Pittsburgh to West Newton

So after a wonderful week with our English friends (Just Ducky Tour, Primanti's, PennMac, Pittsburgh Public Theatre for Noises Off, REI and Thick Bikes, a party with friends to meet friends, and of course the traditional mani/pedi appointment) we headed off to do the GAP and C & O to DC. The final Pittsburgh tradition was breakfast on Sunday at Eat-n-Park. We rode as far as Cedar Creek Park where we walked up the gorge and then doubled back to the Bright Morning B & B. Our first day out was blessed with perfect weathers good food and good conversation. Laughter was in plentiful supply and we expect that will continue as we head east and south. After all the planning and anticipation, we have not been disappointed for a minute.

Bury St. Edmunds to Saffron Walden

We left the B & B in Bury and travelled toward Saffron Walden. Our ride took us through Moulton, where we saw a unique bridge, made for packhorses. Built in the 13th century so that packhorses could cross the river even in flood times, the high arch over the ford was a challenge made for Bob and Roger. They rode up and over it, even though there was a step at each end. We approached Newmarket, where we planned our lunch stop. Luck was with us, and we passed the training grounds for racehorses just as they were being led from one area to another. Watching the thoroughbreds crossing the road was breathtaking. We may even have seen some of the Queen's horses, since that is where they are kept. Newmarket is a bustling town, as one of our friends said, the Kentucky of England. It was also the scene of our only minor crisis. Roger had broken a spoke earlier and when we set off after lunch, Roger and Bob decided to try a quick visit to a bike shop. It turned out to be not so quick, and we waited and wondered where they were when we arrived at our first turn out of town. While we debated what to do, they appeared and reunited, we headed down the road to lunch in West Wratting. The countryside was beautiful, and with fewere hedges lining the lanes, we were able to enjoy them. We passed through Saffron Walden to Littlebury. The Queen's Head B & B had only been under its new ownership for about seven weeks. Our rooms were clean and cozy, the food and service was fabulous. The plumbing will need sorting out, but if they keep heading in the direction they are going they will be successful. Claire, my darling was a wonderful hostess and her three-year-old daughter was a sweetie who stretched with us. Sadly, we headed back to Stevenage on Sunday morning, which was a beautiful sunny day, punctuated by a visit with Bev's former colleague Mike and his partn Simon. They live in an actual thatched cottage with a gorgeous garden. To get there, we passed through the village of Nasty. Fortunately, we skirted Ugly. Our visit with Mike and Simon of course included tea and much admiration of their beautiful house and property. We rolled back into Stevenage in time to have dinner at the local Chinese restaurant.

Catching up

Monday night we headed into London where Bev's sister Denni had gotten us wonderful seats at a dress rehearsal performance of Private Lives. It has provided us with many tag lines as we ride through the English countryside. It was delightful meeting Bev's sister, about whom we have heard so much. She was as lovely as promised. The next morning, Roger and Chris dutifully showed up and we set out to cycle through the English countryside. Those of us who have been following our blogs for years might remember our account of our trip from Canterbury to Dover. Rain, hail, punctures, tall hedgerows, stinging nettles. This is different. Not every place has hedgerows, so there is actually scenery. Exactly what you might expect for English countryside. Our first destination was Thaxted, a village whose name actually means "thatched rooves." We ride past s windmill, forded a stream, had tea in a place called Finchingfield. We would be hard-pressed to find a more traditional English scene: a duck pond, ancient buildings, a guild hall. Our inn had a marvelous dinner and a full English breakfast, just perfect for cycling. Thursday was Thaxted to Sudbury. We detoured so that we could visit Holders Meadows, a town named after us! We frightened some sheep, travelled cross-country through grassy fields on a bridle trail, and ended up in Sudbury. We opted that night for Prezzo, an Italian chain which serves fabulous food with excellent service. On the way we stopped for lunch in Halsted, where our friend Bev grew up. Their flat and photography shop was just across the street from a church whose bells thoroughly annoyed Bev's father. We paid homage to the places she lived and enjoyed a great meal served by Andrea from Hungary. After lunch we visited a round church, built by the Templars (see the Da Vinci Code) where we were lucky to come upon the church being cleaned and set up for this weekend's service. Traveling with a former Archdeacon of the Anglican Church has its advantages. Chris knows her churches. We spent the night in a beautiful spacious bed and breakfast and set out on a short day. Tea was in Levanham, an incredible Medieval town. We enjoyed tea there, despite the drizzle. It was like stepping back in time. Their church was gorgeous, St. Peter and St. Paul, which we visited. It was one of the "wool churches," a church built from wool money. The day ended in Bury St. Edmunds, where we attended Evensong at the cathedral and then enjoyed an authentic English pub dinner. Shepherd's pie and fish and chips revived us. Tomorrow we head through New Market to Saffron-Walden. We are already planning our trip from DC to Pittsburgh next year. But first: mani and pedis in Stevenage next week.

