Day 42 - Elmer to Pompey (Portsmouth) - ride total 3,227 k, 19,869 m

The English pub we stayed in last included breakfast as part of the tarriff and while it didn't start until 8:00 which is well after our normal departure time we did not see the sense in paying for two breakfasts and only eating one so the decision had been made to have a later start. As we only had 45 km's to ride we didn't see that as a problem.

The weather has definitely cooled down and there was cloud and a little bit of rain today later in the day however it never caused us any problem,

The traffic density has remained and the only problem it causes us is when the cycle trail runs close to the major roads and then you get to hear nothing but the constant sound of motorised vehicles.

We stopped at Havant just 11 km's out from Portsmouth for lunch and while we were parking our bike a lovely older lady struck up a conversation with us, asking us where we were going and where we had come from and were we riding for any cause - Peter was able to tell her about his fundraising effort for Alkira and with that it bought tears to her eyes. She (Suzy) and her Mum had been very invoved in the social support charity work here in Havany and in the last couple of years she had to be a recipiant of support services after she had a head injury that she wasn't expected to survive - however she did and has had to learn a lot of her everyday cognitative skills again which I'd have to say she has done remarkably well - as she was enjoying talking with us and we with her I invited her to have a cip of tea with is and some lunch.

She happily accepted my invite and we popped across to the Cafe and had an enjoyable chat with her as she told us a lot about her life and the local town of Havant. We still had to keep moving unfortunately and said began to say our goodbyes - at which time she said "now don't go away, I'll be back in a minute". We began to get our gear back on, and none of us noticed in which direction she left - we were beginning to wonder where she had gone to however Peter then spotted her making her way back to us across the road from the Cafe y the bikes. There she handed Peter 50 pound for his charity!

What a lovely person she is and very generous as well - we had enjoyed our lunch with her and had no idea that she would be back with something for Peter's charity.

We were in the Hotel by 2:30 and as time is limited we decided not to hang around here but do something more productive and  opted to visit the "D Day Story" - a very interesting place to visit and like it mentioned at the end of our walk around - "now you have seen the D Day Story from here in Engand you must pick up the second part of it with a visit to the Museum in Normandy".

It was certainly well worth visiting and yes next time I'm in Normandy I'll take the time to visit.