Off to London

Tuesday 27th July

We set off nice and early to St. Davids train station, pedalling along the river. It was strange to be riding with panniers again, but I had lowered my saddle to make stopping and starting easier and we were soon at the station. Out in the lobby we attached the train tickets to our bikes and checked our platform. Luckily the train went from Platform 1 which was right in front of us and didn't require any lifts. I was paranoid about getting our bikes, our panniers and ourselves on to the train once it stopped, but it all went relatively smoothly. We struggled to get the bikes in the stands in the train - Ant's was too long to fit in the space provided and our handlebars wouldn't fit. The racks clearly aren't designed for road bikes!

Arriving into Waterloo we decided to head for the London Eye so that we could truly feel we'd started our journey in London. We also took Kate's advice to travel to Greenwich by river boat. Our first attempt to leave Waterloo station failed when we found ourselves trapped at the top of a long flight of stairs. Heading back into the station we found the disabled access exit which also led us out past a whole host of bikes in racks outside. A brief stop by the London Eye for photos and we headed straight for the boat. The next one was due in 5 minutes, so we waited on the quay. Once on the boat we found the racks really weren't suitable for bikes loaded down with panniers (and people stood around blocking them anyway) - so we had to stand and hold onto our bikes. This proved quite interesting when the boat sped off!

The journey was very picturesque and I certainly felt like we'd been in London, which we wouldn't have done had we gone from one train to another. However, it was a relief to get off the boat and stop having to hold on to Trixy for dear life! From Greenwich we easily found the signs to the park and made our way over. Our first attempt at getting through the park was thwarted as we'd gone via the Maritime Museum grounds and found ourselves trapped by steps. We contemplated lifting the bikes over, but then retraced our steps and found the road route into the park. I was surprised to find the road actually carried on through the park. Ant suggested moving on to the cycle path which we did - only to find it came to an abrupt stop at the top of the hill, which meant crossing back over the road again to rejoin it. I was pleasantly surprised by how short the journey was as we emerged out of the far side of the park and found ourselves looking over Blackheath Common...the starting point for our ride tomorrow. There were lots of lights and road crossings, so it took a bit of time to pick our way across the Common and down to the hotel, but it was great to be there.

In the hotel, we were welcomed by the crew and took our bikes down to the storage room, where one of the crew helped Ant to identify and fix a rubbing noise that had developed on Ant's bike as we'd been cycling down the Common. Luckily this was just the mudguard rather than the brakes. Unfortunately the mudguard had taken a bit of a battering on the ferry boat, but it was nothing drastic and we decided that was the least of our worries considering what lay ahead.

Up in our room, I re-organised my luggage and sorted out what I would need for the next day. Whilst it was great to have someone carrying our luggage during the day, I'd been used to having everything to hand in my panniers. Not this time though - I needed to be travelling light! Just one bar bag for me. Ant could fit my jersey in his bar bag and my waterproof was to be bungeed on to my rack.

Finally feeling as ready as I could, we headed out to find some dinner. Blackheath had a nice little high street with plenty of restaurants. Avoiding a rather mad looking chap in the street, we picked an Italian eatery so that we could have one final fuel up on pasta before starting the ride. The food was fine, but the service was slow and I was tired and keen to get to bed before our 5am start. Just as we were paying the bill, the 'crazy' man reappeared, flinging himself against a car in the street. A couple of people dashed outside but couldn't assist. A few minutes later there was a screeching of brakes further down the street, which we can only assume were caused by the same chap. We were glad to heading back the other way towards the safety of the hotel. There was a beautiful sunset behind the church and across the Heath...but it would be sunrise tomorrow that would see us starting our journey.