Day 7 - Lesson learned OR The boroughs of London need to invest in street signs that provide warnings like "Large Fucking Hill Ahead"

Today was a somewhat difficult and frustrating day. Our plan was to bike 70 miles from London to Dover and take the ferry the next day to France. We had almost no problem getting out of Central London but when we got to Greenwich… we absolutely could not figure out how to leave that borough… and I have never seen so many hills. Akron is hilly but no matter where we went it was always up a hill! We were getting so pissed! The streets weren’t marked and when asking for direction, we always had to go back the way we came but slightly different and up another hill. After biking up a couple hills we eventually just started walking the bikes instead of trying to ride. At one point after walking up one of the final hills David noticed there was a house named ‘Highest Point” as in highest point in all of England probably! Maybe not but it was really high. It was also frustrating because we had booked the ferry in advance and needed to be in Dover the next day at 12:30. Lesson learned: Take our time biking from place to place instead of rushing and getting even more lost because we are frustrated. I felt bad because David had the trailer and had to bike around all day on the hills with it while being lost. Its really heavy and I know it was a lot to deal with.

Eventually we made it out of Greenwich and found our way to Gravesend. We stopped at a McDonalds (my favorite place to stop while on the road) got more coffee and tried to decide what to do. The other interesting thing about the troubles of the day is that no matter where we went, there was ALWAYS 60 more miles to go. It was getting dark so we really couldn’t bike anymore in the evening. Since we still had so much more biking to do to catch the ferry we decided to take a train the next morning from Gravesend to Dover instead of missing the ferry. As far as sleeping arrangement, there wasn’t anywhere to camp so we got a cheap motel type place called Shamrock for £25. This area of town wasn’t too bad but still comparable to some sketchy areas around Columbus. Our room actually was being remodeled and they would only give it to us if we couldn’t find anywhere else. All the bedding and everything was new so it wasn’t too gross. No need to use the sleeping bags!

We found somewhere to eat that was actually open later than 9 and it had the same menu as the last pub we ate at unfortunately. Apparently we cant get away from boroughs and the same pubs in England. I cant stand that no where is open late! Closing early doesn’t work out so well for last minute planners. At the end of the day we biked 40 miles. Somehow our 70 mile ride would have turned into a 100 mile ride. Our total mileage is at 140 from biking around London. Not too bad and I think both of us feel pretty good about biking. We were a little worried before we left but it isn’t as hot here and it is more fun to ride around, except on huge hills.