Thank you to everyone who kept in contact with us during our time away.
We really appriciated it.
Thank you also to those of you who provided accommodation, transport and freindship on our trip. We hope to see you again either at our place or yours so keep in touch. You are very welcome to come and stay with us and we would love to see you.
David and Catriona
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
10th - 15th September - Home stretch - Thailand
10th The flight was excellent. The steward came up to Catriona and advised they had been notified too late that she required a gluten free meal but tried very hard to find something she could have. The vegetarian Mousaka fit the bill so everything was good. In the morning they brought a vegetarian breakfast thinking it had worked for the dinner so breakfast would be the same. It was vegetarian sausages which are made with wheat! Anyway we ended up exchanging it for an omelette and David had an English breakfast. The landing was smooth and then we had our next challenge to find the left luggage and book in for our flight to Phuket. Everything went very smoothly until we realised we had left the sunscreen in our left baggage. We managed to purchase some from boots and then check in for our flight to Phuket, again with a few hours to spare. We found a little restaurant and read while we waited for our flight. The flight to Phuket was good and we had no trouble getting a taxi to our hostel in Phuket town. It did however stop along the way at a tour shop and they wanted to know what we were doing for the rest of our trip. Luckily we had all our accommodation for the rest of the trip booked. Everyone we told that we were staying at Phi Phi island village resort ans spa said "very nice hotel, very nice". So they left us alone and took us to our hostel.
11th We went out for breakfast and did some shopping and Catriona had a manicure and pedicure. We checked out and waited for our transfer to the island. The driver picked us up early so he took us up a mountain where we had an excellent view over Phuket. He took a photo of us at the viewpoint, he seemed to like the sky. He then took us to the pier via the office. The trip to Phi Phi was quite rough and took 1 ½ hours. Catriona had to go out on deck for some fresh air but managed the trip without being sick.
The ferry stopped to let 90% of the passengers off at. Tonsai bay , the main village on the island, then headed off to Phi Phi Island Village beach resort and spa. A speed boat met us at the ferry and took us to a big tractor/ bus
that then transported us to the shore. We were ushered in to the reception area and given our welcome drink.
We were then given our dinner and massage vouchers and shown to our bungalow
Very nice,
there were even flowers in the toilet.
We went for a walk around the resort to check out where things were. We had dinner at 7pm in the Marlin restaurant overlooking the water, during dinner it poured down with rain which made it difficult as we had opted for the fisherman’s village seafood BBQ buffet @ Bht 850 each and the eating area was separate from where the buffet was laid out. It was delicious but we ate too much so decided not to have the buffet again. After dinner we went for a romantic walk along the beach in the moon light then headed back to the bungalow. We ended up watching Jack the ripper with Johnny Depp and 9-11 staring Nicholas Cage. Apart from the rain during dinner it was a hot sunny day with little wind.
12th Woke to a beautiful sunny day, we slept in till 8am and were at breakfast by 9am. After breakfast Catriona had a complimentary hand/arm scrub then we set off for the beach. David picked up the snorkels and masks from the activities desk and we went snorkelling in the shallow water in front of the resort.
It was getting very hot and the tide was going out so we sat in the shade on the shore for a while reading
before moving to the pool. David took a few photos of Catriona in the spectacular pool
before having a swim himself. We sat round the pool for a while before heading back to the room for a shower and then lunch at around 2pm overlooking the beach. After lunch we headed back to the room for a siesta in air-conditioned comfort. We headed off for a 45 minute yoga lesson on the lawn by the pool at 5pm. It was a good workout and we were sweating like it was Bikram yoga. We had a green and a yellow vegetable curry and felt much better than last night. When we got back to our room the bed had been turned down and there was a little leaf on it which said sweet dreams.
13th We had the alarm set for 6.30am as we planned to walk to Tonsai bay after breakfast while it was still bearable. We made it to breakfast by 7am but after breakfast it was already very hot and we were tired so we headed back to the room to have a rest. While we were in the bungalow the wind came up and it started to rain so we were glad we had not gone for the walk and ended up watching Backdraft on the TV. It cleared up and was not too hot so we went for a walk to the viewpoint close to the resort, past a tsunami memorial
and up the hill. We had good views of the resort
and Lana bay.
We headed back to the resort via the tsunami evacuation route
and had lunch back in our bungalow and rested some more. A buggy came to collect us from the bungalow to take us to the Wana Spa for our massage, very civilised. First we were taken to a waiting area on the veranda overlooking tropical vegetation and the beach and were given cold towels and a cold herbal tea to drink. A lady came to collect us and we walked a little further up the hill to one of the bungalows where they had two massage tables set up side by side and a male therapist was waiting. We both enjoyed our 60 min. Ayothaya massage and the lady even braided the front of Catriona’s hair at the end before taking us back to the veranda and giving us a warm herbal tea and some watermelon. That night we had our 4 course romantic dinner on the beach.
