Bus day

Leeds to Bayonne

Having prepared for the ride it was like going to bed on Christmas Eve as a kid, waiting for Santa to pop down the chimney. Not surprisingly. Sleep was in short supply, not helped by the Police helicopter doing a lap of honour at about 3.45 am. In any event, I was up at 5.45 am (setting a pattern for the next few weeks, as it turned out) and at Colton in plenty of time for the 6:30 pick up. Malcolm being concerned about over sleeping he had stayed with us so the two of us were up and raring to go. On top of bikes and panniers we were laden down with provisions for the journey, added to by Ricky and Christine. These supplies kept us going well into France.

Bikes and bodies were soon on the bus and we got a big send off from Sue, Christine, John and Andy. Richard ‘phoned me shortly after Le Grande Depart as he had arrived on time, but the bus had gone a few minutes before. There were only a few people on the bus as we boarded but we kept picking folk up as we journeyed south, and a friendly lot they were too; sharing stories of past trips and advice about trips being undertaken. I got talking to a chap from Rugby who had cycled the Camino a few years before. He had enjoyed it that much he had returned to walk the route later.

There were also a lot of return customers on the bus. Jason, our courier, knew many and most knew him. Two lads from the Stockton area had used the bus for the last ten years.

The journey down was a long one despite Jason attempting to land a plane on the bus as we go under the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport and then trying to enthuse is about views of the Eiffel Tower, a blip on the horizon many miles away. We ate on the bus from Jason’s excellent menu and after our last stop at about 11.45pm it was lights out. During the evening Jason had been telling us about a chap who got lost in Montpelier and could not find the pickup point. What was good was that Jason and the crew had gone to much trouble to pick him up even though it took two hours to do that. Much to my surprise I slept pretty well and awoke about 6:00am to find lots of empty seats where people had disembarked.