Ride 2 – Cambridge to Chester (1064 kms) – May 2023
Now we are stoked (get it – Stoke-On-Trent?) for more England cycling, plus a good taste of Wales.
On our first trip the previous fall we intended to visit Bletchley Park (of Enigma code breaking fame) but were denied due to a national holiday. This trip we planned ahead to ensure success. A wonderful exhibit. It’s easy to feel the second world war activity – people poring over documents, machinery crunching numbers, typists entering encrypted data.
The cycling through Oxfordshire was sublime. Gently rolling countryside and quaint villages and small towns. As we entered Oxford we passed by the huge factory producing Austin Minis. We stayed two nights in Oxford, with our precious trikes chained up with hundreds of others in the main square. Terrifying, but luckily nobody damaged or stole them.
The academic and religious buildings in Oxford are spectacular.
After Oxford we rode into the hilly and lovely Cotswolds, and stayed a couple of nights with our friend Brian in his house in Blockley. Then visited spectacular cathedrals in Tewkesbury and Gloucester. Both of our Enviolo electronic gear shifters failed in Thornbury, just before the Severn Bridge near Bristol. Chris, from ICE Trikes, drove four hours from his Falmouth factory in Cornwall with replacements. Over-the-top customer service.
We were very impressed with Cardiff, and with our fantastic ride criss-crossing the England-Wales border up to Chester, near Liverpool. Great hill climbing challenges and incredible views. We left the trikes in storage in Chester, stayed a couple of nights in Liverpool (hosting Eurovision while we were there!), took the train back to London and flew home.