Newark

The Rhine Cycle Path, Day One:

Another adventure began with cycling to Nottingham Station for an early train to Newark (we’d not booked this one and were concerned about getting the bikes on, though we needn’t have been.) We sat by the Castle and waited for Waitrose to open for breakfast before eventually finding our way to Northgate where a very keen Station Attendant told us exactly where to stand on the platform with our mounts ready for boarding. At Newcastle, we walked over to the Baltic for lunch and then cycled along the Tyne, past Wallsend to the Ferry Terminal – it was super sunny on the Quayside but grey and drizzly by the time we arrived at the Port of Tyne. Anyway, we embarked nice and early and made sure we enjoyed all the attractions of the overnight North Sea Ferry: the all-you-can-eat buffet, the Skybar, the Dutch covers band, the (very) windy decks and, of course, the bingo (though we did give actually taking part in the latter a swerve as we were planning on an early night…)