LA SHORT WAY DOWN & RIGHT A BIT (London to Paris)

I am currently sat on a South East Trains service to Dover Priory and for some reason the train has stopped and the driver doesn't know why. Good start!

Well actually, the "good start" happened as soon as I got up this morning. Half way to the station I shouted "wait!" Grumbling ensued and I ushered the car to the side of the road. I couldn't remember packing my Garmin bicycle sat nav thing, so we stopped and checked. It was there! This, as well as getting out of bed late this morning meant that I made it to the train station and crossed the foot bridge just as the train was coming in. Had I needed to get the next train to London, I would have had only 30 minutes to get from Dover station, checked onto the ferry and safely onboard, which would have been impossible.

Also, when you intend to travel by bike on public transport, don't pick 8:30 as your departure time. I was fine, relatively speaking, but I was the least popular person on the train from Wokingham to Reading, and then Reading to London Paddington.

So here I am on a now "moving" South East Train service to Dover from London st. Pancras.

So why am I going to Dover and getting a ferry you ask? Well, as a passionate cyclist I was well aware of the fact that this year will be the 100th edition of the famous and biggest cycling spectacle in the world, La Tour De France. I had originally planned to go on my own, cycle down and stay the weekend, then head back. But as it happened, my parents told me that my uncle was due a visit to us from Hong Kong with my two cousins, Blue and Marcus around the same time and was planning a stop off in Paris on the way. Ding dong! Brain wave. I'll meet them there.

Right, going to cut a long story short. They booked direct flights to London, no mid trip stop off to Paris, I was going on my own. 

But was I? After a few house of pitching the idea, of showing night shot photos of Paris and talking my folks through the many different places they'd see whilst there, I convinced them to come. And with my uncle and 2 cousins.

The four of them don't leave until Friday as they are driving and can get from A to B in half a day. I however have only two wheels, two legs and no engine. So I need a little more time to get there. I stay tonight in montreuil-sur-mer, near Etaples on the eastern coast about 40 miles south of Calais. I know this area fairly well having cycled south from Calais several times and the fact we stayed in a small nearby village called Sempy over Christmas week last year, so I felt this would make the best starting point for the main trip. Tomorrow I will be cycling around 70 miles to a bigger town, or maybe it's a city, called Amiens. Roughly in the middle between Calais and Paris. Then, after that, Friday will see me cycle 75 miles into the heart of Paris where I will be heading to our luxury 4* hotel, about 500 mtrs from Place de la Concorde and Rue de Rivoli, which lead onto the Champs De Élysées. These locations mentioned to the left are synonymous with the rich and famous due to its vast concentration of fashion and designer shops. It is said that the Champs De Élysées is one of the most expensive streets to own a property on per square metre in the world. Either way, I'll stick to Zara and Marks and Spencer's, but its nice.

Right, better go. I'll let you know if I see anything interesting on the way. Will be on my own until Friday so I'm using this blog as my companion.

Matt!