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August 1 Tuesday sunny humid Bicycle touring England People keep telling us how unusual this hot weather is in England and we just keep grinning. I'd rather bicycle in this any day over the alternative. A woman told us this is the best summer since 1976. So it's like this every couple of decades or so. Well, I'm glad we're doing our bicycle tour now, because the weather had when we were bicycle touring the south of England in June had made me never want to bicycle tour in England again. The roller coaster country roads we are bicycling continue. Twenty percent grades have become the norm. Talk about knee killers. We haven't had to walk any hills, but if I stop to take a picture, it is a bitch to try and get started again -- maybe it's easier if I glide back to the bottom and attempt the hill again. Any, with the 20% plus grades, we'll laugh when we get back home at the "steep" 12% grades in North America. We bicycled along until we found a creek on a country lane. Sharon jumped in at a deep hole. "Coming in?" she coaxed. "The water's great!" "Only if you'll take off all your clothes," I say. "Oh, you wouldn't even come in then," she says. "Try me," I say and go back to ogle from the bridge while eating a jam-filled doughnut. At Brampton, England, we meet four Norwegian touring bicyclists. They have two weeks' vacation. Their plan was to bicycle from Newcastle, England, to northern Wales (their bicycle tour was to go through the Lake District before bicycling to Wales), catch a ferry over to Dublin, Ireland, bicycle up the east coast of Ireland to Belfast, Ireland, catch a ferry over to Scotland, and then bicycle back to Newcastle, England (through England's Lake District once more) before catching the ferry home. Whew! Highly ambitious, I thought, even for Norwegian super cyclists. Then again, maybe Sharon and I are just slackers. One of the Norwegian women already sported a tensor bandage on her right knee. And the other Norwegian woman made Mama Cass look like Skinny Mini. The bicycle tour's plan had changed. The men were continuing on bicycling to Wales, bypassing the Lake District, while the women loaded their bikes onto a bus that had just arrived. They decided to hop trains and buses where need be to get them to that day's destination. And they were planning on renting a car when they got back around to Scotland to get back to Newcastle, England to catch their flight home. Sharon and I wished them luck. "Maybe we'll see you in Norway," we said, as we pedalled off on our mountainous overloaded touring bicycles that made their bicycle touring machines look like svelte racing bikes. Sharon and I bicycled towards Hadrian's Wall. The road continued its punishing steep roller coaster hills. Unfortunately, loaded touring bikes don't coast too far. Even blasting full throttle downhill soon had me panting in my lowest granny gear to crest the other side. Maybe I should have asked those Norwegian bicycle tourists if they had any spare tensor bandages. A new road sign has appeared: Severe Dip. And it is true to its name. The point between the downhill and the start of the uphill is so abrupt that several grooves are in the asphalt where car undercarriages have scraped and gouged out the pavement. Lots of tire rubber marks, too, where car drivers had suddenly braked when it appeared as though they were going to continue straight into the pavement. Pretty exciting at 40-plus miles per hour on a touring bicycle without shocks. Shocking in fact. Hadrian's Wall has some thick intact sections. We met a father and two sons from Canada. They caught us up on all the news from Canada. They think everything in England is 2.3 times as expensive as back in Canada. Exactly the same as Sharon and I figured. Just exchange the $ sign for a £ sign and it is the same price -- well, not the same price, it's 2.3 times as expensive, just the numbers are the same. At Housestead, England, we pulled our touring bikes to a stop to view Hadrian's Wall. Our info booklet said this exact spot was the most dramatic vantage spot as the wall went over hills and crags. Pretty amazing considering when Hadrian's Wall was built. Those Romans knew how to build things to last. Rock is an exemplary building material to accomplish longevity in the construction world. There is also a Roman fort ruin. We free camped with our lightweight two-person Kelty tent behind the info center. Four camper vans pulled in and slept in the parking lot. Two German touring cyclists slept on the grass beside us with just their sleeping bags laid on the ground. Pretty risky in England, I figure. Not because of risk of assault or anything. Rather, in England, we have found, it can rain anywhere at anytime. The info centre washrooms have hot water (those Romans thought of everything!). Surprisingly, the washroom facilities stay open all night. In America they would be vandalized before you could say, "Do you think this is a good idea?" |
