So it begins...

  

 

13/05/2025 - Day One

My life for the past 6 months has all been leading up to this moment, this day, D day. On the back of a tiring weekend I wasn’t sure I’d have the resources to set off on the 13th, but I made it happen (just about).

I still had quite a lot to do this morning so when I finally set off it was around 3:30pm. Jack gave me a great haircut that is reminiscent of something out of Mongol or Mount and Blade: bald except a patch at the back like a horses main. Excellent. With the parents and Archie in tow, we set off down our lane and over the ford. It was a weird feeling cycling away from my house down familiar roads with the knowledge I wouldn’t be back for many months. These familiar sights are to be some of the last for a long time. It didn’t quite feel like I had gone away yet. 

We had only got 4 miles when mums tyre went flat. Dad set about trying to locate the puncture as we all looked on with anticipation. Yet despite our best efforts it seemed the valve was buggered. Archie became the sacrificial lamb and said his final goodbye to me and started to walk homewards. Mum and Dad rode with me for another 3 miles before we parted ways at Thurning church. I snapped a picture of them next to my bike, church in the background, on my new (old) film camera. Then mum presented me with a lucky stone she had found. We all kissed it and they wished for it to keep me safe. We hugged and then I left riding down the lane turning to wave every few pedals until I was out of sight. 

The rest of the ride went smoothly except for a couple of maddening punctures which took 1.5 hours to fix in total as I was hoping my sealant tubes would work. Eventually I gave up and patched it, only for it to puncture again a while later and patches failing twice in a row, I conceded and changed the tube. Tantrum avoided, I arrived at the flat in norwich at 8:30. My calf had begun to ache ominously in the same place that called off the Clarkson's farm trip (an expedition I had attempted some weeks earler). I have stretched and crossed my fingers so hopefully it should be ok tomorrow. Low mileage days for the foreseeable, with any luck I’ll make it to the ferry in one piece.

 

Fully laden Barbara - a thing of beauty 
 
 
Author with stupid haircut
 
 
The fellas
 
 

 Proud/worried parents?


 

 

  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day Four

Image
16/05/25 - Day Four I woke to my alarm at 6:30am, the ferry to the Netherlands was at 9am with check in closing 45mins before. After 5 mins of squirming around waking up I braved the chill and unzipped my bag and began packing away my things. I left at 7:20. I hope I get more efficient at breaking camp as I didn’t even cook breakfast, and that just seems like an awfully long time to be faffing around.  I cycled back into Harwich and grabbed a meal deal for the ferry, before rolling down to the port. It’s a bit of kick to cycle through places you would normally drive, like passport control and along the ramparts and onto the ferry. What was even more of a buzz was the euphoria of leaving port, the sense that the journey had only really just begun in earnest! I watched from the outside deck as we pull out of the estuary and into the sea. The journey itself was 8 hours of filling time and completely uneventful, except for being told off for lying down - how naughty of me! I was asked...
Read more

Day Seven

Image
    19/05/25 - Day Seven I struggled to wake up this morning so snoozed till 8am. By the time I had broke camp, cooked and forced down my porridge it was 9:40, so I didn’t hang about. Just before reaching Arnhem, I stopped at the Arnhem and Oosterbeek War Cemetery, commemorating the fallen allied troops (mostly British and 79 Poles) who fought at the battle of Arnhem. This was part of the wider Operation Market Garden in the area, Band of Brothers watchers will remember this. It was a powerful moment as I had the place to myself, and, ever since applying for the marines these types of things have made me more emotional.  After a healthy hit of silent reflection, I mashed the pedals once more, and soon I was sipping coffee in a sunny Arnhem square. I asked the waitress if she knew anywhere I could buy some Oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts), but tis not the season! I cracked on and crossed the river twice on ferries which will never not give me a kick. I then sat ...
Read more