8th June 2012

Debs:   The alarms went off at 1.15am, and having gone to sleep at 11pm to the sound of wind and driving rain we had fortified ourselves that the weather report had said it would be dry between midnight and 3am. Unfortunately no-one had thought to advise the Weather Gods, so when I leapt out of bed and threw back the curtains I saw the rain, laughed and then scampered downstairs for breakfast.

We finally set off at 2.15am booted, spurred and fully enveloped in our new and untested waterproofs. Steve had given the bike a really good polish the day before and then packed so we’d be all ready for leaving, he could have saved himself the trouble because I think the shine  lasted about 30 yards in the rain!


Loaded and ready to go!

Steve:  The two hour ride that took us to the Eurotunnel  was strangely pleasant with little traffic and well-washed roads, so thoroughly relaxed and dry we arrived at the station at 4.20am.. about an hour before we needed to (blame my Mum, it’s the way she put my hat on!)
Those who have been on the ’Chunnel’ would agree that whilst speedy and fairly cheap, it’s also pretty basic with no seating, I wonder if it‘s the same for cars? There were about 9 other bikes on the train but everyone appeared either too sleepy or shocked by the hour so conversation was minimal.

On arrival in Calais at 7.25am we pottered off on the 3 hour ride to Den Bosch to get our sleeper train, the delightfully named ‘Autoslaap’ service. The journey was uneventful with long, straight motorways for the majority of the trip, but it did at least allow Debs an hours snooze on the back of the bike!

 It’s the first time that we’ve taken the bike on the Autoslaap but had read on the internet of the unique loading process that was obviously designed with cars in mind, for with a bike you ride almost folded over the tank in order to traverse the unique ‘switchback’ layout of the open-sided transporter whilst trying to avoid smacking your head into the very low roof.


Steve unloading the bags before riding the bike onto the train, note the jazzy new waterproofs.


For anyone who contemplates the Autoslaap please be aware that it is notoriously tardy, however, putting aside their ‘continental timekeeping’ the service was superb, and our compact sleeping cabins were very well designed and comfortable.

We had chosen to pre-book an evening meal in the restaurant, and two hours of nice food whilst rolling alongside the rain-lashed but picturesque River Rhine was an excellent conclusion to a long and busy day.