Arlington to Virginia Beach, Virginia

4 day week

241 Miles

Is it even necessary to say:  Surprise, we are doing it, Again!

Every year, we contemplate which Duckie will join us on our bicycling trek.  Needless to say we were overwhelmed with excitement to find the perfect Duck floating on the Hague in Norfolk (VA)….yes, he really is that big!

Since this duck lives in the Netherlands with his dad/creator, we do not have to worry about getting him on the plane….just not sure how to attach him to the bike once we get there; and “there” is the British Isles!  We leave soon for London and plan on traveling through England, Scotland and Ireland; though we still have no idea of our course; some things never change!

Stay Tuned!

After an absolutely luscious night of deep sleep, we awoke to a beautiful view from the Stark Penthouse, deep in the heart of London.  Though we could not hear the music, we are sure we saw the chimney sweepers scurrying from the rooftops.

Our host fixed us a bikers breakfast (eggs, back rashers, toast, melon etc., etc.), as if we are refueling from  a weeks worth of 100 mile rides.  Still working out the cobwebs from the red-eye flight, as well as the bugs in the camera equipment, so we missed the meal photo.

Finally made it out of the door by eleven for a leisurely tour of London.  “Leisure” by most people’s standards would be to hop on a double decker bus and watch the sites go by.  Taking a tour led by Morgan, is much like Jerry leading a tour……on bike, at breakneck pace in heavy traffic coming from every direction (all from the wrong side of the road); no problem!  We were looking forward to seeing all the sites that London is famous for, with all her pomp and circumstance; so naturally this was our first stop.

Silly idea, but it made for good laughs.

We quickly adjusted to the mass hysteria that constitutes traffic in any big city,taking pictures as we rode and enjoying being back on the bikes;

stopping only as necessary for important picture taking.

Yes, we did manage pictures of The Tower Bridge, taken while standing on The London Bridge, the Shard,St. Paul’s Cathedral

a city street dating from 1293, though we believe this fountain is a bit more contemporary.  We stopped at the remains of Christchurch Greyfriars, creatively redesigned as a living garden in perfect harmony with architecture of the former Wren Church from the 13th century.

There were sites to see everywhere; I missed whoever had just walked by, but pretty sure the boys got a good look.

While covering a good bit of the famous sites, British color and character were never far away.

We wheeled past Sherlock Holmes’ home and Maxwell Smart’s office.

It was getting late, so we flew by the Eye of London in order to reach Big Ben on today’s tour.But as you can see by the clock, all we had time for was a quick kiss

and photo of Parliament before our date with the Queen.

When the boys realized that “tea” with the Queen did not include adult beverages, we did a quick circle around Buckingham Palace and scurried into London rush hour traffic past Horse Guards Parade and back to the Stark Casa.  Our seven hour, 19 mile tour was a great introduction to this city of nine million people.

Grey skies but still a comfortable 70°, as we began our late morning errand running.  But first a delightful conversation with James.  We skipped the Rolls Royce and Bentley crowed streets and walked our bikes along the commoner filled sidewalks of the real London.  Batteries, cell phone and various other connectivity possibilities purchased, we dropped down to the Regent’s Canal for a beautiful stroll to a traditional lunch of Fish n Chips (just for you, Doc) and Mushy Peas.

We biked through Regent’s Park on our way back in order to catch the U.S. play futbal.  Though we lost the match, we had a fabulous day of touring courtesy of Jerry’s new BFF.We will try to squeeze in one more day of touring, before our wonderful hosts kick us out.

Just for the Record, for the last three days we have (both) slept in to at least 8:00 a.m.  I will miss this luxury, but we certainly are enjoying it while it lasts.  After another Incredible breakfast, we head out to see just a few more sites of this fascinating city.  We took a quick trip on the original line of the World’s Oldest Subway (1863).

First stop, hot nuts on the steps leading to The Tower of London, where Jerry spent a moment with Julius Caesar Augustus.We circled the outer wall of the moat,keeping an eye on the archer (shout out to Mark)admiring the wire sculptures representing some of the many wild animals that provided a layer of protection for the royals of years past.  Fun Fact: In the 1800’s the remaining animals were moved to the World’s Oldest Zoo (London Zoo-remember the Giraffes?).

We joined a tour led by the fabulously funny, Jim,a member of the Sovereign’s Body Guard of the Yeoman Warder Extraordinary (i.e.: a very entertaining tour guide).  He told of the Bloody Tower, the Ravens that are both the life blood and curse of the White Tower  and showed us the original Watergate, 

There were tall castle walls, more animals, gallows and the magnifieienct Crown Jewels.  Thought the timing clever to first tell of the hundreds of decapitations and then advise you NOT to take pictures of the Jewels…..duly noted.  We did manage the obligatory photo with a Beefeaterand a few more of inside the castle walls.

