Folks in Folkestone and an interesting Channel crossing

Posted on by wildbikeride.com

After two soaking wet days on the road and a few cases of knee pain we thought a good bit of rest and recovery time was in order. We found a hotel in Folkestone for £25 a night. That was £12.50 each including breakfast for a room with a view over the English Channel across to France. This gave us the opportunity to tie up loose ends whilst we still spoke the language and dry out all of our soaking wet gear.

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I’ve seen a tidier hotel room before

We checked in for two days and thought we’d make the most of our last couple of evenings in the UK. That meant a visit to The Firkin Real Ale House and another down the road called Kipps. Both had very friendly staff, great local ales and good vibes. Needless to say we visited both pubs on both nights to taste the variety on offer.

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If you aren’t sure which ale to have just order ‘the paddle’

So our one full day in Folkestone was spent lying in the hotel room ‘resting the knees’ and eating the date and walnut loaf which was mindblowing.

On our last night in England we randomly met Diver Dave and Liz in the pub. After a few paddles listening to our plans, Dave became very excited and mentioned that he had a boat moored in Dover and would be very happy to ferry us and our fully loaded bikes across the channel. True to his word, the following morning a very hungover Dave and Liz met us at Dover Port, loaded our bikes onto Trya and, dodging the massive ferries, shipped us across to Calais. The Channel was rough but it was a great laugh and the crossing took just over 2 hours.

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Dave popped into the boulangerie, bought two baguettes then headed straight back to Dover. Thanks Dave and Liz – that was a great experience that we’ll remember forever.

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Trya in her full glory in Calais Port

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The Wild Bunch

Time to eat baguette and learn some French…

25 thoughts on “Folks in Folkestone and an interesting Channel crossing”

  2. Wow that was a bit of luck, there are some great folks out there. A few miles bathind you and your first foreign country, enjoying the blog so far, take care.

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  3. So now you get to have bread all through France I understand. Great bread of course!
    Funny, the tidy hotel room…
    Enjoying the blog!

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  11. Spoke to johns Mom today and will meet up with her soon. Thinking of you guys a lot and hope you are having the time of your lives

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