By Rob
THE FINAL DAY ABROAD.
So we’ve made it to the final day round Europe as we head from our lovely hotel to the ferry port. We were also going to call in to see Chris’s daughter Liv who is at Uni in Rotterdam and go for lunch.
The clouds and rain hadn’t quite cleared so a later 10.30 leave was set up and we needed that as the bikes were in a state. A bit of a wipe and some oiling for the bikes making them feel loved again.
It was a cool morning with jackets on, jackets off. Customary path closure bringing us to a slowdown.
Saw our first windmill and it wasn’t long before we were on the outskirts of Rotterdam and past the Feyenoord Stadium.
We were cycling in on the Erasmus bridge where Liv would be waiting. She’d made a lovely welcome sign for Dad’s (Farney’s) arrival and a hug on the bridge.
Liv had some luggage to come back in the van so Miles and Nick pulled the van up to load.
Then near disaster struck !!!
Ready to move on and the lads couldn’t find the van key. It was open but no key. 😮 🔑
The bags were out the van 3 times, no joy, Liv’s room searched, no joy, pockets emptied umpteem times…
What do we do if we have no keys??? The vans 3 black bin bags had been emptied into a number of bins on Liv’s street. They all had to come out and be spread on the pavement…..
Thankfully the key was found in the rubbish !! Phew relief 😮💨
We were then able to proceed to lunch with Liv who also had 4 friends from Huddersfield over. A nice break in the city.
The port is another 25 miles outside the centre so a bit more pedalling to do still. There’s port like buildings for at least 20 of those miles. It goes on forever and the wind was vicious at times we hardly moved.
The sun had started to appeared as we finally made it to the ferry port and met up with the van ⛴️. Gathered our bags and passport control as a cyclist and rode up the ramps to get on for our last European pedals.
So that’s us done Europe and what a great trip. It’s been hard, it’s been beautiful, it’s educational, it’s been a laugh and with a great group of lads to share all those experiences. Cycling back from Hull in the rain isn’t quite filling us with joy but it’s just another day!!
Thanks for all the sponsorships. The team are most grateful👍
