St Valery 2 - Judgement Day

Not much to report today. I'm still in St Valery. I've decided the two St Valerys are about even with each other.

I washed my clothes this morning. This camp ground has washing machines but I needed a jeton (money token) so I went and got one from the office and by the time the grumpy cow in the office had given me one both machines were taken. I sat there for maybe 1 minute before deciding to do my washing in one of the tubs. I also nicked someone's laundry detergent to help. Both machines broke which looked really suspicious as I was the only one there when it happened, but it wasn't me. So those people spent half the day trying to find someone to fix the machines while I'd done something resembling washing my clothes. I made them wet, that's for certain. Detergent was involved.

I spent the morning looking around the port. Safest harbour on the Normandy Coast. Bet you didn't know that. They have some bloody safe harbours here too. Bloody safe.

There were markets on so I wandered through. The food looked fantastic - lots of cheese, lots of meat. The rest of it was the usual cheap clothes. Picture walking through Primark but every fourth rack has cheese. Primark kind of smells that way anyway.

I found a pile of rocks that has water attached (a beach?) but the breeze had picked up and it was a bit chilly so I didn't swim. There were people having a picnic on the rock pile which bamboozled me. There were tables and chairs 5 metres away on the lovely foreshore but no, let's sit on the rocks.

I fed myself some more seafood. They served it on a shell. They serve a lot of stuff on shells here. I'm tempted to start a shell shop. It was only 3 euros and pretty tasty. Some people are dead against getting cheap seafood from a patisserie but I'm all for it!

I've been lazing by the pool reading a book all afternoon. Which explains why this blog post consists of rambling about washing and shells.

Tomorrow I'm off to Étretat. The road looks windy, which suggests hilly. It is only 50km on the main road so maybe 55-60 on the road I'm taking. There is a festival on there. Don't know what it's about as I don't know French, but I'll find out tomorrow.

Then the D day beaches, which is what I came for. Looking forward to that.

Biville to St-Valery

There is another St Valery, and I'm there now. This one is St-Valery de Creux. The other one was St Valery du Somme. By the way I'm just guessing the little word after St Valery in both names.

The last camp site was a dump. I went to have a shower and needed a money token, whatever that is. I couldn't even have a cold shower without one. The reception was shut and nobody was around so I ended up going to the disabled shower and using the sink to wash.

This morning I chatted to some kids who have the serious misfortune of living there. They didn't speak English and I don't speak French but we jabbered away at each other regardless. They were stoked that my bike is a Peugeot. I translated 'do a skid' into French but I don't think their brakes were up to it.

I rode down the hill into Dieppe. The main rode was a bit ropey so I turned off and came in on a quieter rode. It was much nicer. I went past a church that sits on the hill across the port from the main drag and snapped a few pics.

Dieppe was very nice. Probably not somewhere you'd go out of your way to visit but nice nonetheless. The main strip runs down along the marina, which was chock-a-block with little yachts. A couple of hundred I'd say. I was expecting it to busy but the whole place was pretty quiet.

I set about finding somewhere to get my seafood. A lot of the restaurants looked a bit classy so I settled for one that was very yellow and therefore not classy. I got the fruit de mer, which means seafood platter. I had been wandering around getting really annoyed that all these places were flogging fruit when they're right next to a fishing port.

It came, I ate, I drank. They brought out half a litre of wine to go with it - also yellow. It was really good and after muesli bars, nuts and dried fruit it hit the spot nicely. When I left I needed to move something from my bag to the kitchen area of my bike (front basket) so I quickly did that and wandered down the street.

I must have been left a bit befuddled by the wine because after 50 metres I realised my bag was missing. I couldn't understand where it was. I checked my bike and it wasn't strapped on, I checked my back and it wasn't strapped on. I was so confused I thought I'd been pick-bagged. I even reached around with my hand to check my back to make certain the bag wasn't there.

Everything I need is in my bag. It hasn't left me since I set off. If the bike goes missing with everything else on it I'll still be able to carry on with just that bag. So I was in a bit of a panic but realised I must have left it when I got something out. I sprinted back but it wasn't there. I started hunting around looking for sinister characters making off with it but it ended up being in a hair dressers. They'd spotted it and rather then call the bomb squad to come blow it up like they would in London they brought it inside.

After that little sojourn into town I begrudgingly got back in the bike. Up and down hills again. The wind had died off a bit and I think I hate wind the most. There is an upside to hills, which is the down side. There seems to be a windy couple of kilometres downhill into each town and it is fun!

