23 May 2014 (morning sunny and warm, afternoon turned cold wet and miserable about 13°C) 73 km

Began the day extremely early this morning at 4am. Julia made us both a cuppa and began writing yesterday’s blog, whilst I dozed. At 5am I swapped with Julia and wrote an entry and she slept. At 6.30am we were both asleep again until Ju got up to edit the photos around 7.30am.  I slept soundly until 8.15am when it was up, shaved and showered, gear packed and set to leave the Xanadu hotel, a very plush affair which our friend Steve had arranged for us unexpectedly.  So thank you Steve.  We may not have seen each other for 15 years, but we have one of those friendships that is so easy to pick up.

Julia and I, apart from enjoying your company for the past two days, catching up on old times and having a great laugh really appreciate all you did for us.  Once you’ve been to Brazil for the World Cup, book a ticket to New Zealand and let us return the hospitality.  Mind you, you’ll have to put up with Hotel Dolan.  It does have it’s own gym, with screaming kids and barking dogs optional extras.

We walked to Bill’s café to meet Steve for breakfast at 9.00am.  Took advantage of the free wifi to post the next blog and check emails and enjoy one last catch up with Steve.  Then it was back to his place to pack up the bikes and hit the road at midday.  We cycled back towards the Grand Union Canal taking a slightly different route than we took two days ago but arriving without any hitches at the canal and following the towpath in a northerly direction.  The towpath was very well sealed and we toddled along marvelling that you had such a beautiful, peaceful way out of London with absolutely no traffic.  As we got to the outskirts, the surface of the path deteriorated slightly and got a bit bumpy but nothing major.  Villages we passed through included Uxbridge and Hatfield and were all lovely and you wonder how you can find such beauty, village after village. 

There were lots of moor hens, ducks, swans and Canadian geese with many having their young with them.  They were very used to people and didn’t bother moving out of the way too much.

The weather had been beautiful this morning but it started to spit about 1 pm and cool down accordingly.  As the afternoon wore on, we had to don our rainjackets as the temperature dropped and it rained on and off. 

We passed through the beautiful village of Rickmansworth where a brief chat with a local woman revealed it was the location for the filming of the movie Black Beauty amongst many other period pieces where they needed old buildings and rolling green meadows.  From about 2.30 pm we were on the lookout for a café or pub and our need became more desperate as it got colder and colder and wetter and wetter.  Eventually at 4pm we came across the 17^th century Coach House near Kings Langsley where we gratefully stored the bikes in the marquee outside and went into the warmth for a delicious mocha and a bacon and brie toastie each.  This place was a real find and well worth the 44km we cycled just for the delicious coffee.  We weren’t really expecting great coffees from this nation of tea drinkers but have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of coffee here, but today’s one topped the lot.  We could never have expected when we left London this morning in about 19°C that the temperature would dip so dramatically.  I would estimate it went possibly as low as 12°C and we had that lovely tingly feeling as the warmth quickly returned to our hands and feet.

Spent an hour at the Coach House and then I donned my cycling leggings as my knees had started to get a bit achy and I’m sure the cold didn’t help.  I also put on warm dry socks and suddenly the cycling was enjoyable again.

Apsley near Hemel Hempstead

It was by now 5pm and at one stage we saw a busy road with the traffic at a standstill and marvelled how you could have this brilliant commuting option being almost totally ignored.  We would come across the occasional cyclist and a number of dog walkers but one thing is for sure – we were making quicker progress than those on that busy road.  In fact we can’t believe how fast we are travelling away from London.  Because the canal was here before the majority of the roads, it takes the most direct route and of course is entirely flat.  The only limiting factor is the surface of the towpath which was quite bumpy for probably about five km either side of Hemel Hempstead.  We had been travelling at an average of 15 kph and this dropped to about 8 kph.  Just before Hemel itself, we came across the community of Apsley which was most impressive.  It was a bunch of four storey apartment blocks built around the canal.  My description does it no justice but will give you an idea of how wrong it could have gone, but it was beautiful. 

We took a diversion into Hemel to look for camping gas but couldn’t find the right canister we needed for our camping stove.  I used to live in Hemel 31 years ago when I was a fresh-faced kiwi first looking to explore the world.  I ended up there boarding with the Peel family for a year who looked after me like I was their own daughter.  We plan to see them about the 7^th of June.  But in the meantime I didn’t recognise the place at all. 

So we carried on along our bumpy path and spotted I think it was a crane (? You’ll have to help me out on this one Auntie Anne) sitting on a dead tree.  Massive bird which I’m not sure comes across in the photo and more twitchy than the other birds we have come across, as it flew off fairly quickly as I began taking photos of it, even though it was across the other side of the canal. Turns out that photo was out of focus, so I've had to use this one which we saw further on although not in the same photogenic setting.

So far we have been very pleased with the gear we have brought with us.  My Macpac cycling longs are very toasty.  My little Panasonic point and shoot camera, which I wear in a little camera bag slung across my shoulder, is easily accessible whenever I want it (which is a lot!) and takes great pictures that are easy to download onto the tablet.

The tablet is performing very well and the battery lasting well.  Haven’t had to use my Bear Grylls solar panel battery charger yet but am looking forward to seeing how it performs.

The bikes and panniers are great and with the big downpour we had this afternoon the drybags and rain jackets had their first test and passed with flying colours.

So anyway, we pressed onwards past some lovely little villages and the towpath surface quality picked up again.  We were on the lookout for somewhere to buy a loaf of bread and some milk and had given up on the gas canister.  That was maybe the one downside to travelling alongside the canal – unless the business was right on the canal front, you missed it.  Eventually about 7pm we saw a gas station and took a detour to go buy bread and milk and fill up water bottles.  Back on the canal path and it was down to the business of finding a quiet spot to pitch the tent.  We could find nowhere.  It was either too public or just no grass.  So we started looking out for b & b’s as well with no luck.  Then we faced a serious downturn in the condition of the towpath with big mud puddles becoming almost like cycling through a mini-canal.  As we forged through one muddy puddle after another, the thought of turning back became out of the question but with every bend in the canal we were faced with another “oh god” moment. After what was probably only about two kms, we eventually emerged from the quagmire and enjoyed a nice flat mud-free surface before coming off the canal path to look for a tent site. 

We were cycling down a very peaceful country lane when we saw a woman out walking and asked if she knew of anywhere we could pitch the tent or failing that, a b&b.  She said she would give us a map if we followed her back to her place about 500 metres away.  Turns out she was a kiwi from Christchurch but she’d lived here for 18 years.  As it happens, the place she was going to send us had shut down so she gave us directions to the local motel but on the way there we at last found the perfect field.  Well perfect might be stretching it a bit.  It was by a reasonably busy road and the grass was long and the ground lumpy, but it would do as it was by now 9.30pm!

So we finally set up the tent and crawled inside as the temperature started to dip (but at least we’d had no more rain), and made ourselves some salmon and avocado sandwiches (thanks Steve for the sandwich ingredients), which were delicious! Washed them down with a drink of milk, brushed our teeth and crawled into our sleeping bags at 10.30pm as the last of the light was leaving the day.