DAY 0: HORSHAM - PORTSMOUTH: 86.3km
FRIDAY 16 JULY 2010

I woke up at 5am hoping to see the sun streaming through the window - but it wasn't. However, the torrential rain of the previous day seemed to have passed and the wind didn't look quite as strong. Even if it had been a dismal day nothing could have dampened my excitement - after months of planning our departure day had arrived.

We both felt really relaxed and got up and pottered around with no real sense of urgency and certainly not with the air of people who were about to cycle to France. We had arranged for a couple of friends and neighbours to call in for breakfast and the sun started to come out. It was going to be a perfect cycling day.

It was lovely to share the start of the ride with friends and neighbours

At 8.30am we were raring to go

It felt quite cool when we started off and we decided to ride at a nice steady pace. There was no need to rush. We had all day - our ferry did not leave until 8.30pm.

Our first photo opportunity




It was great to get going - and the rain seemed to be holding off




We had our first break at Pulborough Brooks

We were really enjoying the ride although it was very windy. It just felt as if we were on a day ride and not on the way to catch a ferry. I was pleased to discover that the headache I had was caused by my helmet being too tight and once we had loosened this slightly my headache went - I had been beginning to think that my helmet would give me a headache for the whole trip and I would just have to get used to it!

The South Downs looked beautiful

The nearer we got to the coast the more windy it became. As we turned onto the main road towards Houghton Hill there was a very strong side wind and I could feel Rob wrestling with the handlebars trying to keep us upright. Luckily the steepest part of Houghton Hill was sheltered by trees and as we continued our climb it didn't feel as windy as we had feared. The A29 wasn't as horrid as we had thought it would be either again as we were mostly sheltered by trees. We took it slowly on the stretch of the A27 dual carriageway as we were well aware that a strong gust of wind could put us in the path of oncoming traffic. It was a relief when we turned off onto small roads.

The rain was still just about holding off




However, it was still incredibly windy

We battled onwards against the wind which seemed to be coming at us from all directions and somehow Rob managed to keep ourselves upright and in a straight line. We were really looking forward to reaching Chichester where we planned to have lunch.

It was a relief to get out of the wind in Wetherspoons

We decided only to have a light lunch as we knew we would be eating a big meal on the boat later but we decided to go inside and eat rather than get a sandwich from M&S and sit outside as we wanted to get out of the wind for a while. We found a nice table by the window in Wetherspoons overlooking the cathedral (and the bike) and I enjoyed a panini and chips which was just about the right amount of food as I didn't want to ruin my evening meal. It was also comforting to hear the weather forecaster on the pub tv announce that the wind would be lessening during the rest of the day and indeed it did feel that it had calmed down very slightly when we left the pub 45 minutes later.

Our route took us alongside Chichester harbour




and Emsworth Harbour

Most of the afternoon's ride was on main roads as there wasn't a sensible alternative and a lot of the route had a cycle path we could use. However, there wasn't a large volume of traffic on the road anyway. We rode along chatting and from time to time I would burst into song taken from our Brass Monkey CD - "and we're riding down to Portsmouth".

It wasn't so scenic around Havant




But it was the best route to the Portsmouth cycle path

On previous trips cycling through Portsmouth has been very stressful as it seems to be full of impatient drivers. However, Rob had discovered a new route recommended on a cycle forum that we were keen to try.

The path took us along the side of Langstone Harbour




It wasn't always scenic though




But it was a better route than we had previously used

It was still very windy by the sea but I wasn't worried about our crossing as I knew by the time the ferry was far enough out for it to be rough I would be in bed.

Despite the forecast we had managed to get there without being rained on

The last part of the ride through Portsmouth was on roads busy with rush hour traffic. We had to get to the opposite side of the town to which we had arrived. It wasn't very enjoyable as it was still gusty and so the loaded bike wasn't so easy to control. The advantage of coming into Portsmouth from the direction we had was that we only had to go left or, at worst, straight on at roundabouts and not take the last exit as we had done previously. However, it was still a nerve racking experience as drivers seemed very intolerant and I couldn't help noticing that most of the cycle commuters were using the pavements.

It was a relief to arrive at the ferry port

We are now used to the strange feeling of being at a ferry terminal without the security and comfort of a car and settled down at a picnic table to write our journals and wait to be called as it was only 5.30pm and we were not due to depart until 8.30pm.

Our adventure has really begun

We didn't have to wait long before we were called to the cycle holding area near the back of the ferry where we were asked to wait.

We witnessed a comical scene as some other cyclists approached

The Cardiff Crew as I named them arrived carrying their bags for life. First appearances are deceptive. They weren't the hapless cyclists they first appeared to be as it turned out their bags for life contained their panniers and tomorrow they would attach them to their bikes, ditch the bags for life and set off for Barcelona where they were catching a ferry to Majorca in 7 days time. That's impressive. We often wondered whether they made it.

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However, I do question the sanity of someone who uses a kitchen spatula as a map holder!



The clouds were gathering again but it didn't matter now

We were pleased when we were invited to board at 7pm - we had stood up for long enough

The tandem was securely fastened in the on board bike shed

It was good to be on board 1.5 hours before the boat was due to leave and we went straight to our cabin to have a shower and get ready for our evening meal. Unfortunately for some reason our porthole was misted up on the outside so we couldn't see our sea view.

We were seated for dinner by 7.30pm

We were glad we had had a small lunch as we were ready for our meal and knew that we could do justice to the self service starter buffet and later the cheese and desert buffet. It was also nice to eat while everything on the buffet was still fresh. We really enjoyed our meal and filled up on the pasta salads to start with and both chose the beef as our main course. This was accompanied by a nice bottle of Madiran as we watched Portsmouth Harbour go by. It was such a lovely way to start a holiday. We had a quick look up on deck before we went to bed but it was quite chilly and the combination of wine and sea swell made it difficult to stand up and it was a relief to get into bed in our cosy cabin. We were both really looking forward to getting our bike the next day and cycling through France.