There were some other cyclists going my way. A German couple zooming along with brutal efficiency. They had an electric bike with a trailer and a pretty fancy normal bike riding an inch behind. They reminded me of the East German bobsled team from Cool Runnings. They had matching everything.

There was also a tiny old lady with her behemoth son. They annoyed me because I felt like I couldn't walk up the hills and get overtaken by this little old lady. Her legs were like a hummingbird's wings on those hills! She would have been almost 70. So I rode up the hills wishing they would bugger off.

I ended up arriving at St Valery number 2 and quickly rode through town. It looks nice. On first appearances I think this St Valery is the better one. I've found a really nice, really cheap camp site. It is 3 stars! Would be 5 except it's on a hill. So I'm staying 2 nights. There's a pool and a slide, hot showers and games. It's 6.50 a night which is the cheapest of the proper camp sites I've stayed in. Will probably go for my first French swim tomorrow (at the beach, not the pool).

The pictures go in chronological order. Mostly Dieppe. Last one is St Valery. Second last one is some town in between.

St Valery to Biville

The wind still hasn't died down. When I woke this morning it was raining too but that stopped, thankfully. The other cyclists camping near me got up at sparrows and buggered off. They're all super keen. I packed my stuff and wandered out half an hour after checkout.

I waited around until about 1 until the rain had well and truly disappeared then set off. The route google gave me was super hilly, so I found one closer to the coast. I visited a couple of little seaside hamlets and stumbled upon this weird sculpture. I'll post a picture (Edit: No I won't, because I didn't take one with my phone) There was no plaque so I dunno what it is for.

The road I found was more of a rocky track (I need to stop trusting the grey lines on google) so I looped back towards the main road and cycled up bloody hills until I got to Treport. The road into Treport was really steep and I had a truck up my bum so I managed to get the bike up to almost 50km/h while riding the brakes. Doesnt sound like much but when it's loaded up the old beast likes to wobble.

Treport wasn't what I expected. Far nicer. I heard port and thought coal loaders and cat food smell (ie Kooragang Island for the Aussie novacastrians). Instead it was a decent sized town built below some enormous white cliffs where a canal (or river, but looked like a canal to me) meets the sea. A chapel looms over the town from a few streets above the main street. Apparently they've got a few churches too, but every speed bump gets its own church here.

I walked along the foreshore right around to the cliffs, then found the funicular. For those that don't know a vehicular funicular is a train that goes almost perpendicular. Been waiting to bust that out all day! I didn't think they'd let me take the bike on, but there was no they. It operates kind of like an elevator. No ticket, no operator; it even has buttons like an elevator. It went up through a tunnel in the cliffs and saved me riding up one hill at least.

I carried on towards Dieppe with more bloody hills. I spent a good half an hour riding through back streets in some little town trying to avoid going down hill so I wouldn't have to come back up hill. I hate hills. On the last not very steep hill of the day there was a bit of traffic and a truck was coming but couldn't go around so he just honked his horn as a warning for me to move and I had no choice but to ride off the road. When I got to the top I saw a sign for a camp ground so I thought that'll do me for the day.

The place I've camped is right near a nuclear power plant, which explains some of the residents. I went to have a look but couldn't find it. If I wake early enough I might go down for a swim. The water should be warm around the discharge pipe. The town itself is really nice, but geez did I see some dregs of society.

I checked the route to Dieppe for tomorrow and that last hill was THE last hill. So the plan for tomorrow is to zoom down hill until Dieppe, which is 16 km away and might actually be reachable in the time google says it is if it really is down hill. I'll gorge myself on seafood then ride out the other side and camp within striking distance of Etretat.

I'm going to post a few pictures but for some reason I can't caption them, which is ridiculous. So do your best to figure out what they are!

I've also included a picture of my bike loaded up.

St-Valery

Yesterday I set up camp and stayed there all afternoon reading. The wind has been atrocious. The place I'm staying is the French version of Trailer Park Boys. Almost everyone here lives here. Until just now I was the only tent on the whole site. Now another one has popped up. The place I've been thinking was the reception is actually the owners house. I discovered that when I wandered in last night and people were sitting around watching tele. They didn't invite me to stay.

Today I went and bought some waterproof clothes. I did this mostly to ensure that it wouldn't rain again until I'm back in Australia. It's the same as how lighting cigarettes summons buses.