We had our own waiter who waited close by to our table for the whole 2 hours it took us to get through the meal. The singers came over and sang “love me do” and the whole night was lovely. After dinner we took another walk along the beach to the pool and back to the room where we watched “Broken arrow” before going to sleep at around midnight.
14th Another 8am wake up but at breakfast by 8.30. We decided we should be able to make it to Tonsai bay this morning so after breakfast we set off. It was a hot and sweaty walk uphill
to the viewpoint and down and over to the village. We passed a few properties that were demolition sites 3 years after the tsunami.
There was also alot of construction going on. We walked around the village
and had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay. After lunch we did a little shopping and set off back to the resort. We had a shower and headed off to the pool where we had a drink at the swim up bar.
15th Had and early start as we had to get the 7.30am ferry back to Phuket. Mostly just a travel day. Ferry to Phuket, Mini van to the airport, 2.15pm plane to Bangkok and 5.45pm plane from Bangkok to Sydney. We had a good flight but there was a crying baby in the cabin that we could hear in the background through the earplugs.
16th Arrived in Sydney and were met at the airport by Chris, Catriona's Mum, David's Mum, Catriona's sister Megan and her two boys Ibrahim and Amadou. It was great to be back home.
18th Doing the final update to the blog at Sheldon's in Kirribilli
11th We went out for breakfast and did some shopping and Catriona had a manicure and pedicure. We checked out and waited for our transfer to the island. The driver picked us up early so he took us up a mountain where we had an excellent view over Phuket. He took a photo of us at the viewpoint, he seemed to like the sky. He then took us to the pier via the office. The trip to Phi Phi was quite rough and took 1 ½ hours. Catriona had to go out on deck for some fresh air but managed the trip without being sick.
The ferry stopped to let 90% of the passengers off at. Tonsai bay , the main village on the island, then headed off to Phi Phi Island Village beach resort and spa. A speed boat met us at the ferry and took us to a big tractor/ bus
that then transported us to the shore. We were ushered in to the reception area and given our welcome drink.
We were then given our dinner and massage vouchers and shown to our bungalow
Very nice,
there were even flowers in the toilet.
We went for a walk around the resort to check out where things were. We had dinner at 7pm in the Marlin restaurant overlooking the water, during dinner it poured down with rain which made it difficult as we had opted for the fisherman’s village seafood BBQ buffet @ Bht 850 each and the eating area was separate from where the buffet was laid out. It was delicious but we ate too much so decided not to have the buffet again. After dinner we went for a romantic walk along the beach in the moon light then headed back to the bungalow. We ended up watching Jack the ripper with Johnny Depp and 9-11 staring Nicholas Cage. Apart from the rain during dinner it was a hot sunny day with little wind.
12th Woke to a beautiful sunny day, we slept in till 8am and were at breakfast by 9am. After breakfast Catriona had a complimentary hand/arm scrub then we set off for the beach. David picked up the snorkels and masks from the activities desk and we went snorkelling in the shallow water in front of the resort.
It was getting very hot and the tide was going out so we sat in the shade on the shore for a while reading
before moving to the pool. David took a few photos of Catriona in the spectacular pool
before having a swim himself. We sat round the pool for a while before heading back to the room for a shower and then lunch at around 2pm overlooking the beach. After lunch we headed back to the room for a siesta in air-conditioned comfort. We headed off for a 45 minute yoga lesson on the lawn by the pool at 5pm. It was a good workout and we were sweating like it was Bikram yoga. We had a green and a yellow vegetable curry and felt much better than last night. When we got back to our room the bed had been turned down and there was a little leaf on it which said sweet dreams.
13th We had the alarm set for 6.30am as we planned to walk to Tonsai bay after breakfast while it was still bearable. We made it to breakfast by 7am but after breakfast it was already very hot and we were tired so we headed back to the room to have a rest. While we were in the bungalow the wind came up and it started to rain so we were glad we had not gone for the walk and ended up watching Backdraft on the TV. It cleared up and was not too hot so we went for a walk to the viewpoint close to the resort, past a tsunami memorial
and up the hill. We had good views of the resort
and Lana bay.
We headed back to the resort via the tsunami evacuation route
and had lunch back in our bungalow and rested some more. A buggy came to collect us from the bungalow to take us to the Wana Spa for our massage, very civilised. First we were taken to a waiting area on the veranda overlooking tropical vegetation and the beach and were given cold towels and a cold herbal tea to drink. A lady came to collect us and we walked a little further up the hill to one of the bungalows where they had two massage tables set up side by side and a male therapist was waiting. We both enjoyed our 60 min. Ayothaya massage and the lady even braided the front of Catriona’s hair at the end before taking us back to the veranda and giving us a warm herbal tea and some watermelon. That night we had our 4 course romantic dinner on the beach.
