Wednesday, August 10th, 2017
Let me start with a statement: cycling through Great Britain is harder than over the Alps. Definitely. It's not about the height of the mountains; we're not going above the 450m this year. Last year we cycled steadily but surely over the Vosges, the Alpes and the apennines. It was hard, but not as tiring as climbing and descending continuously. Here in England it is only going up and down, up and down. One hill steeper than the other. And the many changes in the weather don't help either. We switched regularly between sunscreen, warm sweaters and poncho's in a quick pace (never a dull moment). We heard that it 5 degrees Celsius colder that usual and even the English complain about the many rain.
We stopped complaining (Remy btw, never complained but in the beginning I complained for the both of us). I can even say it doesn't effect us any more. Apparently you get used to it. And in the mean time we enjoy tremendously from the vistas, the lush green, the cozy (dry and warm) pubs, and the friendly British people.... at this time we have no desire to go home for a long time!
Somewhere in Shropshire at the edge of the forest, just beyond an impossible steep hill and close to the border with Wales and Herefordshire live the parents of my friend Penelope.Completely out of breath and near exhaustion, we arrived there last Saturday. Panting I told them I wouldn't leave anymore and Remy said panting That he'll go there by bicycle again. We staid until Monday. Penelope was there as well with her family and that of her sister as well. We had a wonderful weekend "off", on Sunday we visited typical English local festival in the village Herefordshire and went out on a walk through the Shopshire Woods.
In the mean time we're in the south of Wales and today we reached the highest point of this cycling holiday at 450 meters in Brecon Beacons National Park.Tomorrow we'll arrive in Cardiff and over a couple of days we'll be in Bristol. At the moment we're in the second half of the route, but still in the first half of our vacation.
Maybe we'll make an extra trip through south of England, but first London!
A small impression of Shropshire and Wales (click on the pictures to enlarge):
