May 24, 2012
Day 5: Ham to Laleham
We woke up to the songs of many birds in our nature preserve by the river. Soon some rider appeared in the deep grass, looking as typically British as can be. They were followed by occasioonal people with their dogs, also totally typical. Each stopped for an amiable chat.
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We have seen exactly zero long distance cyclists so far in England. So when we answer the Usual Questions and state that we intend to cycle 5000 miles, the questioners are always suitably impressed.
That target is starting to look a bit remote, though, as we continued to a day of orienteering and picking our way around people. It was not nearly as bad as the previous day, though, and there were some stretches of broad paved path by the river that looked exactly as we had dreamed it for this trip. Also we had much better luck spotting and not losing the NCN 4 signs.
One big exception came at Chertsy Bridge, where a half dozen or more NCN 4 signs all around the area led you absolutely in circles. We crossed and recrossed the bridge three times before giving it up and heading off on the narrow and incredibly busy A320 road towards Staines. We had just embarked on this suicide mission when a Road Angel literally ran up (jogger) and asked if we were looking for the Sustrans route. He was also a cyclist and was well aware of the cruel maze at the bridge. He had us ignore the signs and put us on the actual route. He then ran off at at least 15 kph, which is a 40 minute pace for a 10K race - pretty good!
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We are acclimatising much more to our situation and surroundings. We look around and think this is England. The Thames is just as we imagined from books. It even has the famous swans! And it had the houseboats of the style seen in the Morse mysteries. And of course it has pubs. "Pubs" are in what our past lives were called "McDonalds", "Rest Area", and "Service Station". In addition, the fish and chips is always great! Maybe tomorrow we will expand all the way to bangers and mash. Soon we will be indistinguishable from locals! (We will have to run through our freeze dried meals from REI first, I guess, and dump the neon coloured lycra!)
Our view of the quality of British food got another boost as we passed through the central square of Kingston. There were many fruit and veggie stalls, and one very nice bakery one:
We continued up the river to Hampton Court. This was taken over and enlarged by Henry VIII
Today's ride: 33 km (20 miles)
Total: 68 km (42 miles)
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