25 May 2014 Sunny and warm 73 km

Aaah our first full night’s sleep – although we went to bed early (Pete at 7.30 and me an hour later) so we were still awake at 4am.  Decided we may as well get up and have a cup of tea and catch up with the rest of the world that were awake so answered emails and facebook comments and blog comments.  Had trouble uploading latest blog post with the blogsite not allowing me to upload anymore photos onto yesterday’s post.  Hopefully this is some type of server problem that we won’t encounter for today’s post.  
This hotel may have been “cheap and cheerful” but we have really enjoyed our stay here.  GREAT shower, comfortable bed, quiet, warm and roomy (well, compared to a tent anyway) with big cheap delicious meals at the restaurant.  It has given us a chance to dry everything off and get ready for the day ahead.  There is no pain from my knee at all while I’m off the bike – be interesting to see how it is when we hit the road.
Today we will be veering off the canal and have written down instructions on how to get to Pete’s uncle’s place via small roads with the help of google maps.  We don’t actually have a map so it will be interesting to see how good our instructions are.
Pete………….. Thought I’d get a few lines written as Julia is showering. Must have been extra tired last night as the Champions League football final was on live.  Saw about five minutes, before falling asleep.  Woke to news on tele this morning that a student has gone on a rampage in the United States killing six and injuring thirteen. Said he had mental health issues……… you don’t say…..!
Seems he was continually rejected by women and thought he’d make them pay. 
Question….. what young guy hasn’t been rejected on a number of occasions by women?
They showed him on tele making his pre-killing video (must be like an audition video for x factor )
He looks like a real egotistical prick who thinks women should be falling at his feet. Anyway he ended up shooting himself in the head. Shame the dickhead didn’t do the killings in reverse order.
Also on was an English guy who was an eye witness. Said he saw some guy who had been shot laying in the road…….so he took a video…….HELLO !  Leave the guy dying in the middle of the road, but as long as he gets some footage on facebook.
Weather today looks dicey. Sunshine is about but so are those rainclouds that wait until you’re comfortable, then soak you to the skin. When I ventured outside at 6am it was very cool.
Well here we are again.  It’s now 6.45pm and we have cycled 73km today, much to the disgust of Julia’s knee which was really feeling the ride. Had to tough it out however as we had to be at my uncles place today.
After a nice breakfast at our hotel we skyped both Georgina and Brody and then Briana in Wellington. They were all good and looking great so that did wonders for our worried minds.
Hit the road at 10am and took bike paths around Willen lake where we were staying and out of Milton Keynes. Brilliant. It’s a shame we haven’t got as many in New Zealand, we could certainly learn a lot from their town planners on many aspects.  We never really saw Milton Keynes as they have this massive central green area which the Premier Inn was situated in.  We rode round the lake on a bike path and through acres of wide open parkland and then the cycle lane followed the road out of town, but well away from it so we could cycle side by side chatting and enjoying the sunshine and the views.
Out of Milton Keynes we had to join the road which was quite busy initially.  Passed through a gorgeous little village and out into the countryside which was busy with friendly cyclists out for their Sunday morning ride.  Most called out ‘hello’ on their way past or gave us a wave.
Early on in the ride as we encountered our first hill, we stopped at the roadside to fix Julia’s cog as she couldn’t change gear. A guy came out to see if he could offer any help. Too right says we……so he gets to work and fixes the problem in quick time.
Turns out he’s the aerodynamics engineer for the Red Bull formula one motor racing team. He’s won the last four championships with them and admitted it’s not really like working.  He flies all over the world with them to the different grand prix.  Prior to Red Bull he worked for McLaren for twelve years.  As impressed as we were with landing a grand prix engineer to fix my bike, he sounded equally impressed when he asked how far we were going and we told him Helsinki.
Got to say, once Ju got going again, I reckon he’d given her an extra 5km per hour………..!?

Today’s riding was to be a joy (aside from Julia’s knee ) as we were truly in the English countryside and what beautiful scenery it is. Lane after lane of hedgerows, stone fences, quaint old villages, pubs to die for, stone churches, thatched cottages and endless views.  You can imagine Constable or Turner sitting at their easel gazing out for miles on a gorgeous spring day, gathering inspiration for their next masterpiece.  
For us it was sitting on a park bench gazing out the wonderful views whilst constructing the perfect sandwich using the butter and jam we had nicked from the Premier Inn at breakfast.

The route we had mapped out whilst trying to drag out our breakfast yesterday was fantastic.  We had chosen the smallest roads we could see on google maps and mostly had them to ourselves for a large part of the day.  When we chose this route we had no idea if it would be hilly or flat but again, for the most part it was incredibly flat.  At it’s worst it was undulating but mostly we found ourselves a bit above the surrounding area, riding along the flat and dipping down into the villages before emerging out the other side with a bit of a climb to the flat once again.  

As far as cycling goes, you couldn’t have asked for anything better as we had sunshine all day and…….. a tail wind!  I swear we never had a tailwind ever on our last bike trip.
The villages we cycled through were Stoke Goldington, Horton, Denton, Whiston, Mears Ashby (magnificent newer houses here), Holcot, Walgrave and Harrington with each being as quaint as the last in their own way.  We took numerous photos but in the end had to restrain ourselves as this beauty was becoming so common place now.  

Very, very happy with this way of mapping our route as we get to find our own way mostly, but get to interact with the locals when asking for directions.  Of course it helps that we all speak English.  Got chatting to a few dog walkers today when asking for directions.  A runner with a husky and a mum and son with their cockapoo who kindly let us pat their dogs to give us our Rufus fix.
Stopped for an ice cream at Earl’s Barton at the garden centre as none of these quaint villages had a dairy.  It was delicious too.  It was called a knickerbocker glory but we noticed the Magnums were the equivalent of only $2.50 over here.
Onwards we pedalled, mile after mile (all the signposts are in miles), but the day was dragging out.  When we started out we estimated Desborough was about fifty km away, but it ended up being 73km.  One final hill, which was the biggest of the day, brought us out onto the Desborough Road and from there it was easy progress.

Julia gives Pete a subtle hint.  Her bottle's empty, there's a pub just there, but he's always been a bit slow on the uptake!

Found Uncle Ray’s place no problem at about 5.30pm and boy it was good to see him – especially with those ice cold beers!  Had a bit of a catch up before enjoying a nice hot shower and then a delicious crock pot type dinner followed by lemon meringue pie and a cup of tea.  Pete’s Mum and Dad phoned and had a chat with them but by now it was 9pm and we were more than ready for bed.