Cycled home from Dad and Tineke's place in Elstree - 60 miles or so
I cycled from Dad and Tineke's in Elstree back to my house today, I think it was about 60 miles. You can see the route I took on Google if you hit the 'Get Directions' button when you click on the previous link. Well, it's close to the route I took. At one point I missed a turn and ended up on the A10 going north. I didn't like it much so I took a bridleway across some fields back to the place I originally hoped to head towards. It was a bit rough but not too bad.
It was a little cold and damp today and even rained a little but it was still a real treat to head off across country roads, just one lane wide most often. I saw lots of pheasants and even turned one corner to be confronted by a huge blue peacock. I cycled on my mountain bike and although it has road tyres is not ideal for long distances. The hills were quite tough though were much much easier than I was used to in Nevada. I can't have gone more than 200ft up any particular hill whereas a Kingsbury - Luther loop would start with a 3,000ft climb!
I was staggered that I could ride on country roads from the north east of london all the way to cambridge with very little traffic on most of the roads. I wonder why more people don't cycle around on such beautiful routes. One reason is perhaps the difficulties in navigating. Many times the signage was non-existent or deliberately misleading. 'Why?' you might ask. Well, I think the signs are designed to lead traffic away from quiet roads. I cycled about 8 miles away from Boreham Wood and came upon a sign at a T-Junction pointing right to Boreham Wood. At another time I saw signs pointing both left and right to the same village! Other times there were no signs. And at others there were places I was in thst were not on my map. Needless to say I spent a lot of time stopped just looking at the map and my route rarely worked out as I planned.
I left at 11.30, took a break at 15:15 and finally got home by 18:30. It was pitch dark by 17:00 and the last bit of the journey was not much fun but people gave me loads of room on the whole. My super-dooper front light failed after about 20 minutes. I guess the lead acid battery has deteriorated through lack of use.
It was nice to cycle through Hertingford Bury and have the chance to visit my Gran and Grandad's grave.
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