Woke to silence and a look outside showed little evidence of the festivities the night before, with the stages removed and everything back to normal. It was still going strong when I went to sleep (showing on my Vivofit as 11:34) so must have slept through a lot of noise. I woke quite early but because I had ordered breakfast, which started at 7:15, it felt I was hanging around a bit. I did some research into the ferries, I knew there was a midday ferry, and initially thought the next was the overnight one. However, I spotted there was one at 6:30pm which got into Newhaven at 9:30pm – which gave me options. The breakfast was good, and despite a good attempt I couldn’t eat all the jam, but three cups of coffee we’re just about right! The bike had spent the night in the garage (all “Accueil Velo” accommodation has secure bicycle parking to get accredited) and I managed to squeeze my stuff back into the panniers without unloading which saved some time.

I got going at 7:30 with a possible plan to catch the 12:00 boat, but knowing I had a fall back plan with the 18:30 ferry. I’d plotted a route taking the best of both the routes I had maps for. The plan was to generally take the Paris-London signed route, but diverting onto the other route when it was clearly more direct or looked like it avoided rough tracks. This system worked a treat until Menerval, where I took the D16/D156 on my alternative route and should have met (and clearly does) the D120. I must have been miles away (mentally, and after a while physically) as I missed the turn and headed blissfully towards Gaillefontaine. Eventually I noticed the lack of signs and checked the map, I’d gone too far to turn back. The D198 road wasn’t too bad, classic straight roads, fast down and long scary looking uphill drags, that turn out not to be as bad as they look. I got back on the Paris – London route at Nesle-Hodeng at which point the Voie Verte was already a surfaced railway line.

I’d set a 9:30 deadline on making the decision on whether to charge for the ferry, and I was about 10 km short of my notional target – Neufchatel-en-bray. It was close but not worth the risk of not getting on the ferry if I arrived at 11:30 or the frustration of just missing it. The only real advantage of the earlier one was to be able to cycle home rather than taking the train, as it would be dark by the time the later boat arrived.

Anyway, this meant the pressure was off, and I went into Neufchatel-en-Bray for lunch. A very nice place with the best roundabout so far (I can’t remember if I posted a picture of the worst – on the way to St Nazaire if I recall). I bought lunch – sandwich, flan and coke – formule, had become a standard when not making my own cheese and tomato sandwiches, and I headed back onto the Voie Verte for somewhere to eat it.

Even though the pressure was off, I’d set myself a target of achieving a reasonable average speed today, some days my speeds have been embarrassingly slow, due to navigation, sightseeing or just lack of focus. So I had lunch, booked a ferry ticket on-line and then really pushed for 20 km. I stopped again, mainly to oil my chain which was squealing alarmingly and of course the oil was in the bottom of one of the panniers. I also used it as an opportunity to repack the panniers and get things I might need for the boat, headphones, fleece etc. I pushed on right into Dieppe and achieved the 80km from Gournay-en-bray in 3hrs 50min – nearly 21 kph (excluding stops). While it’s true that from Neufchatel-en-Bray the route descends all the way to Dieppe, it is only gentle railway gradients and combined with a headwind it didn’t seem very downhill. People travelling the other way seemed to be getting quite a lot of benefit fom the wind.

I came into Dieppe from the port side and across the harbour there appeared to be a “trade show” on the quay side. There were car manufactures, sports equipment and newspaper representatives on stands, but not many people around. I fully expected a contestant from the french version of The Apprentice jump out and try to sell me a jetski. It was clearly something to do with a yacht race, so I WhatsApp’d a nautical friend to find out. It is a really prestigious race “Le Solitude” due to finish in Dieppe tomorrow (but there had not been much wind). I got a coffee and a bite to eat in the town, and headed around the headland to the port. It was quite cold, and had nearly rained – which is ironic, after carrying a waterproof jacket to hand for the whole two weeks, I’d packed it away in the bottom of a pannier at my last stop, being sure I wouldn’t need it. Anyway I sat in the ferry terminal, refusing to put my fleece on – I have spent the whole tour only in a tee shirt and shorts and was determined to maintain this.

Hopefully I can get a train from Newhaven home, and I’ll look out for the Le Solitude yachts during the crossing.

I will do an update (honestly I will this year – I’ve started it already). To reflect upon the trip, to look at the best bits, places to revisit, equipment (especially the tent) and  lessons learned.