The route

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Part One .... Harwich to Preston

Rolling off the ferry seemed very strange.For one thing everyone spoke english and I was on the wrong side of the road!

I had been away so long

I had to buy a map as I have not been to this part of Britain. Then spent some time to figure out a good route.

Meandering up through pretty flat countryside,

Not much happened and I just enjoyed being back in the UK.

When I got to Lincoln I remembered that Bill NIckson's daughter Pam lived here and I wondered if he was over seeing her, so I phoned, but he wasn't and worse Pam was away , so no warm bed to sleep in!

I treated myself to a room in a pub for the night and watched an England match on the TV. Had a couple of pints in the evening and an excellent english breakfast.

North of lincoln the A15 goes dead straight except for a little kink, its an a RAF base where the Red Arrows are based.

In Goole I found a great trucker's place for a meal on the way out of town.

Getting close to Leeds I phoned Vernon

 Vernon Levy

and my hero he came and picked me up and I stayed with him for the night. 

when I left him I phoned Anya Shroka, I remembered meeting the lad on Gibralata, who lived nearby and she invited me to visit.

So I spent the day slowly making my way to her house and just enjoying the Yorkshire hills (NOT). It was great to see her again, it had been 20 years since university, but it seemed like yesterday. Thanks for the food and the bath.

Then the final stretch back to Preston.

Another  hot bath and a few days off from cycling.

It lasted more than a few days as I had to see the docs, again, and was booked in for another operation on my knee.

Part two.. Preston to John O'Groats

Waiting is something I am not too good at and all the time it felt as though I had not finished the tour.

So of to John O'Groats I go.