London to Geneva Cycling Day 1: London to Portsmouth

It’s better than it looks. Uh hello everyone. Uh as you know I’m cycling to sun uh whilst you’ll all get in the airplane or train. Uh so today’s my first day. I am cycling from London to Portsmouth to get the overnight ferry. Um yeah looking forward to it. Bit nervous. Uh but uh got all day to cycle. My bike’s very heavy. My my flat mates just barely lifted it up. Uh they are quite small though. Here’s one of them. You’ll be fine. Breakfast of champions. You’ll do great. So I’m just setting off. Here’s my flat mates. They they’ve brought themselves off reels to say goodbye. Uh yeah, this is it. Good luck. Goodbye, London. So, I’ve just set off, done just over a mile. The weather’s lovely. Uh just cycling past Hide Park. Yeah. Uh my first cafe stop is at my uncle’s house in about seven miles time. Uh, and then that’ll be it then until Portsmouth. Um, and that’s our fancy snacking on one of my big rolls that I’ve brought. Just made it up the Crystal Palace climb, which was quite difficult of all the weight. Usually, I don’t know, I go up there at like 14 miles an hour. I must have been going about 6 or 7. Uh I mean it’s steep. So uh yeah, probably got a couple miles and I got my first planned cafe stop at my uncle’s once I get to the bottom of the hill. So out of London now. Uh had a nice stop at my uncle’s. So, he made me some chicken guons and a potato waffle, which I don’t know, doesn’t sound that healthy, but uh calories are calories at the end of the day. And I was already pretty full uh from my rather bland pasta and uh garlic bread. Uh so, I think soon I’ll get on to roads I haven’t done before. So, I’ll use the satnav on my Garmin. Uh, and then, yeah, lovely day, but I think that, uh, it’s a headwind, so it’s going to be a long slog to Portsmouth if the wind stays blowing against me the whole way. But, uh, it is what it is. I have just stopped for my first snack of the day, which is a chicken burger that my uncle made. And I’ve currently done 37 miles. Uh about another 50ish, 55ish to go. It’s not too hot, luckily. It’s about 25. So, I’ve got 67 miles done. Uh kind of getting near uh Portsmouth now, and it’s very suddenly become actually quite scenic, but I’ve still got the headwind. So, it’s been a hard 67 milesi, I can say that. So, I’ve just filled up my water bottles. They were getting quite low. Uh, so I looked out for some pub or houses I could fill them up at, ask uh, I found this pub, really nice looking pub in this village called Dunton. Uh, I think it’s called the Cricketers. Cricketers or something. Very nice staff. So, if you’re watching, thank you for the water cuz it’s really helped. Chiches. It’s quite nice. This is my first view of what looks like the sea. Although you can’t really see the sea. It smells like it though. This is now the longest ride I’ve ever done. Uh my bike computer just tipped over to 85 miles. Uh, I think my previous record was 84 back in 2019, I think. So, yeah, legs still feel good. Only about uh 12 miles left until my dinner stop. Uh, yeah, great day. So, I’ve now arrived at Portsmouth. Um, I did get it when it was light, but I forgot to make a video. Um, it’s quite quiet. Uh, but I think that I’m going to board in a minute. Um, there’s my bike. Hasn’t been stolen, which is good.