After that I rode around on the old town walls. It's a very nice town; pity about the weather. I did learn that Joan of Arc came through this town when she was a prisoner of the British. I also learnt that they graze sheep on the salt marshes and salt meadow lamb is supposed to be delicious. So that might be for dinner if I can find one.

The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow so I'm ready to move on. Even if it doesn't I'll slog my way through to Dieppe. Apparently the seafood is so good it gave my sister a hysterectomy! Or have I muddled that up?

Somme

Just a quick update. After I left to find a place to camp last night, as soon as I rode out of Abbeville, the rain stopped. The path I was riding along was dead flat and dead straight so I ended up doing the 20km to the coast in under an hour. What a difference the conditions make. For comparison, the last 17km into Abbeville took around 2 and a half hours.

I rode into Saint Valery der Somme around 9:15 last night. It was beautiful when I arrived. Fishing boats docked, a long esplanade along the river, families taking an evening stroll, soaking in the fresh sea air. And me. Filthy dirty, stinking to high heaven. Nobody seemed to mind. A few people smiled at me, I think because I was grinning with delight.

I hadn't sussed a camp spot here. I googled proper sites and booking.Com wanted to charge me $190. I ended up finding some likely places but there was a constant stream of people, so I waited until dark and made my way deep into some bushes right next to the water and set up in the dark.

Earlier in the day a car load of young blokes followed me really slowly up a hill and when I got off the road they shouted something French at me. I've seen Monty Python, I know what they are capable of. When I was heading along the muddy path to my little hideout the same car went past blaring music. It was dark by this stage so I got off the road and into my spot and they came tearing back past. I'd say any ill will towards me was probably in my imagination, but I'm also in a pretty vulnerable situation if someone decides to mess with me, as Divya continuously reminds me. I waited quite a while before setting up.

When I woke up I could hear the wind roaring so I figured the best place in all of France to be in that wind is amongst those bushes. I guess I momentarily forgot about houses, cars, hotels and the many other things that also block wind.

I'm not going to cycle today, it really is too windy. I've tracked down a proper camp site so I'll go set up there for a night or two.

I'm almost ready to stop pretending it's summer time.

Rain, hills and no direction.

What a day.

Last night I kept cycling for a bit but had nothing left in the tank, so I turned down a quiet country lane to look for a place to camp. I wasn't having much luck but eventually found a stand of trees to camp in. The farm nearby was having a party and I thought about wandering in but I ended up falling asleep.

I woke up this morning at 8 and my phone was on. I turned it off last night to conserve battery but it switched itself back on and chewed through the battery. I turned it off again and it went into some updating mode and chewed through the rest of the battery. So today I had to do a Forest Gump and just ride. Except he ran. It happens.

Somehow though I managed to go in a useful direction. I got to Azincourt, which is better known in the UK and Australia as Agincourt. It's the place where Henry V used his longbow archers to demolish the French. I arrived fairly early and there was a medieval festival on. I was keen to go in, mostly to see if I could have a go of one of the longbows, but the bike prevented me. It hadn't really started yet either so I decided to keep going. I did zoom around on my bike and have a look at the battlefield.

That was the last zooming I did today, that's for sure. Hills, hills everywhere!

After Azincourt I didn't know where to go. I saw a road that seemed familiar and picked a direction (it was left, if you're wondering) and off I went. I was hoping to find a Cafe to charge my phone. Turns out everything is shut on Sundays. I searched through a lot of towns. I ended up following the signs to Crecy because it was the site of another fairly large dust up in the 100 years war. It was pelting down by this stage so I just looked, thought "Yep I'm definitely too late for the battle" and moved on.

I carried on down the same road towards Abbeville, mostly because it had a green sign and all the other towns have white ones. The rain got too heavy to keep going safely so I pulled over. Had a quick nap in the rain at one stop. Finally got to Abbeville and everything  was shut. I wandered around for an hour and a half looking for McDonald's. My front basket (aka the kitchen/dining area) broke. I managed to fix it with the clothes line Jason gave me before I left.

I was feeling pretty miserable before I got here. The fact my phone is working and that I rode almost double what I thought I had has cheered me up. Will definitely hit the coast tomorrow. Only going to put in a short day tomorrow.

After my phone charges I need to find a place to camp. Hopefully not too far away. The rain looks to have died down a bit. My only jumper and tracky daks are soaked.

