to own. HMS Warrior. Built in 1860 and the first to clad in iron. Now a museum. |
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| Bye bye Portsmouth. |
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| I haven't seen one of these for a long time. |
I am not a fan of big boats (I nearly said 'boats' in general but we just bought a little one so...'big' it is). I find them expensive and boring but armed with a few beers and a Kindle book reader, we made the best of it. The real pain was that it had 2 restaurants, one was a posh 'A la carte' one and the other was a more my style but it was on top deck and exposed to the wind and rain. It was too cold to eat on deck so it was a struggle with a tray full of food and drinks to get through the storm proof doors to find somewhere where the wind wouldn't solidify the grub before we ate it. The ferry was laid out really strangely and we would often have to go down 2 flights of stairs, along the outside of the boat and then back inside and up 2 flights just to be a beer or whatever.
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| Just after we sailed, we entered a storm. Beer and rain. Great combination. |
And so to bed after the usual liquid refreshments.
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