The day started pretty much the same as every day - I woke up ridiculously early and with nothing better to do, I got up. I felt pretty hungry so went for the buffet breakfast. At €15.50 I was going to make sure I got my money's worth! So I had everything imaginable from the fry up, then went for some croissants (which were only about 4.5s) and finished off with a bowl of fruit.

When the time came, I went down to the car deck, loaded up my bike and rode off into the early morning sunshine. I figured I'd just follow the cycle route signs out of town, but that was a mistake and I ended up doing a lap of Harwich - riding down a road then realising I'd already ridden down it once! After that I just told the gps to take me home.

The roads were very quiet this early on a Sunday morning so everything was fairly pleasant. As I got into slightly more familiar territory, I ignored the gps and just made my own way.

For reasons unknow I decided to ride through the ford at Nounsley. I had an audience - well, a couple and their dog and I very nearly came off as I went through! Although the ford was the lowest I think I've ever seen it, it was incredibly slippery. I'll use the bridge next time!

I also decided that I'd ride up North Hill just to finish off the tour with another legendary climb! It took me about three times longer than usual what with all my luggage, but it felt pretty easy. Considering I'd been up mountains 20 times higher recently, I suppose that wasn't surprising!

I stopped for a cold drink at The Cricketers before riding down the hill, through town and home. And that was it. Tour over! Now I have a mountain of stuff to clean. Clothes are all done but everything else is pretty grimey. At least it should all dry quickly in this weather.

I'll probably add another post with my general thoughts on the tour in general later in the week...