World Tour

July 15 -Saturday Dorset to Andover 60 miles I didn't know they followed miles in England. We changed the computers on our bikes to read miles. We were up and out the door by 0730 after Rory had made us a detailed map out of Dorset, poured us some cereal for breakfast and handed Jon a bag of what would come to be called "Rory Treats" that we packed with the rest of our food - what an incredibley gracious and generous host! Maps in hand, we pedalled off. The streets weren't that busy so early on a weekend so the ride out of town wasn't that bad and soon we were on country roads with rolling hills. Going a bit slower but still with a deadline to be at Chalfont St. Giles by the next day we kept up a steady pace, averaging about 11 mph. Up and down and up and down with head wind. The country side was pretty when you could see it but so many of the fields were bordered by tall hedges that literally came right up to the edge of the road which made the lane smaller forcing cars to make a wider arc around us. It was like Italy all over again. The lanes were just as narrow if not more so but the cars were bigger - more like the size driven in King county. We stopped in a village called, Fording Bridge where an elderly woman stopped and complimented our bikes. We told her where we were headed and she said that she has a friend whose wife just died from the same village (what a small world). She also mentioned how we've been lucky with the weather - we agreed and bit our tongues about the headwind we'd been fighting all moring) and she held up her had with her fingers crossed as much as her arthritic joints would let her as a sign of good luck that the weather lasts. By early afternoon we had reached Salisbury and stopped at the cathedral which had the most beautiful stained glass I've seen so far - breathtaking. We used their bathroom and I bought a Xmas ornament at the gift shop (it was made of fabric so it was super lite). We snoozed on the cathedral lawn and pushed our bikes into town looking for lunch. There was a great 5 piece band, The Huckleberries, playing bluegrass on High street so we parked our bikes and enjoyed their music while eating sandwiches and Rory Treats (cookies with Smarties mixed in). We were enjoying the music so much we didn't leave until after two with over twenty more miles to go. We reached Andover at five pm and stopped for a little snack. There was a campground in town and we started to get our bearings after our snack. A very helpful couple gave us all the directions we needed to get there. Up and down few more hills, past one circus, a baby donkey and one last big ass hill (Why? Why is there always that one last big hill before the end?!!). We found the campground but had to wait until six before they opened again. It was windy and hot outside. We had ridden sixty miles - more than we've ever ridden before - no wonder I was pooped! At last it was time to check in. We agreed to set up the tent, get something to eat, shower and go straight to bed as the next day was expected to be just as long. We got the tent set up, almost. Part of a pole had cracked a few campsites back as Jon was "cleaning house". We were able to fix it with duct tape but tonight the pole broke completely. In a way it was good because now we could get a cool tent from Europe but the more we thought about it the more it didn't seem practical since the rest of the tent was perfectly good, we just couldn't put the fly on and after the thunderstorm we went through there was no way we could get very far without one. We went flyless for the night though - there wasn't a cloud in the sky.