24 May 2014 (cold, wet, sunny, briefly warm, hail, thunder, lightning, freezing, clearing but cold!) 40 km

Talk about an early riser!

3am this morning.  Julia wakes and says……. Do you mind if I blog……… What says I?………Its 3am!

However she was wide awake…….. so blog it was!

I slept til 5am then we were up and with the first signs of rain on the tent, it was a mad dash to pack up and hit the road.  We first of all had to push our bikes through a hedge onto a footpath, which is what we’d done last night (only in reverse order) before cycling into Tring.  A lovely little village where after scrutinising their real estate house prices, I discovered you would not be able to live here unless you had on average about a million NZ dollars.  This is why so many people living in the UK nowadays are living on the canal narrowboats.  They simply cannot afford to live in a house.  A lady told us yesterday that there was a twelve year waiting list for a mooring.  Probably a good job too as there are just thousands of narrowboats on the canals and if there wasn’t some sort of restriction, the canals would soon be as congested as the roads.

As we cycled into Tring at 6am, it was beginning to rain quite heavily.  Julia was already cold and hungry seeing as she had been awake for three hours by now.  Not too many places open at six in the morning.  However, as we cycled through the town we noticed a coffee shop with lights on and noticed the sign on the door said it would open at 6.30am.  I was all prepared to press on to Northampton, but Julia was having none of it.  You can see who wears the cycling shorts in this family!  (and they look better on her than me).  We spent nearly three hours drawing out breakfast and waiting for the rain to stop which by now was really heavy.  Finally we realised it wasn’t going to stop and so once more into the breach.  It rained heavily for an hour and a half which made the canal towpath heavy going as it was mainly grass.  Julia’s good knee (usually) was giving her a bit of grief so that slowed us down even further, but we were happy to take the slow pace and admire the lovely scenery and wildlife along the way.
So our journey today started by passing the ultimate b&b we’d have cut our eyes out for last night just out the other side of Tring.  If only we’d kept on the canal path for two more miles.  Never mind, onward we pressed passing through many lovely villages.  Amongst them, Horton, Slapton, Grove and Ouzel.  Along the way we admired more of the decorative and plentiful narrowboats, one of which was called Cirrhosis of the River.

Stopped for a pub lunch at the Globe Inn and enjoyed the much needed chance to rest different body parts before climbing back on the bikes once again.  At least by now it had stopped raining.

Began along the towpath once more. Some parts were excellent and others not so hot, but I have to say the scenery  goes from quaint to picturesque to outstanding in the space of a couple of miles.

Spoke to numerous people today who were happy to stop and chat. The English can vary from reserved to down right rude at times. Chatted to a bikepacker going in the opposite direction from us.  He had begun in St. Helens which is close to where I was born and raised and was cycling to Bulgaria, but like us, this was the first time he’d thought about using the canal towpaths.

Pushed on, but the going today was slow as Julia’s knee is playing up. We were only averaging about 8km per hour, partly due to injury , but also the track wasn’t always too good.

Around 4pm we watched as a giant thundercloud approached. The afternoon had been fine when suddenly the temperature dropped to  around 6°C.  We took shelter under a bridge as thunder and lightning  turned  our pleasurable day to misery. Then huge bloody hailstones hit the ground as we huddled in our shelter, pleased that we were touring England in spring, not winter..!?

So why is it when you are in a situation like that, you always want to go for a pee..?

As soon as there was some respite, we headed off again following a parallel track to the canal, which proved much better going. No sooner had we thought we had the elements licked, it commenced once more. Asked a couple out walking their dog (must be as mad as we are ) if there was a bed and breakfast handy. No says he, but there is a cheap hotel straight down there, next to the lake.

Thanking him over our shoulders, we pedalled madly with the rain coming down toward salvation.

Upon reaching said hotel, I found out that cheap meant $170.00 per night. I asked if they had a closet instead, not appreciated. We were both freezing and the thought of our clients back home giving me grief for not taking the room, persuaded me to hold up for the night.  So here we sit after nice hot showers and guess what………the f…in weather has cleared up and the temperature has risen. More to come later…..!

Just got back from a roast meal. Ju had chicken whilst I had the beef. Very nice, just what we needed to finish off the day. Its currently 7.30pm and bloody cold.

Last time we cycled in England we also began in May and I kid you not it snowed…….

Some people just never learn.

Goodnight Johnboy……….. goodnight Mary- Ellen…….!

P.S. Pete turned on the football while I downloaded the photos and about two minutes later I heard snoring.  We are both shattered but I thought I'd take this opportunity to add my bit.

We love cycling the canals as we have only had to endure about 5km of traffic since we started.  Did 73 km yesterday but only forty today due to my knee.  

We have spotted so much birdlife while riding along the Grand Union canal.  The cranes (actually herons Aunty Anne informs me)  are very unique and massive.  When they fly they look like some prehistoric creature.  The swans too are impressive in flight and I wish I was quick enough with the camera to capture everything.

Being spring we are seeing lots of youngsters too and I can't help taking photos of them as they are so cute and close to us as well.

Ok it's 8.30pm now so time for sleep.