We had our own waiter who waited close by to our table for the whole 2 hours it took us to get through the meal. The singers came over and sang “love me do” and the whole night was lovely. After dinner we took another walk along the beach to the pool and back to the room where we watched “Broken arrow” before going to sleep at around midnight.
14th Another 8am wake up but at breakfast by 8.30. We decided we should be able to make it to Tonsai bay this morning so after breakfast we set off. It was a hot and sweaty walk uphill
to the viewpoint and down and over to the village. We passed a few properties that were demolition sites 3 years after the tsunami.
There was also alot of construction going on. We walked around the village
and had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay. After lunch we did a little shopping and set off back to the resort. We had a shower and headed off to the pool where we had a drink at the swim up bar.
15th Had and early start as we had to get the 7.30am ferry back to Phuket. Mostly just a travel day. Ferry to Phuket, Mini van to the airport, 2.15pm plane to Bangkok and 5.45pm plane from Bangkok to Sydney. We had a good flight but there was a crying baby in the cabin that we could hear in the background through the earplugs.
16th Arrived in Sydney and were met at the airport by Chris, Catriona's Mum, David's Mum, Catriona's sister Megan and her two boys Ibrahim and Amadou. It was great to be back home.
18th Doing the final update to the blog at Sheldon's in Kirribilli
Thursday, September 4, 2008
4th - 9th September - Bournemouth
4th Caught a train to Southampton where we had to change platforms for the train to Bournemouth. There were a few people on that train heading for the Isle of White for a festival, dressed in gumboots and carrying tents. I felt sorry for them as the forecast for Friday and the weekend is heavy rain. When we arrived at Bournemouth station Max was waiting there for us, he hasn't changed a bit. We followed him to Lee's flat and he had to head back to work.
We went for a walk up to the local shops and had lunch at a pub and did some grocery shopping. Later in the evening Max came back and picked us up and took us for a drive around the Bournemouth area as Lee had to work late. We had to wait for quite a while for the ferry as a ship was using the channel.
Once we reached the other side of the channel we set off up to Corfe castle and to a view point.
We then headed back to Bournemouth where we had dinner at a Toby Carvery with Max's parents. After dinner we picked Lee up at the supermarket and headed back to his flat where we had a few drinks and a good chat before heading off to bed.
5th Well the weather people got it right. We woke to pouring rain and howling wind. We had breakfast with Lee and his flat mate James before they set off for work. We stayed in doors and had another Max and Lee day watching DVDs and David cleaned the bikes. It did clear for a couple of hours in the middle of the day and we manged to go onto the balcony to take this picture of the Peir and the surfers.
We went for a walk up to the local shops and had lunch at a pub and did some grocery shopping. Later in the evening Max came back and picked us up and took us for a drive around the Bournemouth area as Lee had to work late. We had to wait for quite a while for the ferry as a ship was using the channel.
Once we reached the other side of the channel we set off up to Corfe castle and to a view point.
We then headed back to Bournemouth where we had dinner at a Toby Carvery with Max's parents. After dinner we picked Lee up at the supermarket and headed back to his flat where we had a few drinks and a good chat before heading off to bed.
5th Well the weather people got it right. We woke to pouring rain and howling wind. We had breakfast with Lee and his flat mate James before they set off for work. We stayed in doors and had another Max and Lee day watching DVDs and David cleaned the bikes. It did clear for a couple of hours in the middle of the day and we manged to go onto the balcony to take this picture of the Peir and the surfers.
The weather turned again and it poured down all afternoon and when Lee was running home from work. Lee cooked us fish and chips with mushy peas for dinner and a toffee cheesecake for "pudding".
We headed off to Lee's local, the urban beach after dinner and Max met up with us there.
When the bar closed we caught a taxi into Bournemouth and met up with Max's wife Mandy, her twin sister Nat, who is out from Perth and a couple of their friends.
We headed home after the bar closed at 1am but Max, Lee and the group headed off to another bar.
6th We woke at 6am as David had to catch the 7.05am bus into London to pick up our bags from Marcus and Jo's. David had a 20 minute walk in to the bus station and Catriona went back to sleep until 10am. David made it to Tooting with no problems but had to call Marcus to see which bus to get on. Luckily he did not need to get a bus as it was walking distance and he met Marcus at the end of his street. David had a chat for a while before marcus gave him a lift back to the station so he could make the 1pm bus back to Bournemouth. On one of the trains back to Victoria station David managed to bump into Sarah who was on our South American trip between Santiago and La Paz. Amazing. Catriona had a relaxing day walking up to Boscombe to have a look around but mostly just reading and watching TV. David made it back to Lee's at around 4pm and the weather was still good so we walked into Bournemouth to buy our carry on luggage. We passed a cute little childrens play area and had to stop and play in it on the way back when all the children were gone.
We spent the night relaxing and watching a DVD "The brave one" with Jodie Foster.
