There were a lot of climbs as we crossed the rivers at Rochester and down to the ferry point.
This proved almost impossible to find, but eventually we had to traverse a one way street the wrong way and found a sign for it.
The ferry arrived just as we did.
It was a fine crossing, of a very windy River Thames with some huge barges and cargo boats floating past.
On the other side we had a few fiarly quiet miles befre we hit rush hour going through. t was slow going even on the bikes.
Eventually we got clear. Time was moving on - gone 6pm so we stopped at a Mc.D's for some food, before the last few miles to Youth Hostel at Epping.
The hostel's fairly rustic but we had our own room. It was dusk when we arrived, just time to get a couple of drinks at the nearby pub, before an early night.

It had been a long first day, but it had gone well, and fears of Ben not being up to the ride were allayed.