This might have to be all for today. Praying for sunshine tomorrow.

Ypres to Azincourt(?)

Well, first things first, my wet weather plan worked. I got wet. It was nice. The wind, however, has not been. There has been a 40km/h head wind (at least) since Ypres. It hasn't really meant harder peddling, just less distance covered. The  few times it has been at my back I haven't even had to peddle. For a while I tried to tack like a sail boat - one road across the wind, one road with it. But I ran out of roads.

In fact, at one point I ran out of roads completely! I've been trying to go in the straightest line possible, so taking whatever little roads allow me to do that. It's really nice seeing the in between places that the high speed train flashes by in seconds (a high speed train flashed by today out in the middle of the farms. It was faaaast). But it backfired when one of the little roads became a track, then a trail, then nothing. So I did some bush walking and eventually got where I needed to be. I'll post some pics below. There were some shelters made from branches which were a bit creepy too. If it was later I would have camped there.

I checked how far I'd come today, thinking it would probably be about 70km, but it was roughly 55km. I say roughly because my bush walking adventure is hard to judge and google maps assumes I took the big, busy, scary roads.

I've stopped at a maccas somewhere to get more charge. I can't figure out which way to go. I think this all might be a new development because none of the roads are on google maps. So I'm flying by compass.

I have 35km until Azincourt, which should take 2 hours. Yeah right! I doubt I'll make it today but I'm keen to keep on peddling into the night if it is safe to do so. I doubt it will be unless I can find a segregated cycle path.

I'm super excited to get to the coast, which should happen tomorrow if the wind buggers off.

Lazy day

I woke up and it was raining. I decided to stay today and visited the "In Flanders Fields" museum. I'm glad I did because it was amazing. Couldn't help but be reminded of my mother when I entered the exhibit on gas attacks. If she were born 50 years earlier they'd have been called Kerrie attacks.

Having some trouble with battery charging so I might go quiet over the next few days.

Plan for tomorrow is to ride until I drop. That sounds like a lot of riding but I will probably drop after a few hours. Will head through Hallebast, Millekruis, Klijte, Bailleul, Hazebrouck, Morbecque, Steenbecque, Aire-sur-la-Lys, Mametz and Dennebroeucq. I don't know how to say any of those names.

It's supposed to rain all day. Before I left my plan for wet weather was to get wet. I will see if I regret that tomorrow.

Battlefield touring

It feels like a long time between posts, but really it has been just over 24 hours.

Last night I went down to the Menin gate in Ypres for a ceremony that happens every night. Back in May it was the 30000th time The Last Post had been played there. There were a couple of hundred people gathered around. Throughout the ceremony nobody made a sound. This poor lady trying to get home from work happened to be wearing her clip clop shoes yesterday and everyone could hear her trying and failing to quietly make her way past.

There were 4 buglers and it sounded amazing echoing around inside the gate where 300,000 lost soldiers have their names etched. They also give a personal account of one of the lost soldiers before a wreath laying ceremony.

There was a group of about 40 grey nomads decked out in green and gold with Australia splashed across the front and back. A handful of them got up with their wreath and although everything else was touching and beautiful, the fact they looked like they were at a cricket match disappointed me a bit. They looked like someone had sent them an invite saying it was fancy dress, but they were the only ones that got that invite.

This morning I rolled out of tent around 9 after a big night of watching a movie on my phone. The tyre was flat again but I decided to just pump it up and go see some stuff.

I rode down to Hill 60 first, which was high on my list of places to see. I managed to find it fairly easily although my ride logger would suggest otherwise. My first thought was that it would make an unreal bmx track. There are craters (read: jumps) everywhere. I had intended on sneaking in there to camp one night but there is not one section of flat ground. It's pretty amazing that those scars are still there after almost 100 years. The site is preserved as a mass grave after some pretty serious mines were detonated there. One sign had an eyewitness description which I can't quite remember, but if you turn "Holy shit, holy shit, oh shit oh shit oh shit" into 2 well put together paragraphs you'll get the jist of it. The main crater, called caterpillar crater, was massive.

After that I wandered the roads for a while before coming across an eco farm that was quite possibly abandoned. I was tempted to steal some radishes but chickened out. The wifi worked so I plotted a route to Hill 62, specifically Sanctuary Wood Museum. This museum is privately owned and I should mention that everything I have seen that is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been immaculate. Like I said, this museum was privately owned...

