Home sweet home

Day: 21
Route: Honfleur - Portsmouth (via Le Havre)
Distance: 21 miles (cycling)
Height: 302ft ascent
Time in saddle: 1hr 57mins

All we had left to do was get to the ferry. As we were staying at a cheap motel on the outskirts of town we treated ourselves to 'Le breakfast' at a teeny cafe in the back streets where we had delicious homemade, local & fresh bread, pastry, apple juice, coffee and cake, served with a smile:

We had enough bread to pack some up for lunch and as Sam disapproves of cake for breakfast that got packed up too!

The cycle path to the ferry port in Le Havre went over the Pont de Normandie, which is a 90kph roadbridge over the Seine and the cycle path is the not very wide at times hard shoulder. Quite terrifying.

Then the route through the ferry port was equally as scary, as the cycle path came to an abrupt end and we got unceremoniously dumped on the edge of a busy trucking lane. We reached a bridge which was up to let a tanker into a lock, and as we stood around looking perplexed a friendly French road cyclist said 'follow me' (well we think that was what he said, as it was in rapid French) and slowed down to let us tag on the back. He then led us through the container port over a different bridge until he pointed out a left turn that was marked for the car ferry and waved a cheery goodbye.

We continued to follow signs to the car ferry along the trucking road where at one point a curb started from the middle of nowhere which Sam only just managed to avoid with a swerve and a squeal, that was unfortunately not enough to alert Alistair who was tight on her wheel, who hit it, and whose back wheel fish-tailed dangerously as his front wheel scrapped the concrete curb. Luckily and we're not entirely sure how, he managed to stay upright and calamity was avoided. This reminded us that a bit like the last ski run of the day, when your legs are weary and your concentration is elsewhere, you need to be even more careful!
A picnic on the ferry, a friendly chat with the border guard, followed by the last couple of miles cycle across Portsmouth and we are finally home.
A quick totting-up shows we have covered a total of 912 miles over the last 3 weeks and the official weigh-in showed we managed to survive with just 11.5kg of luggage (thankfully there wasn't an official weigh-in of us, as Alistair is convinced his pastry and wine consumption has somehow managed to more than offset the huge number of calories we've been burning).
To say we enjoyed every mile is stretching the truth a little, but overall it has been great and was a fantastic way to end our travels: the weather was (mostly) kind, the countryside (mostly) beautiful, the people we stayed with (mostly) welcoming and the food & wine (mostly) delicious!
We can still scarcely believe we're home at last and are looking forward to waking up in one place for more than one night at time!