Day 39 Dunkirk to Dover to Sandgate - Ride total 2,995 k, 19,012 m

Our ride for today started in the dark in Dunkirk at 5:38 a.m. as we had a 15 km ride to get to the Ferry terminal by 7:00 a.m. being the arrival time for the 8:00 a.m. sailing that we were booked on. As per usual our route planning kept us off the main road to the Port and in the last few km's had us negotiating some very un-used back tracks leading to the Port. As this ride was critical in as much as we had a Ferry to catch I had also checked the route on Google Earth satelitte imagery and saw that in the last few km's it appeared to be taking us through a farmer's paddock, yet there was supposedly a sealed road there. I didn't trust it I would have to say and re-routed the trail along what I could be sure was a sealed road - whether it took us right to the Ferry terminal I'd have to find out.

As we neared this final section of the route I still had some niggling doubts I would admit and was checking out where we would have to backtrack to in order to ride in with the other Ferry traffic. It all worked out perfectly and if I had trusted cycle.travel in the first instance we could have been the only traffic on a very new highway to the Port rather than the dodgy back roads that we took.

It is good having two travelling companions who like me are never late and we arrived at the Border control office at 6:40 a.m. - while twenty minutes ahead of schedule it did allow us plenty of time to deal with a puncture should one or something like that happen.

At the border the first check is to ensure you have a ticket to proceed to the next control point - there was a little bit of a hiccup there as the reference number I was initially quoting was not "the" reference number and once that was sorted and the pic on my passport looked like me - real tickets were issued and they allowed me to move on to the next check point and that was the French Border people who also let me proceed to the next control point and this was the UK Border people (and place - coz I guess once they said yes I had technically crossed the border into the UK). The young man behind the glass screen asked when will I be leaving the UK and this time unlike once before when travelliing with Wilson and Jenny I gave a definitive September 1 date - back then in 2017 I foolishly said I don't know I haven't bought my return ticket yet and then the interrogation started and I began to wonder if I was going to be allowed to enter the UK at that time - fortunately he relented or was feeling generous back then and let me through).

We then rode on to be first and only bikes in the queue for row 30 and looked and saw it was exactly 7:00 a.m. - We were first onto the Ferry and first off at Dover and the crossing was quite calm with what appeared to be a yacht race happening in the channel. While we were first up the ramp and off the Ferry there was quite a bit of ducking and diving following the red line that we had to in order to exit the Port of Dover however we made it out and before too long were on our way Folkstone and then Sandgate where we have our lodgings for the night in what would be considered a typical English Pub that is probably close to a couple of hundred years old. Having said that we've got good bike parking (in the dining room) and the room is spacious with three beds and an ensuite.

On the small hill climb coming out of Dover Stephen got talking with a local cyclist who rod eup on us and was a fountain of WW II Battle of Britain knowledge and pointed out points of interest along the trail that runs along the cliff tops of "The White Cliffs of Dover" - he guided us right to the Battle of Britain Memorial visitor centre and that's where we spent some time looking around before having lunch. It was 11:40 a.m. when we finished lunch and this was an hour earlier than we felt as of course the UK is one hour behind Continental Europe. We then had a good downhill run into Folkstone which is a UK seaside holiday town with quite a few people walking along the promenade in holiday mode - we took the scenic route out to the end of the mole before continuing along the foreshore to Sandgate.

It is quite a strange feeling to now be in the UK and be hearing English being spoken only and to look up and see signage all in English! Only once did I have to  be told I was on the wrong side of the road!