7th Finally a beautiful non rainy day. We had breakfast on the balcony 
before setting off for a walk from Boscombe Pier 
to Bournemouth Pier along the waterfront. David walked back along the waterfront and Catriona walked back along the cliff top. When we returned to the flat Lee was home so we decided to go to Christchurch. James dropped us of at Hengistbury Head 
and we walked up past the double dyke fortress from the iron age. We had a fantastic view of the Isle of White and the land forms at the end called the needles
We then walked into Christchurch to view the ruins of an old castle and the priory. 
We caught the bus back to Boscombe and walked back to Lee's flat from there. Later on in the evening we headed out to a resteraunt just up the road for dinner. We finished the evening watching the new batman movie "the dark kinght" with James.
8th Last day to explore so we decided to set off to Stonehenge. We walked in to Bournemouth to catch the bus to Sailsbury. It was a very relaxing ride and we both dozed off on occasions. We passed through quite a few little towns where many of the buildings had thatched roofs. From Sailsbury we caught a tour bus with commentary, to Stonehenge.
We had a walk around with an audio guide before catching the bus back to Sailsbury where we bought lunch which we ate on the bus back to Bournemouth. Lee made us a lovely dinner of chilli which we enjoyed with Max and James. Mandy (Max's wife) could not make it as she was spending time with her twin sister who is also heading back to Australia. We had a good night drinking red wine and chatting. A great way to spend the end of our time in England.
9th Said our good byes to Lee and James before they set off for work then we set to packing. Max had dropped over the bike suitcases last night and we worked out we needed to remove the rear rack, the seat post and the handlebars for the bike to fit in the bag. We put all our bike clothes in plastic bags and packed them around the bike as padding. We ended up with our two suitcases for the bikes, Catri0ona’s old backpack and a stripy bag plus two new carry on cases we bought that we packed our clothes for Thailand in and our bike front bags. James came home for lunch at the right time as he was able to help us down the stairs with our luggage. A huge thank you to him for that. The taxi that came to pick us up looked too small to fit both of us and all our luggage in, but amazingly enough we all fitted. The taxi driver was very enthusiastic and we had a good chat to him about where we had been and where we were going and he told us about the Aussie he knew that had moved to England and wanted to know where the summer was. It is funny that everyone has apologised to us for the weather. We made it to the bus station in Bournemouth and had a nervous hour or two waiting to find out if we would be able to get on with all our gear. The luggage policy is for two medium suitcases. By the time the bus arrived Catriona was feeling ill, all for nothing as we had no trouble at all. Obstacle one passed. Next we had to check our bags in but as we were so early (it was only 4.30pm) we were told we had to wait till 7pm to drop our bags off. We ended up dropping them off at around 6.30pm again with no trouble even though our bike bags are over sized. We are so glad we travelled the way we did as going via America we are allowed 2 suitcases each of up to 32Kg unlike if we came via Asia you only get one bag of 20kg. Why is it that the Americans get to take so much luggage? We then had plenty of time to relax and wait for our flight to be called.
2nd-4rd September - Brighton
2nd Headed off to meet Kelli around 4pm and luckily it had stopped raining and our bikes and panniers had even dried off. It was great to see Kelli after almost 2 1/2 years. We had a little while in the flat to rest and change out of our bike gear. In the early evening we set off for a walk along Brighton promenade. It was blowing a gale and we were so glad we were not riding into the wind.
We went to a little pub for dinner with Kelli and Malcom and had a great time chatting and catching up. On te way home we stopped in at the Greenhouse effect bar where the bar manager gave David a Harvey's bar mat after he had asked if he had a harveys coaster. David was so excited about his new little bar mat we had to take a photo of him with it in the bar.
3rd Had a bit of a slow start to the morning watching the news and having breakfast We then set out for the day with Kelli. We walked through a very interesting shopping street,
full of little shops selling unusual things then we set off for Brighton Marina. We caught the bus and on the way there it started to rain. Luckily by the time we arrived it had stopped raining. It was around 11.30am and we headed to the pub where we had the breakfast special of eggs, sausages, mushroom, tomato, baked beans, hash browns and toast. A huge meal that kept us content until dinner. After eating we set off for a walk along the length of the marina in the sunshine.
We had a look at all the boats for sale from the super duper motor cruisers to little 4 berth yachts. The wind was quite strong but it was not too cold as the sun stayed out. We caught the bus back to Brighton Pier and had to buy an icecream to have while we walked along.
We even had a rest on some deck chairs on he pier 
before heading back to have a look in some bike shops. Catriona managed to buy the last pair of ortlieb waterproof front panniers at Evans cycles so David bought a pair of Vaude waterproof front panniers from the bike hut. What a shame we had not managed to get them at the begining of our trip, but at least we have them now considering they are over $200 per pair in Australia and we got them here for £66 and £74. After our big purchases we went back to the flat and had an indian takeaway picnic and watched I am Legend before going to bed.
4th Had breakfast and rode to the train station with Kelli. We bought our tickets to Bournemouth and said our goodbyes to Kelli, telling her she had to come and visit us in Australia.
