Monday 25 August 2014

Day 16 (85 wet miles)

After a few short hours in our room in Calais we were up early, the alarm was set for 3am, for our Eurotunnel back to the UK. We waited with bated breath to see if Hearsy would start…… to our delight she did. We were never in doubt…..

We caught as much shut eye as we could during the crossing, and pulled over into a Waitrose Carpark (we do have some class) on our arrival to rest up for a few hours. In true English style it was raining very heavily, which did not bode well for today. We were in two minds as to what for what to delve into for breakfast. On one hand we were right next to Waitrose, which offered some quality treats, or porridge. In true Rome2Home style we went for porridge as we had done for everyday of our trip so far. We weren’t about to let standards slip from porridge to Waitrose.

Fred and Arch, set off into the rain for what proved to be the wettest day of our entire trip! Jack waited for Fred’s parents for come and chauffeur him Fred’s Grandparents house, where they have very kindly put us up for tonight, as he is off driving on strict orders from the doctor.

The cycling started into a very strong headwind, perhaps our idea of cycling along the coast was not so cleaver after all. With the rain lashing into our faces like darts, piercing our skin, all there was to do was to put our heads down and keep peddling away. We were pounded by the downpour for hour upon hour, our shoes became swaps, our jackets became soaked through and still we powered on like the true warriors that we are. The highlight of the day was peddling along Hastings promenade with a fierce wind and sea. At some points the rain was so strong that we simply had to pull over and stop, we just couldn’t see a thing!

Our lunch break in Lewes proved to be a bad idea, with no dry kit or any kit with any warmth, we got very cold very quickly. This made the thought of going off into the rain particularly unappealing and quite a challenge at the start as our legs had got so cold.

We eventually arrived, absolutely soaked, after 6 hours in the constant rain. The warm shower waiting for us on arrival was our motivation throughout the day, and was much appreciated.


For any of you who are interested we will be arriving into Winchester Cathedral between 1.30 – 2.00pm. The rain is not an excuse for not coming! We spent many hours soaked today, so we are sure you can survive a few minutes!!

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