Monday April 27th, our last full day in London was like a “bonus” day since it wasn’t part of our original itinerary, and, consequently, we hadn’t made any plans, hence John’s pose on the end of our bed at “Hub Soho“, a perfectly functional hotel (we’ve used Hub before and they’re just fine) with typically outrageous London hotel prices (which you just accept if you’re staying in London. I mean, there’s no way we’re going to NYC right now to see theatre, so London is it.)
We decided to tour Kensington Palace so we walked through Hyde Park (again), and stopped at the beautiful memorial statue for Diana, given by princes William and Harry in 2021. N.B. there are three small children with Diana, Princess of Wales, in the statue. They are three random children, and not supposed to depict William or Harry; they are simply an eloquent expression of her love of all children. We toured Kensington Palace.
Travellers’ tip: there are more interesting palaces to visit in the UK. Skip this one. Seriously. However, right now, there is a fascinating show about Duleep Singh and the family’s connection to Victoria. That is well worth exploring.
We left Kensington Palace, walked more, grabbed dinner, saw Catherine Tate in Oh, Mary! – absurdist theatre which I enjoyed and John endured. Afterward, we made our way back through the ubiquitous London street crowds to the hotel (John stopped to recover with a milkshake) to pack our bags because our next day was the start of our cycling.
20,200 steps. Our last big steps day for a while!
Tuesday April 28th, bright and early we hopped on the Tube then onto the 1/2 hour Thames Link train to St. Albans. We Uber’d from the train station to Trek St. Albans where “Martyn” and his crew had replaced chains and brake cables (all very sadly and alarmingly, worn.) There was a last minute fix on John’s brake lights, we saddled up with the panniers, took off, and … at the first hill there were obvious mechanical problems: chains were choking. We turned back, Trek St. Albans removed the offending chain links, we set out again and … success!
The first part of our ride was through overcast and cool conditions but there was no rain. We entered Essex. The sun came out. The thatched roofs and canola (a.k.a. “rape”) fields appeared, and once again, that feeling of “riding euphoria” – IYKYK – became apparent. Wind on our faces and legs, kilometre after kilometre of just seeing, hearing, smelling. It cannot be beat.
We found our hotel – the Cross Keys Pub in Saffron Walden – unpacked the bikes, stowed them in a shed in the car park (luxury) – and checked into the pub for the Tuesday Special – Pies and Pints.
68.5 km, a long ride (4+ hours?) which was long for a first day of riding, but flat, and completely do-able.