We went to a little pub for dinner with Kelli and Malcom and had a great time chatting and catching up. On te way home we stopped in at the Greenhouse effect bar where the bar manager gave David a Harvey's bar mat after he had asked if he had a harveys coaster. David was so excited about his new little bar mat we had to take a photo of him with it in the bar.
3rd Had a bit of a slow start to the morning watching the news and having breakfast We then set out for the day with Kelli. We walked through a very interesting shopping street,
full of little shops selling unusual things then we set off for Brighton Marina. We caught the bus and on the way there it started to rain. Luckily by the time we arrived it had stopped raining. It was around 11.30am and we headed to the pub where we had the breakfast special of eggs, sausages, mushroom, tomato, baked beans, hash browns and toast. A huge meal that kept us content until dinner. After eating we set off for a walk along the length of the marina in the sunshine.
We had a look at all the boats for sale from the super duper motor cruisers to little 4 berth yachts. The wind was quite strong but it was not too cold as the sun stayed out. We caught the bus back to Brighton Pier and had to buy an icecream to have while we walked along.
We even had a rest on some deck chairs on he pier 
before heading back to have a look in some bike shops. Catriona managed to buy the last pair of ortlieb waterproof front panniers at Evans cycles so David bought a pair of Vaude waterproof front panniers from the bike hut. What a shame we had not managed to get them at the begining of our trip, but at least we have them now considering they are over $200 per pair in Australia and we got them here for £66 and £74. After our big purchases we went back to the flat and had an indian takeaway picnic and watched I am Legend before going to bed.4th Had breakfast and rode to the train station with Kelli. We bought our tickets to Bournemouth and said our goodbyes to Kelli, telling her she had to come and visit us in Australia.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
28th August - 2nd September - Edinburgh and London to Brighton
28th Had a relaxed morning checking emails etc before setting off to Hector Russell to order Chris’ 21st present a Dunbar tartan kilt. We then had another walk up the Royal Mile that was very quiet compared to when we were last here as the festivals are over.
We had lunch in the Haggis Café and a walk around the mill downstairs where they make tartan. We then had a tour through Gladstone’s Land Edinburgh’s oldest residence, built in the 15th Century and added on to in the 16th and 17th centuries. We then went to look for the Edinburgh bus terminal but were unable to find it so had to go to the information office to find out where it was. We then walked up to Calton hill with its magnificent views over the city and Holyrood palace. There was a piper at the top so we had bagpipe music as we strolled around the many monuments there.
We then headed back to the hostel for dinner before collecting our bags from storage and setting off to collect our bikes from Sara’s place. Sara had to leave before we got there but luckily we passed her along the way as she set off for boot camp in the Meadows. We picked up our bikes and re packed our panniers and set off for the bus terminal. While waiting for our bus we saw a couple with mountain bikes trying to get onto a Megabus coach. They were refused passage even though the cargo hold of the bus was empty. At this point we were so glad we had our fold up bikes and at the same time worried that with our bikes and bags we would be refused as well. Our bus arrived and we got our bikes and bags on OK. It was a pretty uncomfortable trip and we didn’t get a lot of sleep as it stopped at 12pm and 3am at roadside centres for rest stops.
We left Edinburgh at 9.45pm (15 min early) and arrived in London at 7.30am (1 hour late)
29th It took us a while to get our bearings from the Bus station but eventually we found our way to the Thames.
We stopped at a park next to the houses of Parliament and had breakfast then set off on our long slow meandering way out of London. We made it to Greenwich at around midday and stopped in at the information centre to try to get some maps. No luck. We managed to find the route 1 signs and followed them, riding past a lot of heavy industry,
the Thames barriers 
and the millennium dome and stopping off at a pub on the Thames river near Woolwich. After lunch we set off again passing a lot of industry but also passing through the last remaining section of riverside grazing area. It was a tough ride and by the time we made it to Dartford Catriona had had enough and was exhausted. We cycled past the Ebfleet railway station which is where the Eurostar leaves from and made it to Gravesend where we stopped in at a J D Wetherspoons to use the PC to find some accommodation. We managed to get a room at a Premier Inn hotel for £57 through the reservation line. When we arrived at the hotel we found out the rates for the room was £87 so by phoning ahead we saved £30. We had ridden 48.83 miles yet were only 24 miles from London! We had a nice relaxed night watching TV in bed.
30th We woke up refreshed after an excellent nights sleep to a beautiful sunny day and set off for the information centre to find out about transport to Canterbury as we had not made it as far as we had expected yesterday. The lady at information was very nice and looked up both coach and train options. The train was only £12.50 each and ran every ½ hour so we decided to take the train. The info lady didn’t want us to leave without seeing some of Gravesend so she gave us a quick rundown on what to see. First stop was St Georges church, the place where princess Pocahontas is buried.
