Monday 7/9 & Tuesday 8/9:
Kenilworth – Tours
4 x Cycle sections (total 24 km),
4 Trains and a Ferry
The plan goes: bike, train, train, bike, train, bike, ferry, bike, train! Sadly, the response from all the travel companies other than West Midlands Railway has been very disappointing, with no concessions offered and no practical help either. Nevertheless, I’ll keep going despite their lack of generosity and care!
The initial 2km of the Prologue, from home to the station in Kenilworth, is basically up for the first half then back down for the second, with 3% being the maximum in either direction. If I can’t manage that when I first set off, I might as well give up and go home!
From Kenilworth station, I travel one stop to Coventry, where I change onto the train to London Euston.
Part 2 of the Prologue is the 4km ride across London from Euston to Waterloo. This appears to be (nominally) on a marked cycle route but, as it should only take about 25 minutes, I will have plenty of time to take extra care of careless motorists and other mad cyclists!
The next train should deposit me at Portsmouth Harbour station, from where it is about 3km flat ride to the Ferry port, before catching the overnight ferry to Caen (Ouistreham).
I am very grateful to Aimee at the Ship and Castle Pub, near the Ferry port, who is allowing me to spend the intervening hours there and has even offered me a free meal. THANKS AIMEE!
Once disembarked from the boat, a gentle 15km morning ride on a great cycle path down the canal awaits me on the Tuesday morning, probably giving me opportunity to spend a while at the Pegasus Bridge WW2 memorial, about 5km from Ouistreham. On the night of June 5–6, 1944, British airborne forces executed a daring glider assault to capture Pegasus Bridge and a nearby bridge in Normandy, securing a vital eastern flank for the D-Day landings. Led by Major John Howard, 181 men from the 6th Airborne Division landed in six Horsa gliders just after midnight, achieving complete surprise and seizing the bridges intact within 10 minutes.
If all goes as expected, I will arrive at Caen station with plenty of time for elevensies before an early afternoon train to my official starting point in Tours.
