Day 1 – London to Portsmouth - A Good Start Like I’ve said before, #London2Barcelona is a slightly different kettle of fish compared to our previous exploits. Leaving from home allowed for a number of home comforts and ease when it came to getting underway on this massive challenge. Firstly, a brilliant goodbye meal of chicken, chorizo, pasta and garlic bread was had at Jonnie’s house with Owen, Guy and Chris. Morning came with the smell of a full English fry up, and a couple of hours of running round the house, packing and repacking fitting stuff into the car and van – including the bikes. Heading up to Sheen Gate, we arrived to a small funfair of people gathered with balloons and cameras to see us off – including mothers and sisters with a tear of fear and worry in their eyes. And we were off! As far as our trips go, this was relatively event-free. Our first checkpoint was Woking – 25 miles down the road. Getting there in no trouble, I asked Owen where we were meeting Mark, to which the response was ‘no idea, let’s just keep going’. We were eating up the miles and had our lunch at mile 45 - checkpoint 2 (now no.1). A couple of hills later, we were just 12 miles from Portsmouth by checkpoint 3. Roko gym was our official end of the day, as Simon had negotiated us free use of their showers so we wouldn’t be entering the continent smelling of sweat. A pub with 2 meals of £8.99, Owen and I showed everyone how to eat properly, and guzzled down 2 main meals, while everyone else was on just the 1. Arriving at the ferry, Mark nearly got immigration on us, when asked by passport control ‘where’s the rest of your group’, he responded with ‘Oh, we’ve got four in the boot… I mean the van…’ We were met with awkward chuckles… And that was the first day! No mechanical problems and an all-round successful day. With a questionable ferry ride over, Day 2 would be interesting.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:59:40 +0000
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