Day 1

After months of planning and a frantic few days of finalising the details, waiting for decent weather and so on, then suddenly I'm off. Sunday 12th May 2019, 12:30 am. I have 37 miles to cover across the rolling Sussex countryside.

Here's the thing, up until now I've only ridden the bike on a 12 mile test run, an unloaded 10 miles to the Chiddingstone real football and 5.6 miles fully loaded to my local pub, all round trips. I am not a regular cyclist!

The test told me I had to adjust the bike a fair bit for comfort, the unloaded run that I needed to gain some flexibility to actually get on the bike and the loaded run that weight was not a problem, until you come to hills that is.

This first ride was going to set the benchmark.

I knew that the initial section had the biggest climbs, approaching East Grinstead and then just beyond the Weir Wood Reservoir. I wish those elevation profiles could indicate the difficulty of the ride.

Sussex Hills Near Sharpthorne

Then a pretty section on small lanes and off road to Horsted Keynes, then Newick, Cooksbridge, the tough climb to Lewes and then the unexpectedly difficult final section to Newhaven. I guess by that time I was tired.

I arrived at just after 7:00 pm and was immediately distracted by the McDonald's just beyond. I was hungry and was drawn by that big tempting yellow sign. I enjoyed the vanilla milkshake, chips with loads of ketchup, but Toby had the best part of the burger. His stomach must be stronger than mine.

Back to the port to get my tickets. I hadn't wanted to book them in advance in case I couldn't get there. Some excitement as they've booked cyclists before as they have foot passengers with pets, but not a cyclist with a pet (I had emailed their help team prior to confirm it was possible). After a few minutes all was resolved and I had my ticket. Toby and I settled for a nap in the waiting room.

We boarded with the commercial transits and were shown where the bike was to be left and where Toby would be staying. I settled him in then went to look for somewhere to sleep.