The past few days have felt a little uninspiring—after two months of cycling in England and then triumphantly making it to Land's End, we've felt "complete" with England, ready to move on to new adventures in France. It felt a bit uncomfortable, like saying all of your heartfelt goodbyes at an office's going-away party, then realizing you still have to work with those people for another week or so. Nevertheless, we continued on, staying "in the moment" as best we could, but feeling a little in limbo. Finally, today was the last day of limbo. With only thirteen miles to go (three were added in re-routing, and we had to backtrack a bit), we would arrive in Plymouth, where we would take the ferry to Roscoff, France!
Though it was only thirteen miles, it felt like we would forever keep approaching, but never reach our destination. We cursed the hills, but sun shone brightly and it was hard to stay grumpy for long. Tyler listened to music to snap out of his funk, and I enjoyed the last of the English countryside. We passed huge gunnera plants with leaves the size of hula hoops, saw the Saltash Bridge in the distance, and rode through some beautiful wooded areas. In Torpoint, we took the ferry (a much larger one than yesterday's) into Plymouth, and it occurred to me how much I love transportation that I don't have to power!
Finally, finally we arrived in Plymouth and rode to the Brittany Ferry port. Tyler booked us on the midnight ferry, which will have us land at 7:30 in the morning in Roscoff, allowing us all day to find our bearings and get settled in our new "home" for the next couple of months. I can't wait!
It is now 10:17 at night, and we've been hanging out at the ferry terminal all day waiting for our midnight crossing. We finally posted some long-overdue journal entries, and Tyler got some work done while I read and relaxed. The ferry just arrived and I can see it out the window docking slowly. It is huge, looks like a cruise ship, and is brightly lit against the dark sky and water.
We met some really nice French people earlier and we had a nice twenty minute conversation during which we talked about travel and I asked them questions about camping in Brittany. Tyler looked on, awestruck, in total amazement. He knows I speak French, but I guess it didn't really register until he saw me in action! :-) This is going to be so fun! Already I've found a route along a (flat) canal from Brest to Nantes, which will last several days and at least three-hundred miles. I can't wait to arrive in France tomorrow morning and introduce Tyler to the delights of a French boulangerie.
