Thursday was a very long day - didn't sleep well, as normal for me before travelling, waking up every hour or so, even though I wasn't getting up any earlier than a normal day, really. Got up at 7 eventually, abluted, took my beta-blocker, travel pill and diclofenac pill to prepare myself for the journey.
Wrapped up with plenty of layers and was on the bike heading for the ferry by 7.30. As soon as all the artic trailers were loaded I was waved on board, getting the only motorcycle on this crossing stowed before letting the cars on. I wandered upstairs and asked if there were any spare cabins but all were booked, so I went on the list in case someone didn't show.
The boat set sail a few minutes early and I started to feel a little queazy as soon as we rounded the breakwater - great, I thought, over 3 hours of seasickness ahead! Then, saints be praised, I heard my name over the tannoy - I got a cabin! £42 well spent, and I collected my bike gear and headed up to the cabin. Got myself settled, turned out the lights and lay on the bunk, and lo and behold, even though I was now on a higher deck, I felt a lot better, and even managed to doze off and on for the entire crossing!
We docked in Heysham about 10 minutes early at 12.05pm, and I was one of the first off - rode through the Heysham and Lancaster lunchtime traffic with a bit of filtering, then onto the M6 and southward bound. The lack of sleep was catching up with me so I stopped at Charnock Richard services for a bite to eat (first food of the day!) and a can of Red Bull to try and wake up.
20 minutes or so there, then off again, pausing at Sandbach services to fill up, but only after hitting the first lot of heavy traffic, for 10 miles, filtering off and on - something I don't do on a regular basis as I live on the IOM!
Once I had a full tank in the bike, I set off south again, hitting more heavy traffic on various stages of the M6, and then hitting the Bristol section of the M5 just after 5pm - on the day before the Easter weekend, so not the best plan! More miles of filtering through stationary traffic, until finally clear and really homeward bound!
I walked in the door at my parent's at 7.15, 7 hours after leaving Heysham, and boy did my arse ache from sitting on the bike for that long! Luckily, no bright red monkey butt though!
Food, sleep, wake, spend all of Good Friday re-installing Mum and Dad's computer - today a rest day, bought some new t-shirts in Street Factory Village reduced down, and now falling aslee..............
No comments:
Post a Comment