It was actually really cool. They had a very large collection and they had it all on display. Everything they owned. They even had a modern British transport police hat which really looked odd. Their claim to fame is the trenches which have remained as they were. I'm a bit sceptical but it was still impressive. Their real claim to fame should be the collection of amazing stereoscopic (3d) pictures taken during the war. It added a whole new dimension when compared with other wartime photos (high fives all round!).

The museum also had a large collection of uniforms, but not such a large collection of mannequins to wear them. Unless there were a lot of lady soldiers wearing fake moustaches in ww1?

After that I decided I better head back to town to get the tyre sorted so I plotted my course and... I'd pushed my luck too far and the tyre was no longer accepting air. So I was given the opportunity to push my bike a good 5km back to town. Which was actually pretty nice. Got it fixed for 11 euros so it should be good to go tomorrow.

This afternoon I rode out to Tyne Cot cemetery. It is the largest cemetery for British and Commonwealth forces from any war. It was pretty big. Absolutely beautiful. There isn't much else to say except I've probably eaten in more cemeteries than anyone else you know.

I'm tossing up whether to stick around another day or move on. I only really want to go to the museum in Ypres so I think I'll pack up in the morning. It's supposed to rain the day after too so it might  be best to ride somewhere it isn't supposed to rain. Like a desert I guess.

I'm a bit cemeteried and cratered out so I'm thinking of cutting straight across to the French coast west of Calais and following that.

So far my bum isn't sore at all. I think the cheese I've been eating has been a bit rich because my stomach has been giving me some pains . I'm going to get some veges into me tomorrow at some point before I get the scurvy. Argh matey. 

Day 2 - the contented man enjoys the scenery on the detour.

Last night I did camp next to that pond. I checked on google what time the sun goes down and started setting up about 15 minutes before that. About an hour and a half later the sun actually went down. I was trying to be discreet but was let down by google. People were walking their dogs past me. I should point out if I haven't already that I wasn't at a camp site. I was being a criminal.

I awoke this morning and no longer cared about the people with their dogs, I just wanted more sleep. I ended up getting up at 9 - more from boredom than anything else - to discover my bike had a flat tyre. Luckily it appears to only be a slow leak so I packed up and set off, stopping occasionally to top up the air.

I crossed into Belgium fairly soon after setting off. I was going to stop and take a photo but my loaded bike is so heavy that braking seems like a waste. A couple of times I slowed down thinking I was about to miss a turn only to realise I didn't need to turn and it made me feel like turning anyway just to justify the lost kinetic energy.

Later on I saw a sign for a military cemetery so I turned off and went for a look. It was only small, around 100-150 occupants. Mostly Brits plus 11 Kiwis, 4 Saffas, a pair of Aussies and a handful of other nations. There were also some German soldiers buried slightly off to the side and it was nice to see their graves have been maintained as carefully as the allied soldiers.

The thing I didn't expect to see were the two graves among the German graves for men from the Chinese Labour Corps. I didn't know such a thing existed. I can't really say much more about it because I know nothing of it. The graves had Chinese (presumably mandarin?) writing which I sincerely hope were their names. Because the English writing just gave a serial number. I'll post a picture when I can.

I left the cemetery and managed to make a wrong turn and rode quite a distance in the wrong direction. I had a feeling I was going in the wrong direction, but I thought it was a different wrong direction. I almost rode back into France. It wasn't so bad, just meant some extra riding.

I got to Poperinge and finally tracked down a cash machine. Somehow before I got back to the bike I managed to drop the 200 euros and it is really windy here at the moment. It took off and I took off after it!  Straight through traffic chasing it down. I have insurance for injury but not for money blowing away. It started to spread but all the cars stopped for me so I darted around grabbing it. When I thought I recovered it all I started cracking up and looked at the cars and everyone was cacking themselves too. Then one bloke point down the road and a tenner was make a speedy getaway so I chased it down too.

I'm in Ypres now. I'm staying at a real camp site for 2 nights. I was going to wild camp but I think there is a lot more to see in Ypres than I expected so I need somewhere to stash my stuff safely while I zoom around without my gear.

They have showers here too.

I'd add more relevant photos but they are on the other camera.

Day 1

So it turns out Dunkirk ferry port isn't in Dunkirk! They must have put it there when the google satellite went over then shifted it back to where it is now.

I met a fella on the ferry who was decked out in all the good gear and looked pretty serious. I think that may be the first and last time I judge a man favourably based on his Lycra outfit.

