No blog tonight. We did 57 km in the morning to Hertford and another 60 after lunch in convoy into London. Lots of dipsying and doodling. We just got finished dinner and back into our hotel & it is 10:30 pm. I'll try to get up early and put something together.
Our problem -- we have 1 day in London; what do we do? We're leaning to the Get On / Get Off bus tour. Any suggestions?
It's Wednesday now. We've been out & about London, but I'll start with more of Tuesday's story:
And here's a better view of the church.
Of course there are all kinds of pubs with interesting names. I'd never get anywhere if I took pictures of them all. But here is the classic 'Fox & Hounds.' I wonder how many of them there are in England.
Here is some of the group waiting in Hertford for the convoy to begin. Luckily there was a cafe across the road where we could get Lattes.
The convoy has begun. Here's Becky and Bruce following behind as I am riding along, holding the camera above my head, shooting blindly. Not smart, but I managed to get away with it.
Much of the convoy was cycling alongside the canals. In many cases the houses are built right up to the edge.
Lots of cobblestone sections of road - teeth jarring!
We stopped for a (much needed) pee break & coffee at High Bridge in the Lea River Valley
Narrow boats docked alongside in both directions.
These boats are upstream of many of the low bridges on the canal. I checked out a couple and they have pivoting masts with heavy counterweights to make it easy to swing them up & down. I suspect it makes them inefficient as sailing vessels.
I'm in the first half of the convoy at this moment. This is looking back as everybody climbs the switchbacks to get up and over the bridge.
One of the canal locks right in the city suburbs. It's amazing how extensive the canal network is. I assume it developed from times past when boats were the main means of transportation, but it is surprising how they have remained.
After many bike paths and some back streets, my first view of the Thames.
We were right in the city, but with the vehicle restrictions the streets were surprisingly quiet until we got near the hotel and hit some of the main streets.
There are some seriously busy cycle lanes on some of the main streets, and some of the cyclists are really flying by us. Luckily, no mishaps. The convoy gets split up often as half of us get caught by a red light.
At one point we saw half a dozen riders miss a turn and continue down the wrong street as a couple of us ducked into traffic and gave chase to round them up. It's not that bad as the traffic is moving slowly enough that cyclists can keep up with it and zig & zag.
Last shot if the day: We're lining up to "regroup" and get together as a single group. When it got crazy near the hotel, I stopped trying to take photos. That would have ended badly.
Touring London on the next installment.
