The last week before the trip. Things are starting to go wrong. Of course, what was I thinking. Leaving my business for two weeks and not taking a laptop with me. We is a small team of three people. And one of them was no longer a team player.
So the day before my travels I had to make the decision to let that person go. Which meant I had one team member to look after everything for two weeks. I wasn’t worried, she is super capable, committed, smart and wonderful. I just felt bad for leaving her in the shit.
Clients have been contacted, I’ve done what I could have and left the office on a Thursday to pack. I am very much a last minute packer!.
On Friday morning my dear friend Alex came to the house to see me off. I had a small tail pack strapped to the seat, a tank bag locked in and off I went.
Setting off from North Wales I had a long, nearly 300 mile journey to Folkestone from where I took the Channel Tunnel to France. It was a fairly easy ride, just boring as most of it was on the motorways.
I planned to meet a fellow solo adventurer returning to the UK at the services on M6 but sadly, he got delayed and we didn’t get to meet. I stopped anyway as I was getting tired and hungry. While I was enjoying a coffee and a snack in the sun I noticed my tail pack wasn’t sitting evenly so I decided to move a few things around and repack.
I was busy getting the bag back on the seat when a van drove past very slowly. The driver made a comment about my bike and how nice it is. Of course I grinned, feeling smug as I do, and thanked him for the comments. He went off and I carried on fussing over my bike. About a minute later he came back, still in his van, driving very slowly then stopping across the parking space. He leaned over the passenger seat and said:
“Can I ask you a very personal question?:
I turned around and walked to the van expecting him to ask me if I’m single or something similar, which has happened before. “Sure,” I smiled.
He looked very embarrassed but asked anyway:
“Is it true that riding a bike like this can give you an orgasm?”
I must admit, this took me by surprise. But I recovered and told him “Of course, that’s why I’ve got it.”
He drove off somewhat red faced, leaving me laughing to myself.
Well, he just ruined my “Weirdest question of the day” quest as I think this one wins and the rest of the trip wasn’t nearly quite as odd as this.
I filled up the bike and carried on to stop at Berkhamsted at a friend’s house for refreshments and a quick catch up. From there on the route to Folkestone wasn’t too bad. I chose to go on the north side of London which meant I rode over the Dartford Bridge and wow! I really wished I could have stopped for a photo. The sun was getting low, the light was mesmerising and the London skyline looked beautiful. I stole a glance sideways as often as I could have without falling off the bike or moving lanes but it was a sight worth seeing.
I arrived to Folkestone in the evening and stopped in a flat booked on Airbnb by a female adventurer that was supposed to have come with me on this trip but circumstances stopped that. We ordered a pizza takeaway, I had a couple of beers and we put the world to right, as we do.
The whole day kind of felt like ‘in passing’. Just getting from the North Wales to Folkestone, not really a holiday yet. A necessary evil, I guess. Work issues still going around in my head but the two wheels managing to push it further and further away to the back of my mind and starting to get excited about the trip ahead. I slept well that night, must have been the beer!