Then we set off for the foreshore where we saw the old piers and the oldest Pub in Kent. Having see this much of Gravesend we were happy to go to the station and catch our train to Canterbury. We arrived in Canterbury and road along part of the old city wall.
We then rode in to the info centre that was not much help but they did tell us where to find a bookshop We purchased a map from the bookshop and had lunch across the way before setting off toward Dover. We road through Fordwich, Stodmarsh, Grove, Preston, Elmstone and Westmarsh before stopping in Sandwich for a cream tea.
David ate the scones with jam and cream and Catriona had the pot of tea. We then set off toward the coast riding through a private estate where there was a toll payable by motorised transport. As we hit the coast we had a tailwind and had a relatively easy ride down through Deal which looked like a very lovely spot to spend some time. We made it to the white cliffs at Kingsdown and had a long slow uphill ride to St Margaret’s at Cliffe.
This was a killer for the legs and Catriona decided that as it was 6pm it was time to get some accommodation for the night so we rode inland up and down a few hills to Martin Mill and managed to get a tent site for the night.
Luckily they had a café on site and it was Mexican night so we had dinner before setting the tent up for the night. We ended up having ridden 37 miles this afternoon, not bad going.
31st We got off to a good start this morning having packed the tent and all our gear by 8am. The sun was shining and it looked like staying sunny the whole day. We set off back in to St Margaret’s at Cliffe and followed the path to Dover. We stopped at a lookout over Dover harbour and heard the announcements for all passengers from vehicles to return to their cars from the Dutch ferry in port and watched a P&O ferry arrive.
We also had magnificent views of Dover Castle. 
We cycled in to Dover where Catriona stopped to have a coffee in the town centre and we then cycled to the seafront. We then had a gradual ascent on a gravel path which followed the A20 road into a headwind. At the top of the rise we were surrounded by farming land and we were able to walk right to the edge of the cliff. We took a few photos of the white cliffs before heading off.
We stopped in at the Battle of Britain memorial and then down into Folkestone. It was a steep descent into the town and Catriona managed to have an accident rounding a corner. We did not realise that her front tire was flat and therefore did not corner as well as it should. She ended up with a grazed left thigh, calf and elbow. Nothing too wrong with the bike luckily. We pumped up her front tire and then set off into Folkestone, a very pretty seaside town that happened to have markets on. We decided to push on to our planned our lunch spot of Hythe. We followed the route along the coast stopping for a rest on the beautiful beach
and stopped at a little pub in Hythe for our Sunday roast. The route headed inland after Hythe but we decided to follow the coast on the A259 and on top of the seawall where we could.
It was very windy and hard work but much nicer along the coast as it was still warm with occasional appearances by the sun. Once we reached littlestone on sea we headed in toward Romney and planned on camping overnight at Camber but we happened to pass Romney Farm camping site and we were so weary after riding 36 miles into the wind we decided to stop here even though it was only 4.30pm.
1st Had another good start to the day setting off at 8.20am. We cycled off into a very strong headwind only managing 10 mph or less most of the time. Through Lydd, past another military training ground and down to the coast making it to Camber where we had planned to stop last night, very glad we had stayed at the much nicer farm last night instead of the overcrowded holiday park here. We battled against the wind cycling along the coast before turning inland to Rye, a pretty little town on a hill.
We stopped at a patisserie for morning tea where we managed to get a seat in the sun at the front window, lovely. We set off feeling content having fueled up to face the strong winds again and headed out through Winchelsea and back out to the coast through Winchelsea Beach and turning inland again at Level Pett where we stopped to read a story board about the Royal Military Canal they built starting in 1904 in anticipation of the Napoleonic invasion and was supposed to take 1 year to complete but ended up being finished in 1909. After this rest we headed up a very steep hill again into the wind. We stopped at the top to have a rest and take in the magnificent views
before setting off to Hastings for lunch. We rode through the old town and it’s quaint little houses and out onto the beachfront with it’s unique fishing buildings, some of them 3 stories high.
It was very touristy along the waterfront with a car park full of coaches, a miniature railway and many tourists. The lady at the tourist information was very helpful and looked up the phone number for the youth hostel in Alfriston we had decided to stay in and where the J D Wetherspoons was. We stopped off at the Pub for lunch and to use the internet to book the hostel. Knowing we had accommodation for the night made our afternoon ride much more relaxed as we could turn up at any time and didn’t need to search for a campground or set up the tent. The skies in the distance where we were headed was very dark and you could see it was raining. We rode along the promenade out of Hastings where the beaches were closed due to the high tide and strong winds. At times we were hardly going forward the wind was so strong. We passed cute little beach huts that were very colourful,
further on down the coast at Bexhill the beach huts were all painted white.
We headed inland at Pevensey so the wind was not as strong. We decided to leave the number 2 route and headed toward Westham. We came across Pevensy castle which was a Roman fort and a Norman castle and also William the Conquerer’s first stronghold.
