Our route was based on a route described on the Cycling UK site but riding from north to south and with the northern port being Santander rather than Bilbao. We deviated from the planned route occasionally, the maps show the planned rather the actual route. We also wanted plenty of time to see the sights so spread the ride over a longer time period and chose not to camp for greater comfort and less weight. We bought “four days in a month” interrail passes, using the first day for the train journey from Bangor to Portsmouth.
We’d set our alarms for 06:00 but woke earlier so had plenty of time to make our lunch sandwiches, get our breakfasts and make sure we won’t return to festering food next month. Easy ride to Bangor station, a warm morning with a moderate breeze helping us arrive half an hour before the 09:05 rolled in, partly occupied by programming our interrail passes.
The two car class 197 unit was well filled for its run along the coast to Chester and down the Marches to Newport where we alighted. Luckily we didn’t have to change platforms for the 13:44 to Portsmouth Harbour and the forty minute wait was useful for eating those sandwiches.
Our coach on the class 158 was uncomfortably hot but we wanted to retain sight of the bikes so we remained there. We had some time to spare before Horatio’s restaurant, near the station, opened at 18:00 but the historic dockyard closed at 17:30, too early for us. As is usually the case, our stir fry comprised mainly noodles but the ability to store our bikes in their luggage room was useful.
The Brittany Ferry port was about 2km away and we had quite a long wait before we could board, initially amongst a throng of motorcyclists and then they herded all the proper cyclists together to board. We had a drink and a shower before retiring to bed.
We slept well and went for a continental breakfast in the Azul restaurant, chatted with two cyclists from Norfolk and sat out on deck. A sunny day after the mist cleared, a calm sea with light winds. Various diversions were on offer, we went to a talk on Brittany’s lighthouses which we would later pass, and an Orca watch. Number of orca spotted: 0.
The vegetarian dinner options were not appealing, a dreary salad in the tapas restaurant and a pea and spinach tagliatelle affair in the main one. We risked the latter and it was dreadful, a few bits floating in a vast creamy sauce. We left as hungry as we’d entered and resorted to our emergency nuts for cycling. I supplemented mine with a pint of IPA and a packet of crisps. I don’t normally drink that style of beer but it was actually quite palatable and preferable to the alternative of industrial lager.