Cycling England

After enjoying carnival in London we met up with our friend Joe that we met in Fukui. He was moving out from his university flat and taking a break before starting a real job so he joined us for 4 weeks of bumming around eating and cycling. We started out in the lake district, which was a very hilly way to get into shape. We had to push up a lot of hills, but the scenery was outstanding and the weather unseasonably wonderful. In fact in England we had only 3 days of rain! That must be a new English weather record. Well, as you know we always bring the good times with us whereever we go. We also met up with our friend Jess who joined us for 2 days of riding. It was a great way to start out the bike portion of the trip. We even had a bottle of champagne in the extremely picturesque campsite the first night. Joe was nice enough to get Mel and I bikes before we arrived in England. They took just a bit of tuning up, and while they were just average city bikes, they held up fine for all 2000 miles of the trip all the way to Portugal.
We had to do some medical stuff for our Peace Corps applications so Joe and Jess were very helpful and patient getting us set up for that. It was EXPENSIVE but we got it all done eventually and weeks of cycling stretched out before us.
In England the hills were many and we did about 30 miles per day average. At the end of each day we hit a campsite or small hotel and then headed to the pub. In fact most of the time the owner just told us the way before we asked, as it is assumed that that's where we want to go. Well no reason to fight it... So we drank a LOT of different ales, ciders, and wines from Yorkshire to Cornwall. Also the food was outstanding. We ate the best desert ever in the history of the world at the Highwayman pub called sticky toffee pudding. That and the Lankishire hotpot with lamb and well hopped pale ale made for an unforgettable meal I would love to repeat.
The nights and mornings were sometimes cold but once riding we warmed up fine. In Cheddar the cheese was plentyful and we walked around the gorge before settling down for a ploughmans with pickle and wonderful bread, then trying to sleep under a clocktower that rang every 15 minutes all night long... Oh well in Europe you are never out of earshot of a churchbell it seems. Also never out of a hot shower and a nicely groomed campsite. We had both every single night from London to Lisbon. Also ,the pastries started and never ran out every 15 minutes down the road. So much for losing weight. At least with all the tramping around we may average a zero balance!
We stopped at the legendary home of King Arthur at a windswept coast in Cornwall before heading south and saying goodbye to Joe at the train station to Plymouth. We really enjoyed England and felt extremely grateful for Joe's obsessive planning because we didn't have to think about the route for 3 weeks, we just went from one beautiful country village and charming old pub to another without a care in the world except our aching legs. Thank you so much Joe and Jess! We miss you and you are welcome in our homes any time.