Day 1

This year's holiday is a little different. Rowan and Danielle are going to Tuscany via Venice and we all meet up in a couple of weeks to share a villa with a load of Danielle's classmates who are all veering towards being 50. I am going to meet them there, having cycled from France with friend Dave. And we shall have a house sitter the whole time as well so Milo will be catered for.
So my cycling adventure started on Saturday morning.

4.30 am A quick final check on everything, goodbye to Danielle and then I cycle the bike over to Dave and Emma’s. The bags are already in the van, so we just need to get the bike on the rack and off we go to Wetherby services. As we arrive at 5.40 the coach arrives too, with the welcoming bike trailer on the back. The Eurobike Express is a service that has been going for 20 years or so now, a specialist bus service for cyclists it operates two routes through France to Spain that allow you to get your bike to where you want to go, but with the minimum of hassle [in contrast to the increasingly difficult and bureaucratic rail and air services]. I have always wanted to support it by using it, but never, until this year, managed it. The downside is that it takes forever - really for ever. You get on board early Saturday morning and, with breaks and the ferry trip to be sure, you get off over 24 hours later in Orange in Provence. That is a lot of leg stretching and back arching. On the other hand there is plenty of space, leg room etc, a loo, a courier service [take a bow Jason from Boro] with meals and drinks if you want, good dvds [we had Gravity and Philomena]

and interesting company - all excited about their various cycling adventures that are about to unfold. To add a little spice we have a puncture at Dover, which is fixed by a man with a jack in quick time.