Long shlep by train from France to England

Arrival at Felixtowe UK. Our time in Paris was very brief but the journey on the bikes must proceed. From the Novatel in Paris we negotiated the Paris underground dragging two very heavy suitcases each. When our train ticket failed to unlock the entry turnstyle allowing us entry to train platform, Sol jumped over the turnstyle and dragged his bags through from below. For me this was not an option. With a failing right hip I was not up for gymnastics so I took the low road and crawled under the turnstyle with my bags in tow. Lucky no security people were on site at the time.
This local train took us to the centre of Paris where we switched to a train headed for the Port of Calais where the Paris-Nord train under the English Channel would see us arrive in London.
The problem in London was that I had booked Sol's ticket to Ipswich correctly but mine was dated incorrectly (a silly typo on my part) and did not allow me access to a seat. I had no choice but to buy a new ticket or I would be a resident of London for tonight.
We arrived in Ipswich eventually and then booked a one carriage train to Felixtowe...a trip of some 20kms. We arrived at the end of the line, literally and called a local taxi to take us to the Grafton Guest House, our booked lodging for the next two nights.
Our bikes had arrived in the Port of Felixtowe about 2 weeks earlier and we eagerly awaited a visit to the port to collect the bikes and begin our long journey. To provide some perspective, Felixtowe is a major container ship port on the east side of Britain approximately 180kms north east of London. They receive large volumes of freight from all parts of the European continent as well as many other parts of the world. They also receive large volumes of heavy 18 wheeler trucks with goods from Europe loaded onto large ferries from ports like Rotterdam in the Netherlands.