12 May 2013
1. House Pack-Down and M.K. to Harwich.
As far as packing my house contents into the garage for my rental tenant I new the ‘procedure’ yet still found myself rushing around like a mad man multi-tasking for the remaining few days in order to complete all the tasks on the to-do list. Taking my girlfriend out to a restaurant on the Friday night even before my panniers were packed, so had to wait until the Saturday morning I was leaving… talk about cutting it fine! Luckily, being Mr Organised all my items had been meticulously checked-off weeks before so it didn’t present a problem. With front and rear panniers fitted on the bicycle I’d forgotten just how much it would weigh, and with little in the way of training, other than my normal 60-70 mile weekly mileage, the first day would no doubt prove tough!
Packing my things into the garage I stumbled upon this book I’d been bought many years ago, it made me laugh.
The official start point was to be Milton
Keynes Point (the first photo on the blogs header) so my parents met me there
to get a few photos.
After the excellent weather of the five
days ago bank-holiday I’d hoped to have the same as I rode out, but no! Grey clouds looming and a blustery wind, but
fortunately a tail wind that proved a welcome assistance. The day’s destination was Colchester ,
and rather than follow the busy A507 I’d plotted a scenic, twisty country lanes
route. A slight wrong turn at some village led me into Hitchin, instead of
Baldock, but no major issue as I was soon directed by locals onto more quiet
county lanes where I would re-join my plotted route (shown at the bottom of the
page).
Several hours into the journey and the
clouds had turned an angry dark grey, and made their presence known. BOOOOOMM!! Claps of thunder emanated across the sky indicating
the inevitable, so I promptly stopped to unpack my over-trousers ready for
immediate use, when the heavens would open - from experience I’ve found wearing these for a prolonged period can
make you just as wet from perspiration.
Two minutes later and the pitter-patter of big droplets started, looking
ahead I could see the A10 carriageway crossing my path, and as it got closer lady-luck was on my side, the B-road I was on went under the A10, which proved
an excellent umbrella! It felt like January! A strong, bitterly cold wind blew through the tunnel making me even colder, water gushing off the above A-road making big puddles
appear on what was previously a bone-dry road. Staying there for fifteen
minutes or so until the storm blew over.
Continuing through quant villages with the
typical charm and character you’d expect.
See the rainbow just above the left-hand side
of the sign? The pot-of-gold at the end
of that rainbow was surely my host’s house? Michael White had recently joined
the cyclist’s hospitality website Warmshbowers.org, the warmth of he and his
wife’s house being a welcomed retreat from the day’s weather. Michael and Carla
said they had hosted another cyclist only last week - Ivo, a chap from Holland who was cycling across England
My mileage for the day was 160 km (100 miles),
fortunately my screaming muscles would get the following day off, well, almost
- as I only had a 20 mile sprint to Harwich for the 6 hour ferry to the Hook of
Holland, although an early start as the check-in would close at 9:15 and if I
missed it would throw the first three weeks of planning out-the-window. With the tail-wind still on my side I arrived
in plenty of time, and who did I meet on the ferry’s bicycle parking bay? Ivo,
the Danish cyclist! We sat together on the crossing having a good natter.
This blog-post was written from the comfort
of the Stenna ferry as it chugs across the channel to;
Cartoonist
found dead in home. Details are sketchy.
Velcro
- what a rip off!