OE2OE

 "Every day has been the somethingest", remarked Kate, today.  It's true. We've had the hottest, the windiest, the longest, the trickiest. Today was the hilliest. The hills at the end of yesterday's ride turned out to be north downs. We carried on doing north downs today - although it was the north ups that made more impression on us.  First of all we had the A25 to contend with. It was early on a Monday morning and it was rammed with fast cars. There are so many more high performance cars down here. Why? They're lucky if they get a stretch of road where they're able to reach the speed limit! But apart from speeding drivers, we have both been struck by the kindness of so many people on our travels. We encountered more kindness this morning as we stopped outside a coffee shop and the owner dashed out and insisted on moving tables and chairs so that we could lean the tandem across his window so that we could see it from inside.  At the end of our A25 stretch...

 What a comfortable night on a very comfortable super-king bed. Kate and I even got the odd glimpse of each other every now and again across the vast expanse of good quality white duvet.  After tea and muesli purchased at Lidl the previous evening, we were off at a slovenly 7am. We suspected that today would be a technical exercise. And it was. The day threw all sorts at us. Busy roads and tracks including smooth tarmac, broken concrete, grit, dried mud and occasionally such dense foliage that it was impossible to discern what was actually under our wheels. Then there were canal tow paths, including all the surfaces mentioned above. My brain is still reeling from concentrating on my sat nav, pot holes, sudden twists and turn on to dubious looking routes and cars, which ranged from the courteous to 'let's see if I can clip them with my wing mirror'. But. The sights were every bit as varied as the terrain. We started on one side of the M25 in the morning and arrived on the ot...

 It could be argued that both of us have got into this depart at 6am thing. We chose to do so again this morning despite the fact that cooler weather was assured and the journey was a reasonably short 50 miles. Having said that, last night was the hottest so far for us. Of course, having the en suite radiator kicking out heat sporadically won't have helped. But our night was also hampered by laying on a mattress where you had to weave your body carefully round the springs... We weren't sorry to leave this house. When we stepped out on to the landing, we were greeted with a significantly cooler temperature.  The start of our progress ever southward was somewhat featureless very much like the previous day when much of the time was spent cycling through nothing... the lack of interest was compounded by quite a strong headwind.  However, after about 10 miles, things changed. The scenery became very pretty. Countless villages with their thatched roofed cottages and picturesque...

 We decided to be more relaxed about our departure time today, emerging from our garage at 6am. To be fair, it was a single story extension and the hosts had done a good job. We had everything we needed which was mostly huge amounts of refrigerated water. In the morning, the host came out at 6 with our three bike bottles, washed and full of iced water.  Today is an easy day. Just 40 miles to the next stop, St Neots. We powered away quite well, making the most of the relative cool of the morning.  We often came within sight of the A1M. Sometimes going over it, sometimes under. I forgot to mention yesterday that we crossed the A1M. No, I mean we CROSSED the A1M! The bike track deposited us at the side of the road and left us there. There was a narrow central reservation to aim for so, when we reckoned that we could run with the tandem faster than the time for a lorry to mow us down, we legged it. Squeezing on to the central reservation, we then did it all over again to com...

 Ok. If we'd known then what we know now, we would have delayed this trip. But we've started and we're doing our best to finish... We set off from Newark at 5:30 this morning. It was the only way we were likely to survive.  The 20 miles to Grantham were blissfully cool. And more. As we set off from Costa (the only coffee shop open at 7am) we were hailed. As in hail and thunder. The downpour lasted all of two minutes, and we spent that time under a strategically placed yew tree.  The weather at this point added to the excitement of our route change. I reckoned that leaving Grantham on the Boston road would reduce the mileage and make a preferable alternative to avoid head winds. Retrospectively, it was the right call but the thundering lorries plus the thundering thunder did make for an interesting twenty minutes. And so we headed for Market Deeping, the only other place of any significance en route. The sun made its presence felt increasingly from this point and stops in ...

 I was rather surprised to learn that I needed the sponge this morning. It's only the second day of riding. According to Kate, when I returned from Scotland, my bottom had disappeared so perhaps that has something to do with it.  Readers of the end to end blog might remember what the sponge is for. Let's just say it puts an end to saddle soreness... We had a lovely breakfast of cereal and toast which the air bnb host adds for free. She was a particularly kind and generous soul and, due to the weights she lifts, looked as strong as an ox, despite being of a diminutive frame- belying her 74 years.  We were on the road at 8am. This is a short day, just 40 miles, so we hoped to have completed it before the big heat cut in.  The start of the journey was a rather long, boring and busy road.   Eventually we left it and arrived in the only place of significance before Newark which is Retford. We quickly found a lovely coffee shop called Honey and Fig. It was still ...