We also passed the first church built by the Normans in Westham
We set off along a minor road to Stone Cross and found the No 2 route again that followed the cuckoo trail. We followed this route for a while until we had to ride through mud so when we came across a road to exit we took it and headed off toward Wilmington. To our surprise we saw a huge picture of a man carved out in the chalk on the side of the hill. When we checked the map we saw it was called “The Long Man”.
We also passed through Alfriston on the way to the hostel, it is a very old and pretty little town. We had one last uphill to the hostel..
We were so happy to arrive and lock our bikes in the bike shed and head inside for a nice shower and a bottle of wine with dinner.
2nd Woke to rain and very strong wind, glad we had stayed at the hostel. Took our time having breakfast not eager to go outside. We decided it was not worth riding the 20 miles left into the gale force winds and driving rain. We set off to Berwick station in the pouring rain to catch the train into Brighton.
When we got to brighton it was 12pm
so we set off to the pub for the afternoon to update the blog and have lunch. We had a good time chatting to Chris on MSN messenger and he even got to see us as we connected the web cam.
We had lunch in the Haggis Café and a walk around the mill downstairs where they make tartan. We then had a tour through Gladstone’s Land Edinburgh’s oldest residence, built in the 15th Century and added on to in the 16th and 17th centuries. We then went to look for the Edinburgh bus terminal but were unable to find it so had to go to the information office to find out where it was. We then walked up to Calton hill with its magnificent views over the city and Holyrood palace. There was a piper at the top so we had bagpipe music as we strolled around the many monuments there.
We then headed back to the hostel for dinner before collecting our bags from storage and setting off to collect our bikes from Sara’s place. Sara had to leave before we got there but luckily we passed her along the way as she set off for boot camp in the Meadows. We picked up our bikes and re packed our panniers and set off for the bus terminal. While waiting for our bus we saw a couple with mountain bikes trying to get onto a Megabus coach. They were refused passage even though the cargo hold of the bus was empty. At this point we were so glad we had our fold up bikes and at the same time worried that with our bikes and bags we would be refused as well. Our bus arrived and we got our bikes and bags on OK. It was a pretty uncomfortable trip and we didn’t get a lot of sleep as it stopped at 12pm and 3am at roadside centres for rest stops.
We left Edinburgh at 9.45pm (15 min early) and arrived in London at 7.30am (1 hour late)29th It took us a while to get our bearings from the Bus station but eventually we found our way to the Thames.
We stopped at a park next to the houses of Parliament and had breakfast then set off on our long slow meandering way out of London. We made it to Greenwich at around midday and stopped in at the information centre to try to get some maps. No luck. We managed to find the route 1 signs and followed them, riding past a lot of heavy industry,
the Thames barriers 
and the millennium dome and stopping off at a pub on the Thames river near Woolwich. After lunch we set off again passing a lot of industry but also passing through the last remaining section of riverside grazing area. It was a tough ride and by the time we made it to Dartford Catriona had had enough and was exhausted. We cycled past the Ebfleet railway station which is where the Eurostar leaves from and made it to Gravesend where we stopped in at a J D Wetherspoons to use the PC to find some accommodation. We managed to get a room at a Premier Inn hotel for £57 through the reservation line. When we arrived at the hotel we found out the rates for the room was £87 so by phoning ahead we saved £30. We had ridden 48.83 miles yet were only 24 miles from London! We had a nice relaxed night watching TV in bed.30th We woke up refreshed after an excellent nights sleep to a beautiful sunny day and set off for the information centre to find out about transport to Canterbury as we had not made it as far as we had expected yesterday. The lady at information was very nice and looked up both coach and train options. The train was only £12.50 each and ran every ½ hour so we decided to take the train. The info lady didn’t want us to leave without seeing some of Gravesend so she gave us a quick rundown on what to see. First stop was St Georges church, the place where princess Pocahontas is buried.
Then we set off for the foreshore where we saw the old piers and the oldest Pub in Kent. Having see this much of Gravesend we were happy to go to the station and catch our train to Canterbury. We arrived in Canterbury and road along part of the old city wall.
We then rode in to the info centre that was not much help but they did tell us where to find a bookshop We purchased a map from the bookshop and had lunch across the way before setting off toward Dover. We road through Fordwich, Stodmarsh, Grove, Preston, Elmstone and Westmarsh before stopping in Sandwich for a cream tea.
David ate the scones with jam and cream and Catriona had the pot of tea. We then set off toward the coast riding through a private estate where there was a toll payable by motorised transport. As we hit the coast we had a tailwind and had a relatively easy ride down through Deal which looked like a very lovely spot to spend some time. We made it to the white cliffs at Kingsdown and had a long slow uphill ride to St Margaret’s at Cliffe.
This was a killer for the legs and Catriona decided that as it was 6pm it was time to get some accommodation for the night so we rode inland up and down a few hills to Martin Mill and managed to get a tent site for the night.
