Normandy 2025 – Day 1 – Perth to Portsmouth

Following on from our Euro trips to France in 2022, Netherlands in 2023 & 2024 we decided we were going back to France for 2025.

We bit the bullet and faced up against the Great British train system with 4 loaded bikes and surprisingly nothing went wrong.

This short video captures day 1 of our journey from Perth (and Glasgow) to the overnight ferry from Portsmouth. Come with us on our 5 day trip to the D Day beaches in Normandy.

Music:
Filmora Wondershare Free Library
You Tube Music Library

Camera Kit:
DJI Osmo Action 3
DJI Neo drone
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Bike Kit:
Merlin Malt G2P
Garmin Edge 530
Topeak Top Tube Bag
Topeak MTX2 Trunk Bag
Topeak Mondopack
Ortlieb Back Roller Panniers (new this year)
Podsacs bottle holders

Also starring The green Hiperdino coolbag for the carryout!

[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Morning folks. Welcome back to the channel. standing here this morning in um Perth Railway Station just at the tail end of platform 4 waiting the train to Glasgow going down there to meet three of the boys and then we’re off to to Normandy uh via London Portsmouth and the the overnight ferry it’s looking like the weather’s going to be good for the next few days so hopefully we have a good trip I’ll pick up some some good footage and maybe get a few videos out it as well. And for those of you that are we bit interested in trains, standing here on platform 4 is apparently is the longest platform in [Music] Scotland. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat [Music] [Music] up [Music] So, a little bit about the first day’s travel down to Portsmouth. So, I live in Perth and having the furthest to travel, I left there about 5 to 8. uh had an advanced ticket to keep the course down given that I knew what train I was going to be got getting on and uh I’ll stick some more about the course in at the end and I’ll try and do a complete overview at the end of the last video. Heading down to London first. Three other guys coming from just outside Glasgow made lots of sense for us just to meet in Glasgow Central in time to get the 936 train to Houston. That meant we could get out of Glasgow after peak time, keeping the cost on again. And then it gave us the time to get from Houston across the Waterloo to pick up the train to Portsmouth before the evening peak started. We also had to contend with a fulls size bike and into and out of London stations, which is between 4:00 and 7:00 at night. That meant we really needed to go on the train to Portsmouth before 4. As it happened, we managed to get in for the quarter past 3 and gave us plenty of time to play with. If there hadn’t been enough bike spaces, though, that could have been a bit of a problem. would had to split into pairs and travel on separate trains. I guess that’s the joy of not being able to book spaces and and trying to use the two together rail cars to to get discounts. We eventually arrived into Portsmouth about half about about 20 5 giving us plenty of time to find some food and get a drink before heading out to the [Music] ferry. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat [Music] up [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] So just in case there’s not enough cycling for you, you could uh get on the gym on the ferry on the top deck. So that’s us the end of day one. Bit of a a long slow day. It’s half past 10. The ferry leaves Portsmouth at 11:00 and we get into Sherborg tomorrow morning at 8. But today um left Perth about 5 to 8 this morning. Train down to Glasgow. Quick cycle across Glasgow from Queen Street to Glasgow Central and um 4 and 1 half hours on the train from there down to to London Houston. a quick zip across the to Waterlue station and then another two hours on the southwestern train down to Portsmouth Harbor. Then got there about half 5. Went to find somewhere for a a bit of dinner, bite to eat. Um and then along to to a pub just outside Portsmouth um international terminal. Um had a a pint there and came down, checked into the ferry. Reasonably straightforward the whole day. No, there was not not an awful lot of hassle on the the trains. We got on everything. Everything was on time. Got the four bikes on. What a bit of a a bit of grief taking the the paners on and off every stop, but the weight on the bikes made it a little bit difficult to to get up and on the steps anyway. So, pers off, get it in. Um that was that. um stood for a we bit waiting to go on the ferry, queued up, and then some of us get taken for a security check, which to be quite frank was a bit of a waste of time. They picked a bag, stuck it through the security scanner, made you walk through, but because everybody’s got cleats and bits of metal, and everybody beeps anyway, so that bit of a waste, but hey ho, we’re here now. So, all good. So, that’s the end of day one. Probably done about 9 km in total. Not very much at all. I am going to broccoli tomorrow. [Music]