The Epic Ride Part VIII: England (again)

We rode from Newhaven across the coast a little way to Brighton where we decided to just head into town and hope we saw a sign leading us somewhere useful. We began following signs to the tourist office but when we got to a roundabout right near the water there was a camping sign so we followed that instead. The road up to the campsite was right along the water; ocean on one side, beautiful terrace homes and hotels along the other. Then we headed inland through some suburban streets and through a large parkland to the campsite. It was a massive campsite and a bit expensive but we paid our money to a lady at the front desk who looked like she had some major sunburn and then headed up towards the back where the tent sites were. First we went to the top terrace, but once we got up there all we could do was laugh; the lovely green grass unfortunately covered a slope so steep we were certain we’d wake up in the morning at the bottom of the hill. It was empty, not surprisingly. The next terrace had quite a few tents already and not much shade, but it looked better than the bottom terrace which didn’t even have any views. So we set up the tent as far away from others as we could and then decided we would walk into town since it was too warm to wear our riding gear.



The walk was probably longer than we anticipated but once we were onto the esplanade along the water it was very pretty. We walked along the beach a little but those English pebbles make for rather awkward walking so we used the footpath most of the time. We walked all the way to the famous Brighton pier, which was essentially a collection of fast food outlets and souvenir shops although there was also a couple of pubs and what I think was called the Fun Palace – basically somewhere that sucks your money up. We had a go on some pokies and try-to-catch-the-teddy-bear-with-the-claw but didn’t win anything. I was determined to have some proper English fish and chips but a lot of the places were already shut so we shared some Chinese noodles instead and then went back along the pier and ate some awful cheap fish and chips by the water. Not quite the experience I had imagined, even though the pier was a lot of fun. On the way back to the campsite we stopped at a Lidl to buy some supplies and then got back to our tent to find that we had been even more blocked in by three girls in a massive tent who stayed up half the night playing their iPod loudly and sharing philosophies like ‘once you go black you never go back’ with the rest of the site. Lovely. Brighton is party central so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. In fact I’d love to go back one day, not camping, with a proper outfit, and visit some of its famous clubs and do some Fatboy Slim spotting. It looked like there were some nice bars to explore.



In the morning we headed for Oxford, arriving in time for lunch and then Toby spent the afternoon cleaning the bike which was looking a little the worse for wear after so many weeks on the road. The plan was to spend the next few days recuperating at Margaret’s house, and also to sell the bike. We hadn’t managed to advertise it privately while we were away so it was up to the dealerships. Luckily there was a motorbike show room just down the road from Margaret’s, where Toby headed first thing the next morning. Unfortunately he was back within five minutes as the owner only wanted to stock Italian and Japanese bikes. We were on a BMW. I didn’t really understand the mentality behind that, but we put it past us and started hunting down other dealerships in the area. To make a long, frustrating and rather sad story short, we failed to sell the bike. No one wanted it (too big, too German) or if they did want it, they weren’t willing to pay what it was worth. In the end Toby decided to just sell it at a massive loss and then we discovered that we didn't have the correct paperwork. Of course we'd never realised this since we didn't know what paperwork we needed. A couple of phone calls later and there was no way we could get the forms in time, so we couldn't sell it at all. It was a very disappointing turn of events as the money for the bike was supposed to pay for the next leg of our trip. In the end, Margaret very generously agreed to loan out part of her garage and there the bike sits, awaiting the next adventure.



We had to organise another load for DHL to ship back to Australia, with the bike and camping gear we weren’t willing to throw out, and stock up on items for our trip to Singapore and Malaysia. And most of all, we had to rest. The bike dramas meant our stay in Oxford wasn’t as relaxing as it should have been, but there wasn’t much we could do about it so in the end we were on the bus to London, backpacks in tow. Toby decided to treat us to the same fancy hotel he’d stayed in in January, on his solo weekend away, so it was a surprise to me to see just how fancy it was. It really was lovely and in a nice spot near the university and library. We probably should have done some sightseeing, but we were still recovering from our camping adventure and so spent most of the next two days enjoying our nice hotel room. Toby’s friends Rob and Kim made the trip down to Edinburgh to say goodbye so they spent Saturday night out and about while I caught up with my friend Elle (who I’d gone to high school with and later met up with in Edinburgh) and some friends of hers, involving some yummy Thai food and drinks at a pub afterwards. They all carried on to a club but I was conscious of wanting to get the last tube back to the hotel so I left around midnight and managed to get a cab from the tube station since the one near our hotel was shut that weekend – a very frustrating thing as one of the reasons Toby liked the hotel was how close it was to the tube. The next morning we met up with Rob and Kim again to have brunch before they got the train back up north, and we did some shopping since I was determined to get the Lonely Planet for Singapore and Malaysia, as well as some other books to read. It was a pleasant few days and it was especially nice that we were able to spend some time with people who had made our time in Edinburgh that much better.


On the Monday, our tube station was open again – yay – especially as it was on the line that went right out to Heathrow. It was a long trip but when you are carrying those big backpacks the main thing is that you don’t have to carry them too far. Checking in was fairly uneventful and I don’t recall that we had to wait a very long time to get on the plane. And then we were on our way home, but with another fantastic 2 weeks to go.