Luckily they had a café on site and it was Mexican night so we had dinner before setting the tent up for the night. We ended up having ridden 37 miles this afternoon, not bad going.31st We got off to a good start this morning having packed the tent and all our gear by 8am. The sun was shining and it looked like staying sunny the whole day. We set off back in to St Margaret’s at Cliffe and followed the path to Dover. We stopped at a lookout over Dover harbour and heard the announcements for all passengers from vehicles to return to their cars from the Dutch ferry in port and watched a P&O ferry arrive.
We also had magnificent views of Dover Castle. 
We cycled in to Dover where Catriona stopped to have a coffee in the town centre and we then cycled to the seafront. We then had a gradual ascent on a gravel path which followed the A20 road into a headwind. At the top of the rise we were surrounded by farming land and we were able to walk right to the edge of the cliff. We took a few photos of the white cliffs before heading off.
We stopped in at the Battle of Britain memorial and then down into Folkestone. It was a steep descent into the town and Catriona managed to have an accident rounding a corner. We did not realise that her front tire was flat and therefore did not corner as well as it should. She ended up with a grazed left thigh, calf and elbow. Nothing too wrong with the bike luckily. We pumped up her front tire and then set off into Folkestone, a very pretty seaside town that happened to have markets on. We decided to push on to our planned our lunch spot of Hythe. We followed the route along the coast stopping for a rest on the beautiful beach
and stopped at a little pub in Hythe for our Sunday roast. The route headed inland after Hythe but we decided to follow the coast on the A259 and on top of the seawall where we could.
It was very windy and hard work but much nicer along the coast as it was still warm with occasional appearances by the sun. Once we reached littlestone on sea we headed in toward Romney and planned on camping overnight at Camber but we happened to pass Romney Farm camping site and we were so weary after riding 36 miles into the wind we decided to stop here even though it was only 4.30pm.1st Had another good start to the day setting off at 8.20am. We cycled off into a very strong headwind only managing 10 mph or less most of the time. Through Lydd, past another military training ground and down to the coast making it to Camber where we had planned to stop last night, very glad we had stayed at the much nicer farm last night instead of the overcrowded holiday park here. We battled against the wind cycling along the coast before turning inland to Rye, a pretty little town on a hill.
We stopped at a patisserie for morning tea where we managed to get a seat in the sun at the front window, lovely. We set off feeling content having fueled up to face the strong winds again and headed out through Winchelsea and back out to the coast through Winchelsea Beach and turning inland again at Level Pett where we stopped to read a story board about the Royal Military Canal they built starting in 1904 in anticipation of the Napoleonic invasion and was supposed to take 1 year to complete but ended up being finished in 1909. After this rest we headed up a very steep hill again into the wind. We stopped at the top to have a rest and take in the magnificent views
before setting off to Hastings for lunch. We rode through the old town and it’s quaint little houses and out onto the beachfront with it’s unique fishing buildings, some of them 3 stories high.
It was very touristy along the waterfront with a car park full of coaches, a miniature railway and many tourists. The lady at the tourist information was very helpful and looked up the phone number for the youth hostel in Alfriston we had decided to stay in and where the J D Wetherspoons was. We stopped off at the Pub for lunch and to use the internet to book the hostel. Knowing we had accommodation for the night made our afternoon ride much more relaxed as we could turn up at any time and didn’t need to search for a campground or set up the tent. The skies in the distance where we were headed was very dark and you could see it was raining. We rode along the promenade out of Hastings where the beaches were closed due to the high tide and strong winds. At times we were hardly going forward the wind was so strong. We passed cute little beach huts that were very colourful,
further on down the coast at Bexhill the beach huts were all painted white.
We headed inland at Pevensey so the wind was not as strong. We decided to leave the number 2 route and headed toward Westham. We came across Pevensy castle which was a Roman fort and a Norman castle and also William the Conquerer’s first stronghold.
We also passed the first church built by the Normans in Westham
We set off along a minor road to Stone Cross and found the No 2 route again that followed the cuckoo trail. We followed this route for a while until we had to ride through mud so when we came across a road to exit we took it and headed off toward Wilmington. To our surprise we saw a huge picture of a man carved out in the chalk on the side of the hill. When we checked the map we saw it was called “The Long Man”.
We also passed through Alfriston on the way to the hostel, it is a very old and pretty little town. We had one last uphill to the hostel..
We were so happy to arrive and lock our bikes in the bike shed and head inside for a nice shower and a bottle of wine with dinner.2nd Woke to rain and very strong wind, glad we had stayed at the hostel. Took our time having breakfast not eager to go outside. We decided it was not worth riding the 20 miles left into the gale force winds and driving rain. We set off to Berwick station in the pouring rain to catch the train into Brighton.
When we got to brighton it was 12pm
so we set off to the pub for the afternoon to update the blog and have lunch. We had a good time chatting to Chris on MSN messenger and he even got to see us as we connected the web cam.
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