We jumped off the ferry and were funnelled through a series of roundabouts, but it was clear that Dunkirk was not close. After 4 or 5 km we realised we're on the motorway and this is our life now. It was a constant stream of cars and trucks honking at us. We couldn't get off, and they knew that, so I'm sure they just wanted to be certain that we knew we're stupid. Which we did.

When the sign that said Dunkirk was 13km away after what had already been a mad dash I started looking for ways out. We could jump the guard rail, go down the embankment, through the wheat field and we would have been on a really small, calm road like what I think they probably have in heaven. My new friend wasn't up for it though so we soldiered on.

Then we got to the bridge. Which was really a section of elevated highway. The shoulder narrowed significantly here and I wasn't up for riding it, but couldn't go back to jump the embankment either. So we dismounted and walked across, which was in no way more successful. It just prolonged the carnival of hatred. That bridge felt like it went forever and trucks were going 110 a few cm from me. I've never flinched so much in my life.

Eventually we came to an exit and got the hell out of there. As we were going down the exit 3 motorbike cops zoomed past on the motorway with lights flashing. I'm not sure if they were there for us but I suspect they were.

After that I went into Dunkirk, stocked up and headed south. I've stopped for a rest but think I might sleep here tonight. I'm about 35km from Ypres so that shouldn't be too rough tomorrow morning and will give me a chance to have a look around.

I'm outside a town called Bergues not far from Dunkirk. The town looks cool but I haven't explored it yet.

Time for cheese now.

Leaving day

Well, I'm off.

I spent yesterday packing and repacking over and over again. Got rid of my big bag and an enormous amount of clothes. I'm now probably taking a quarter of what I had.

I rode to Victoria Station, which I was worried about, but it went fine. Only one guy swore at me. But he was driving a Prius so it doesn't really count.

At the station, security wanted to destroy my bike. I guess unless you're sitting on it they consider it unattended. I got a bit of a telling off. I'm sure it won't be the last.

I'm really sad to be leaving now. I can't seriously say I'll never be back to live. London is too great a city to make outrageous claims like that. Plus work keeps giving me farewell gifts so I'll come back for more of those.

It is the people that I will miss the most. All the rough times in London have been because people have left and you have to find new people. Now I'm one of those people leaving.

Similarly the good times have been spent with great people and there have been so many good times.

The weather today feels like a warm winters day in Australia. I have to remind myself that I'm not on my way to play football in Port Macquarie. The nerves feel the same as well. You don't generally go past castles on the way to Port Macquarie though.

I'm sharing this blog now, so if any children from school are reading it I'd ask that you have your mum or dad read it first to check it is suitable. Pascal, this means you :)

Getting nervous

As I get closer to the departure date I'm beginning to have quite a bit of anxiety. I have a lot to do.

When I think about the minutiae I have difficulty imagining it. I've thought a lot about what to eat. Dried fruit, nuts, oranges, cheese, ham and bread are what I plan on eating. Or variations of that. But I struggle to imagine me sitting down for a ham and cheese sandwich on the side of some road somewhere.

The way I'm going to carry my bag means it will be tricky to mount, but I've been practising throwing my leg over from the side without coming from behind the seat. It looks a little like the ministry of silly walks. But I can't visualise a way to get off that doesn't involve falling off or dropping the bike on myself.

What am I going to do when I need to go into a shop? Leave the bags?
How much water will I need to take?
How often will I be able to resupply?
Are the sand dunes I'm planning on camping on actually sand or gravel?
What time will I need to look for a sleeping place?
Will the nights be cold or damp? Will I need my tent?
How will I charge my electrical stuff?
How many pairs of shoes will I need?
What will I do about my rubbish?
What will I do when I need the toilet?
How easy is it to hitch if my bike breaks?
How far will I be able to cycle in a day?
What are the emergency numbers?

I have a cooler but am not sure how available ice will be. Or whether I will even need ice. I asked my Nana years ago how they used to keep things cold in the 'old days' and she said they'd wet a hessian sack and wrap the food in that. It would cool through evaporation. I'm not sure how plausible this will be for me, but I might give it a go!

There are so many silly little questions that are becoming very relevant. They are all solvable, but it is causing some anxiety. So I've been focusing on only the next step. Move out of my house. That in itself is causing anxiety. It's not easy moving out on a bike when you have nowhere to move to.