Day 4: Poole, UK to Lessay, France. 37 miles, 1250 feet of climbing. 1" of rain.

Last night's sleep experience for us was a case of polar opposites.  Either the heat in the rooms caused excessive sweating or exhaustion from yesterday's sun caused an early evening and collapse.  The only thing  that we discovered in common when we sat at breakfast on the ferry was that everyone woke up at 2, 4 and 6 by the winged alarm clocks locally known as seagulls.  Oh my God.   The squawking and screeching was that loud!

Travel tip: Always wear spandex when traveling by bike.  The security staff just roll their eyes and let us through.

A short, half a mile ride over the bridge that separates the Poole quayside from the inlet and we were at the docks.  The boarding process was quite easy.   I think most of the security staff felt pity on us so the screening process was smooth and quick.

The Old Harry Rocks.  (The French have some that look just like those!).  We're bidding goodbye to England.

Just hanging out in the sun.  It's a 4+ hour cruise across the English Channel (UK)/La Manche (FR).

Somewhere about one hour outside of Cherbourg, the weather changed.   The fog rolled in, the temperature dropped and everyone from the upper deck of the ferry ran back inside to grab a cup of something hot.

The Algarve is on fire.  Portugal is experiencing a record heat wave.  Most of France is getting hit by lightning storms.  But remember, climate change is a hoax!  Today's UK Daily Mail had everyone sitting up and taking notice.
 (The irony of spending three sunny and hot days in England, only to be greeted in France by cold and rainy weather was not lost on us.)

We all grabbed our jackets or whatever else we brought on board to keep warm.  I'm talking easily a 20-degree drop in a matter of minutes.

Bienvenue à France

Once we arrived in Cherbourg, the skies were gray and the forecast, which only four days ago was calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the high 80's, was for rains in the late afternoon.  As we were delayed getting out of Poole, we were realizing that rain was likely up the road.

We all got caught up in a lighting and thunderstorm about midway to today's destination.  Were it not for the more than generous hospitality of a lovely couple from Saint-Sauveur le Vicomte who let us take shelter under their carport, we would have been a party of drowned rats.  It took about half an hour's wait for the skies to lighten a bit and the rains to ease up.  It was still drizzling when we departed again.  And yes, we're sending them a nice thank you note.

I would have taken more pictures, but about ten miles into our ride today, the heavens opened up.  Well, that's not actually the case.  The gray skies remained and a light sprinkle fell.  At first, it was a welcome relief.  And it was that kind of summer rain that produces that special smell as the cool rain first hits the hot pavement.  As long as it was that light sprinkling of rain, we were fine.

But as the skies grew darker, the rains got heavier.  And then the lightning and thunder started.  We could see the storms brewing to our southwest but didn't know where they were headed.  Right for us, it turned out.

Oh, and one other thing we learned today.  Technology isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Two cases in point:  Our Garmins were a bit dodgy today.  Maybe it was the rain.  Maybe it was having to remember that, from today on, we entered roundabouts from the right, not the left.  In either case, a number of our computers crashed at key moments of the ride, causing three different riders (yours truly among them) to be directed onto the wrong roads.  Fortunately, all was forgiven and we all got to our destination in one piece.  The other is the gem below.

Somewhere in the middle of La Manche, I got this text message from T-Mobile.  Yes, it DOES say "Welcome to Italy!"

And one final thought.  Jesse has been learning all about the comings and goings of a long cross-country/continent bike ride. He's been witnessing my post-ride stretches, rolling out of muscles, the post-ride beer and group chats about the day's ride, etc.  Basically, he's getting to understand our routines.  Today's rains threw all of that off.  Now, the first priority wasn't to get to the room to shower and stretch.  It wasn't to finish all that and head to the bar.  Instead, it was the meticulous cleaning and washing of the bikes, the brakes, the wheels, the gearing, etc.  If we don't take care of our bikes, they won't take us to the end of this ride.  So now Jesse has another notch on his bike experience belt.