England

25 February 2016
London

We arrived at Heathrow London, after 36 hours of travel and only a few hours sleep. But very happy.
We booked the bikes onto the shuttle, bought our Oyster cards, and jumped on the bus to Uxbridge. It was as if we were last in England yesterday. But with much more traffic.

The bus stopped outside Barclays Bank, so I took the chance to ask about our lost account with 300 pounds, and we can get it back again.

A good start to the Holiday.

We walked to our hosts and were very warmly welcomed by Deborah, and went to bed early after a wonderful meal.
We chose a route out of London. But I made the mistake of not wanting the maps printed out thinking that the printed instructions were enough. So we got horribly lost the next day. But we negotiated our way through the outskirts of London and on to Farnborough.

Lucky enough to have Jon guide us through a labirynth of offroad paths and along side the canal until we got to the Slough branch. We got to see a bit of London most tourists will never see. Our adventure got off to the perfect start thanks to Deborah and Jon.

After a long day lost south of London we arrived at Farnborough right on the dot of 4.
Kirsty our host was very welcoming and we chatted away until Peter came home from work. Being a bike mechanic he offered to do any tweaks to our bikes before dinner. One hour later he was still tweaking. I thought our bikes were well tuned but he found lots of little problems and fixed all of them. Both our bikes run like a dream now.
A dinner of roast chicken went down exceptionally well.
After dinner we chatted away before heading off to bed.

Day 2
We got up early and headed into Sainsbury's to get a half doz for Peter as a thank-you but they did not open until 11.

Our route took us across to Haslemere. At lunch we stopped by the church at Churt and plonked ourselves down on the roots of a large tree to shelter from the wind. The village was stunningly beautiful with spring flowers in the graveyard, and I was so moved, that if I had known the words, I would have thundered out a verse of O Jerusalem which Richard used to play on the piano and jokingly said he wanted played at his funeral. Luckily for the locals they were saved this punishment.

After Churt we came across our first real hill, one to make the Bombay hill look like an molehill. It was just as steep in most places but lasted 3 miles ( 5 kilometres). We were proud to make it to the top and while there we visited the Devil's Punchbowl, before donning our jackets for the downhill into Haslemere. After 5 or 6 minutes of no pedalling we arrived at our hosts for the night.
Jim and Helen put on bangers and mash and it was perfect after a long day's ride. And again they helped us plot a route to our next destination.

Day 3
We departed on a cold frosty morning heading for Winchester. We chose a route to avoid the worst hills. After a 5 minute descent into Petersfield I was so cold that we needed to stop and thaw out. I literally could not speak clearly.

The first cafe had no parking for bikes so the next place we found was a community centre which was very busy. The lady behind the counter told us her son lived in Glendowie (10 kms across town from our home in Auckland). It is a small world.


The village of East Meon belonged on the cover of a chocolate box. So very English and very pretty. We made a mistake with our next choice of route and took on a massive hill which slowed us down a lot.

Upon arriving in Winchester we went to the information centre at the Guildhall and chose a B&B (chambre d’hote) . We walked through town only to discover it was closed. The second choice was full (for the first time in weeks). No 3 we did not like. No 4 was full up. The 5th would not answer the phone.
By this time it was dark and very cold. We stumbled across the library and the kind lady found some hotels for us to call. The first one we tried had space so we thankfully had a room for the night. It was luxurious, very expensive, but way better than sleeping under a bridge. See photo of "No 5 hotel"
We tried pea and watercress soup for dinner which was OK. The thing about trying new food is that sometimes it not to your liking. Sally splashed out on a glass of French Merlot which was smooth and delicious.

Day 4
Being in England we chose the traditional English Breakfast. The bacon was divine (sorry Brett I cannot send any in the mail), the sausage superb, and we got to try black pudding. After breaky we headed to the cathedral but skipped the tour as we were running late.

The weather was cold miserable and wet. But we did not care. 20 minutes later we were the proud owners of a classical guitar for our trip. Sounds OK as well.

The rest of the day was fairly ordinary and we found our way through the New Forest to Burley and its famous ponies for a night at the

Youth Hostel. A typical old fashioned establishment but with mod cons like wi-fi. The road was more like a goat track and we had to walk it.

Day 5

We decided it was time for a day off the bikes to rest the legs and the bodies. We spent the time on housework, washing clothes, paperwork etc.
At lunch we went to the village for scones and clotted cream. Sally sat in the large chair and looked like the lady of the manor. Remember to duck your head getting in and out of the room!
We bought locally made Pork and Apple sausages to cook for dinner – YUM.

Day 6

It was mostly downhill to Poole for another B&B ready to catch the ferry on Friday morning. Just 30 kms so we arrived extra early. We went to the Post Office to send our application for the “lost account” money so hopefully we will get that money back in a few weeks time.
We had a wonderful view of the local church from our window. The entrance to the church was a wonderful mixture of modern and old architecture which blended in seamlessly.
The rules of the local golf club were very old-fashioned and very strict. I think we will stick to cycling.

The next morning we caught the ferry to Cherbourg, At embarkation we were stopped by security and patted down and our bags searched. Perhaps all our extra clothing made us look a bit suspicious?

In summary about England

We loved the people, the food, the villages, but not the traffic. We met some lovely hosts, and several people stopped to chat while we were parked up from time to time. We are looking forward to returning in June when it will be a little warmer and dryer.

France here we come