On the way pt2

After a great evening out with the Rushton family and guests for Rowan's 18th, we were up at 6 am to pack and get down to the Eurostar departure lounge. Easy peasy! Slight shock on waking to find a minibar bill > £100 for stuff we haven't used, that aside 😬 all went smoothly. 

Quick check of bags and out the door, down to St Pancras station where we found John enjoying a luxurious breakfast hot chocolate (frothed milk with molten Belgian chocolate poured in). Great way to start the day! At the first barriers we showed our QR codes where we found we had been reallocated seats. Unfortunately Rowan had tried a dodgy gate and his ticked would not then work. Brief queue at the desk and was issued his new ticket, then on to baggage checks and customs. All went very smoothly; despite Ro's hold-up we were through into the waiting area by 7:30 where we duly spread out our many panniers. Realised we could have had that extra 20 mins in bed... 

That change in seats meant we had to walk almost the entire length of the train (18 carriages make up a Eurostar, I can report). We were very quickly reminded that panniers are not so good to walk with for any significant distance. Now sat waiting for the train to depart - Paris here we come. Here's hoping the bikes are there already ....

Luggage trolley? That would make it too easy!