We ended up at the foot of The Tower London for more picture taking.  Walking through 700 years of history had worked up quiet a thirst and hunger.  Rested and re-fortified, we continued along Queen’s Walk enjoying the views across The River Thames   walking past the quiet unremarkable looking, but Internationally famous London Bridge.  

The various layers of architecture from a several centuries was as varied and interesting as the people that stroll the London streets.  We hopped on a bus for a quick ride to Trafalgar Square, regrettably shrouded in tents set up for the weekend’s festivities.

We’ve enjoyed immensely three days of gorgeous weather, quite atypical.  Tomorrow is calling for torrential rains and flooding; and though that does not seem like good biking weather, we think it best to separate the boys as well as not over stay our welcome from our glorious host and hostess.  We will miss our evenings with you, Morgan and Julie, as well as all the wine we shared; hope to make it back to you in a couple of months.

Last night, after hours of deliberation (head northeast or southwest) and contingency plans for rain, we decided to wake up and figure it out.  The morning was crisp, but sunny!  So we downed a cup of coffee and toast, packed up the bikes and decided to get a jump on the promised torrential rains. Thankfully, Morgan was not tired of us (yet) and led us out of town.  Or maybe he wanted to make sure we were far enough away that we would not return.  Whichever, we were happy to have his London navigational skills.

The Saturday morning streets were bustling with cars and shoppers taking advantage of the roadside markets.  It took us about an hour to find our tow path, leaving the busy city streets behind.  Riding along the canal with the occasional lock reminded us of so many of our other enjoyable tours.  We enjoyed an hour of quiet countryside while keeping our eye on the dark clouds quickly building behind us.We had a wonderful chat with David, who was keeping a close eye (that he shared with us through his lens) of baby falcons.  It was not long after we lost our beautiful tow path, that we lost our way.  Our progress slowed dramatically when we found ourselves deep in the countryside on well used tractor paths. The ruts became so deep we were concerned we were going to loose our duckies……

then the rain hit and we slowed to a crawl; mud caked so thick to the bakes of our mud guards our wheels would not turn.  Not sure how long it took us to emerge to hard packed dirt then pavement, but while the road surface improved the weather did not; but forward progress was once again being made.  The 75° temps we had reached in the sunshine had dropped to 54°.  Ten miles down the road, as we reached the outskirts of Harlow the rain began to slow.  We biked into town and said our good-byes to Morgan who still needed to bike back to London.  We took a break for lunch and to figure out where to go from here, as the rain began to fall, again.  Cold, wet and feeling a bit defeated having only biked 31 miles, we decided to find a hotel, regroup and put some miles in tomorrow.  Our spirits were lifted after dinner when we happened upon hundreds of people getting ready for a midnight walk/run.  They partied and danced

to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  Frank Sinatara’s New York, New York serenaded us as we strolled back to our hotel with a smile on our faces.

It was a cool morning and the wind made it quite crisp; but we were happy to trade the rain for wind, even if it was in our face.  We quickly dropped on to a bike path and a tunnel of trees, protecting us from the wind.  Many twists and turns led us from path to country roads, which is where we met Doug and Rob; we traded stories while enjoying their British humor.

The countryside was gorgeous and the weather glorious.  

We passed lovely manor homes and small villages and many stone churches.For most of the morning, we traveled the exact route that Tour de France will be following for Stage 3 (July 7); look for these pictures on the telecast.  The love of biking was evident by the numbers we saw on the road and various other displays.

Too soon for lunch, but could not resist the photo.  By noon the wind was howling and the skies had greyed, dropping the temperatures ten degrees.  We pushed on for another hour and found the perfect place to take a lunch break,conveniently across the street from the Chelmsford Cathedral.  Our lunch break was the same time as yesterday with no more miles, due to our late start.  As we began to push off after lunch, it started to sprinkle, but today we were prepared.  We donned our rain jacket, rain gloves and foot covers; we were not going to succumb to the same fate as yesterday.  Apparently, all the rain gear held the rain off; even with the overcast skies and occasional sprinkle it was a beautiful ride.  We felt like we were going in circles on these country roadsand barely navigatiable paths (note the flooded road on the right, which IS our course),  had it not been for the ever changing scenery.  But the day got to be long.  At five we entered a small town and desperately searched for a place to stay, but none were to be had and it was getting late; the next town was 10 miles down the road.  Thankfully, as we are about to push away for our last stretch, someone stopped and suggested we take a different path that led straight into town in a few less miles.  We pushed hard to get to a stopping point.  With no reservations anywhere and not knowing exactly where hotels were, we asked someone walking by.  The skies opened up and poured on us, as the gentleman politely offered directions and suggestions on places to stay.  By 6:30 we were checking in, exhausted after our slow 60 mile day.  Thankfully, there was a good restaurant right down the street as we badly needed fuel.  Tomorrow “we” are promised a shorter day.