Europe - Day Twenty Three

My last day of cycling on this holiday.

Regrettably I didn't sleep well on the ferry.   A broken night and an early start.

There was time for the ablutions and a shower before packing my panniers and preparing to disembark.  Eventually the intercom system advised all cyclist they should go to Deck 7 and prepare to depart the ship.

I reached my bike to find a couple from Hamburg, Germany also preparing to leave.  They had driven to the port and left their vehicle in the long term parking with the intention of cycling in the UK.  Apparently they love it.  I'm not so sure.  The cycling infrastructure doesn't look nearly as good.

I decide to use the Insta 360 camera to record the disembarkation process.  The camera was connected to the selfie stick which in turn is secured to the bike handlebars.  As I removed the protective cover off the camera lens one lens guard fell off and dropped down onto the ferry exit ramp where it was promptly run over by a departing car.  Bugger…… another expense!

Obviously I got the boarding process in Rotterdam wrong as there was a UK Border Force control point upon exiting the ferry.

Once off the ferry I followed the cycle path into Hull city centre and then the railway station.  I'd given myself plenty of time to board the train which meant I needed to wait several hours before the train departed.

Whilst sitting at the station I noticed a larger number of young females all dressed to the nines in the latest fashion.  Light coloured matt brown face full of filler.  Black panda bear eyes and red duck lips.  Very short flared skirt so the bottom of their butt cheeks show.  Yuk!

It wasn't until I looked at my train tickets that I realised I would have to change trains at Sheffield.  I'd been trying to avoid changing trains however rail infrastructure work meant going directly to Manchester wasn't possible.  I'd reserved a bike space and seat which meant the journey to Sheffield was east until the train reached Doncaster.  That's where it filled to standing room. 

I started to get concerned when I overheard some of the youths mentioning Manchester.  Was the next leg of my journey going to be a packed train. 

The arrival platform at Sheffield emptied and I was then able to wheel my bike to find the lift.  Then look for the next platform.  Having arrived at the required platform I noticed more of these young females dressed to the nines.  The problem is with all that makeup they all look the same!  I'm probably an old fuddy-duddy.

I found the carriage with the reserved bike space only to find people seated in it.  This was despite the sign saying priority was for bikes.  I also noticed someone had removed the reserved card and dropped it onto the floor.  Consequentially I had to stand and hold the bike for the journey to Manchester.  I consoled myself with the thought the exercise would do me good.

Manchester was a repeat of Sheffield.  Locate the lifts to get the bike to ground level.

It was then a case of cycling to Sale.

All that remains is to wash, disassemble and pack the bike ready for the flights to Hong Kong and Perth.

It has been an interesting holiday.