United Kingdom

We left Amsterdam in good time this morning, but with a bit of drizzle. There was quite a bit of traffic coming out of the city, partly because the swing bridges were open for passing boats and we took the motorway towards Rotterdam before joining the smaller roads island-hopping back towards the Channel Tunnel.

After another 6km tunnel we rode into Belgium and stopped for petrol before looking ofr some lunch. 100m down the road from the petrol stop was a cafe, but it was shut. As I was talking to a local who was directing us to another place a man came running down the road holding my tank bag which I had left at the petrol station! This reminded of me of the night before we left 3 months ago where I did the same thing - must be getting close to home!

We managed to avoid the showers most of the afternoon and just got caught in one as we arrived at the Channel Tunnel terminal. There was another biker joining the train as well who was over visiting friends in Belgium for a long weekend from Somerset. He asked "Are you two over for the weekend then?". Ed replied "Errrr, not quite, no!"

We popped up in England shortly afterwards into the glorious sunshine. Just a couple of miles around the corner and we were welcomed back by Alex and John, back where we had stayed on day 2. They had another couple of visitors (Alan and Jan) staying with them and the 6 of us shared a wonderful homecoming meal and drank wine over travelling stories.

We have run out of superlatives to describe hospitality now, but I suppose the biggest compliment and thanks we can pay to Alex and John is to say that it felt like coming home. John even lent us some local currency to pop down the road to the pub for a pint. Ed and I sat at the same table that we had done 3 months ago and reflected on the trip. 100 miles or so to Brighton tomorrow and we will have actually completed the loop we planned, on schedule and with only a slight adjustment in Scandinavia.

I've forgotten how many miles we did today, but it was 275ish!

We moved today! We waited until the middle of the day when the ice had melted (or most of it at least . . .) and made our way along the main roads to Hythe, 90 miles or so from Brighton and literally round the corner from the Channel Tunnel.

There we met Ed's relatives John and Alex and they made us a lovely meal and offered us nice warm beds for the night. We're just popping down the road for a beer and then we'll set off early in the morning to catch a train to France were hopefully it'll start getting warmer!

We'll add some photos soon.

We had an ambitious plan for the first day, along the motorways from Brighton to the Dover area, catch Le Shuttle over to Calais and head down the coast to Caen. 350 miles or so, but we were up for it. And then.....

The BBC said:

"Heavy snow has fallen across large parts of England, disrupting travel and closing hundreds of schools.

South-east England has the worst snow it has seen for 18 years, causing all London buses to be pulled from service and the closure of Heathrow runways.

Road and rail travel was also badly hit by up to 15cm (6in) of snow."

The Met office issued the most severe weather warnings on almost exactly the route we were taking to Dover:

So needless to say we didn't get very far.

But we did have excellent snowball fights!

Oh well, we'll reschedule Le Shuttle for the next sensible time (probably early Wednesday morning) and finish off our packing in the meantime.

Probably for the best anyway as I left a bag and all my radio equipment at a petrol station last night!

Just a short time until we head off now, lots to do still! Thanks to all the people offering rooms on the way round. If you want to contact us it's probably best to e-mail on either captainribbles@yahoo.co.uk or ebmurray@btopenworld.com.

Also, don't be shy sponsoring - it's all going to charity (Cancer Research) so it's for a good cause, it's not just going on petrol or beers! www.justgiving.com/edandjames

Thanks everyone,

James

Here they are. Our trusty steeds for 3months, not sure who the lunatics sitting on them are though!

The BM is called Roger and the Fazer is yet to be named. James named the BM as he thinks the front lights look like Roger Moore winking!