Scones and sea weather

In Harwich, Sofi and I stayed at the Pier Hotel, right on the waterfront. Built in 1862 in the style of a Venetian palazzo, it featured an enormous "gin library" (which we skipped, for obvious reasons), century-old posters promoting travel to the Continent, and bathrooms playing old recordings of the Shipping Forecast. Hearing names like "German Bight", "Finisterre" and "The Hebrides" certainly put my imagination into overdrive.

Taking the train to Colchester, we stopped for scones at Small Talk Tearooms, which reminded me of my pseudo-Atlantic crossing with Dad last year. From there, we boarded the X20 "Airlink" bus to Stansted. At just £3, it was an absolute bargain compared with the train, which would have cost around £40, even if it took nearly two hours to cover the 50 kilometres.

After a quick check-in at the Hampton Inn, we boarded the Stansted Express for what I had planned to be a celebratory post-race visit to the champagne bar at St Pancras. Instead, what we lacked in medals, we made up for with Interrail nostalgia and a spot of bar hopping through the evening.