To ride a bicycle properly is very like a love affair—chiefly it is a matter of faith. Believe you do it, and the thing is done; doubt, and, for the life of you, you cannot. - From: The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll by H.C. Wells
Both Remy and Mr. Hoopdriver from the book, met a lady along the way. How it ends with Mr. Hoopdriver and the lady, I don't know yet, because I haven't got that far with reading yet. But how Remy fared further, you know. He has since married, and the lady in question was as happy as can be. Yes, was! Until the day before yesterday...
Click on the photo's to enlarge.
We chose England because it feels ‘just around the corner’ to us. It is only six kilometres to the port of Hook of Holland where the night boat takes us across. When we arrive in Harwich, it starts fantastic: the sun is shining and at the harbour we meet Rien and Anke, who have just finished cycling and are taking the day boat back. We wave goodbye to each other and a little later we cycle through the idyllic English countryside.
We cycle the Heart of England route first. From Harwich, via London and Bristol, to Land's End. We already cycled a few small parts of this route in 2017, but that doesn't matter. In any case, it is a nice route to start with, as we still start fairly flat. We didn't prepare for this cycling holiday at all. All we had done was booking the boat, and we had bought a route guide of the route along the south coast. But at the last minute we decided otherwise, and now we are going along the south coast on the way back. Until time runs out, and then take the train back to Harwich.
As I write this newsletter, it is Sunday, and we are in a cheap but fine hotel in the heart of London. We were also here seven years ago, and again our bikes are allowed in the room. That was actually the reason we wanted to come here again. And we are happy with the TV in the room (see photo). Today it rained all day, which took some getting used to after two beautiful sunny days.
But now to why I was the day before yesterday no longer happy with Remy. In 2022, I met the Walking Woman in Oslo. It didn't click between us because she ran off with my bike. In 2023, I met her again in the same place, but then I was with Remy. And what did the bitch do? She ran off with Remy! That eventually worked out. But who did we meet in Colchester on Saturday? Right, the same Walking Woman. And Remy let himself be taken in by her again...
The Walking Woman in Oslo, 2022 en 2023
The Walking woman in Colchester, 2024
And we had bought new wedding rings recently! We lost our first wedding rings a long time ago. They were admittedly very cheap, but still. It's all about the symbolism. I lost mine pretty soon while swimming in the Baltic Sea, in Denmark. And later, Remy lost his in a forest in Germany. For years, we wanted new ones, and now it has finally happened. Whereas our first rings were titanium, now they are white and red gold. A few days before we left for England, we were able to put them on our fingers.
It did not end well with the Walking Women. She fled, and Remy is now just cycling with me again. All's well that ends well.
Excerpt from The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll by H.C. Wells:
The Young Lady in Grey was also riding a bicycle. She was dressed in a beautiful bluish-gray, and the sun behind her drew her outline in gold and left the rest in shadow. Hoopdriver was dimly aware that she was young, rather slender, dark, and with a bright colour and bright eyes. Strange doubts possessed him as to the nature of her nether costume. He had heard of such things of course. French, perhaps. Her handles glittered; a jet of sunlight splashed off her bell blindingly. She was approaching the high road along an affluent from the villas of Surbiton. The roads converged slantingly. She was travelling at about the same pace as Mr. Hoopdriver. The appearances pointed to a meeting at the fork of the roads.
