The sun was shining this morning so there was no way our ferry could be cancelled. I got everything packed, said some last goodbyes and went off to meet Finnian at the ferry terminal. It was a strange feeling leaving the house fully loaded, with the bike packed up as it would be for the next year. Every other tour I’ve been on has started after a plane journey where the bike is taken apart and all the gear forced into a checked bag. Cycling from my home with everything as it would be for the whole journey was new, and an exciting way to start the trip.

  
 

I met up with Finnian at the ferry and we checked in to the host that would take us to Hollyhead. A short while later we got off the boat in Wales and realised we didn’t really know where we wanted to get to today. It was about 5 when we arrived so we could make a bit of distance on the bikes. We swung by the library to get a bit on info before heading on.

 

  
We hadn’t done too much research before we left (hadn’t even decided what port we would leave England from). A bit of time in the library and we decided to leave out of Hull and cycle across the north of England, we were quite keen to get onto the mainland and get going and this route was the most direct. From Hull a ferry ran to Belgium and that seemed prefect. For the time being though, we figured we could make it to Bangor before it got dark. we hit the road and followed an A route out of Hollyhead. It still didn’t really feel like the tour had stated at this stage, it kind of felt like we were still in Ireland.

 

 
It was an easy straight shot from Hollyhead to Bangor. At Bangor we stopped for dinner and then grabbed some supplies in the supermarket before heading out of town to find a field to camp in for the night.
The rain started to come down towards the end of the ride. Camping in a field in Wales in the rain…a not so glamorous, but probably fitting, start to our journey