Woke on hard ground after a restless sleep, but the breeze
that had blown throughout the night and the cover of the trees, had kept the
tent perfectly dry. Had a cup of coffee when Julia woke as we had no milk for
tea, which also ruled out having cereal for breakfast. Packed up a nice dry
tent…silly the small things that can lift your spirits, but it means one less
thing we have to do on the road. Finding a place to eat and then unfolding your
wet tent and fly all over that spot to dry in the sun or breeze…means that spot
has to be thought about. Julia found out the computer password and went online
to see if she could find Lesley and Mark’s address using White Pages, but in
the end she sent both them and Georgina messages and got replies back from
both.
Off on our way, determined today to stay on the country
lanes whenever we could. However, our first ride into Somersham was on a B
road, but the traffic was good. Saw a Tesco Express here, a small Tesco’s and
bought what we needed for brekky. Whilst Julia was inside, I spoke to a guy who
was amazed to see us here as he’d seen us in Ely only last night. Had a chat
with him for a few minutes before he took off for work and then we carried on
up the road, where Ju spied a sports field of Somersham Town FC and we ate our
food in one of their sideline sheds, complete with table, two swivel chairs and
some other chairs. Stomachs satisfied,
it was off again on the way to Pidley.
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| Breakfast at Somersham FC |
Once again, although we had some cloud cover today, it was
very warm. However, we did have our old
friend, the headwind, back with us. Without it though the temperature would
have been unbearable. We were cruising
at a steady pace, the kms ticking by and managing to stay on country lanes. A
couple of times we had a few minutes on a B road, but only to cross to another
lane. Didn’t know how far it was to our destination in Desborough, but as the
day passed and the mileage crept up, we began to tire with the constant wind
and the ever undulating terrain. Seemed like every hill went up, with little or
no respite.
 |
| Lovely cottages in the village of Broughton |
Counting off the villages as
we rode, we were looking for one of them called Titchmarsh, which never
eventuated. Now we don’t know whether it was a village, a solitary house or an imaginary
name someone decided to throw in the mix, but by not finding it, we ended up
going probably 6-7 kms out of our way, as there was no one to ask directions
from. Really pissed off now, we finally came upon directions for Twywell, which
had been on our list.
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| Church in the village of Auldwincle - nt used for worship anymore. |
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| Instead it is used as a meeting place or somewhere for weary travellers to make a cup of tea.....or judging by the camp stretchers, to stay the night. Shame we didn't need anywhere tonight. |
Sat in the shelter and shade of a bus stop on a busy B
road eating tomato buns, which were the only food we had and a Kit Kat which
we’d bought from a snack caravan just by the bus stop along with a coke. This had been our first stop to have any form
of sustenance for 55kms. The only
problem with travelling through these quaint little villages is that none of
them had a shop!
The wind was only getting stronger and seemed determined to
stop us from getting to Desborough and the legs were really beginning to tire. Turned
off onto minor roads again to Grafton Underwold (lovely village), then Geddington,
crossed a major A road to get to Newton, then Rushton being the 26th
village we had cycled through today. Finally entered Desborough around 3.30pm,
not bad after such a very tiring 82 km ride. Found Lesley and Mark in their
Summer house in their small but very well put together back garden. Mark is
really into his gardening and it shows, lovely plants and shrubs.
After much needed showers, we all took a walk along the road
to Ray’s house, where we were going for aperitifs. It was great to see him again and he’s looking
well even though he’s had some trouble with a rotator cuff injury, which they
have now operated on. Still playing table tennis when his shoulder’s okay and
still beating guys in their twenties. Sat outside for a short while before the
heavens opened and we got soaked trying to bring in the garden seat covers.
Retired inside to carry on chatting, before we left Ray’s and walked back along
the road to attempt a BBQ, without rain.
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| Mark and Lesley's three gorgeous dogs, Bilbo at the front, Tufty on the left and Pickles |
Enjoyed a lovely meal and
conversation, sitting in the garden as the darker clouds rolled away. Julia, by
now could feel herself dropping off after such a tiring day, so she took
herself off, whilst we three sat around talking until finally crashing.
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