Arrival

So far, everything we hoped for. John picked all of us up at the airport: Roger and Chris came in from their trip in Maine and near DC and we all arrived about the same time at Heathrow. Without missing a beat, we fell into our "routine." Lots of good conversation, food and wine. Yesterday, after arriving in Stevenage at about 9:00 a.m., we took a short nap and then had lunch got settled in. Roger and Chris joined us for dinner and we all got caught up on recent adventures. Today was devoted to a bike ride around Stevenage, during which we sorted out any difficulties we might have with the bikes on our trip. After a wonderful breakfast of eggs and backn,we walked to Roger and Chris's house, which we hadn't seen yet. They moved to Stevenage in November upon their retirement. We adjusted seat heights, pannier brackets and mirrors (we're in the wrong side of the road here!) and took off for a test ride of the area. It does take some getting used to riding on the left. The method we settled on was a Brit in the front to lead and a Brit in the back to make sure we conformed. We stopped at a local pub for a delicious lunch, and Beverly and John returned home so that Beverly could make an afternoon appointment. We continued riding with Roger and Chris to try to work off some of the fabulous meals that we've already had. Last night's dinner was slow roasted lamb, buttered potatoes and flat beans. Today's lunch was a giant baked potato (known here as a "jacket potato") filled with tuna salad. We rode by their daughter Issy's house and managed to see Steve, Georgina and Danny just as they were leaving for the afternoon swimming lesson. A relaxing couple of hours in the kitchen was followed by venison meatballs and cauliflower rice. (Note to ski trip group: much better than Ruby Tuesday's Creamy Mashed Cauliflower.) Tomorrow is London. Our plan is to go to the British Museum (I want to see the Rosetta Stone. Shawna will get this.) then, Bev's sister has gotten us tickets to see Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre. Life is good.

Night-before jitters

After an extraordinarily (even for us) busy week, we are in that state where we are waiting for the trip to begin. Do we have everything? Have we thought of everything for those we are leaving behind? Will our flights go smoothly? And most importantly, when will we be getting our nails done? Well, actually that is Maggie's thought and most probably not Bob's. we three Trans-Atlantic pals have our traditions. Looking forward to the visits. Adventures lie ahead. And pubs. Thank God thee will be pubs.

The Roycroft to home

We had a great dinner in a Mexican Restaurant just a couple of blocks away from our Inn. Afterwards we walked around the town and explored what is called the "campus" of the Roycrofters, the craftsmen who worked in the area. Some time reading our books in the lobby of the Inn finished the evening, and we went back to the room to enjoy a peaceful, quiet night's sleep. Finally. Sleeping through the night helped us to wake up earlier than the day before, an advantage considering we had a 40 mile ride and then a four-hour drive ahead of us. We took NY Rte 240 on the advice of the general store owner on Saturday. It was scenic and for the most part quiet, though we lost the shoulder about halfway to Ellicottville. Not as hilly as Sundays's ride, it still had its share of climbing. We reached Ellicottville a little after noon and returned to our car at the Kelly House. We were greeted by the family we had bonded with on Friday night who handed us clean towels and showed us where the showers were for the large group rooms. We quickly showered and headed to Dina's for lunch. Not the same without Patti, Bob and Jeff, but we were pleasantly surprised that the waitress recognized us. After lunch, we got a picture of her with Bob in front of the cookie case, then packed up and left. A good time was had by all.

E. Aurora: cute, very cute!

Yesterday was a rather long day of riding, punctuated by the fording of the stream and we checked into the Park Lake Motel in Perry tired and ready for a good night's sleep. If only. After showering and walking to the town's "fine dining" restaurant via the very bad directions given us by a very nice lady, we had dessert and hiked back to the motel. We sank into the bed, turned out the light and drifted into a deep sleep. Until 40 minutes later when the fire hall across the street sounded the alarm. For 20 minutes. Truckes were dispatched, we assume the fire was out, and we went back to sleep. Until 20 minutes later when the group in the room next door came back from the wedding they attended, determined to continue the celebration in the next room. It was like a replay of Friday night, only louder, since our rooms were adjoining and the doors which separated them were VERY thin. We read for a while, but they showed no signs of winding down. When I went to the bathroom, I realized that in the bathroom/kitchen area, I couldn't hear the ruckus because of the air conditioner. So at 1:30 a.m. we rearranged the room, putting the kitchen table near the closet and moving our mattress to the corner of the kitchen. Success. But even though we slept until after 7:30, it was barely enough to get us through the rollercoaster riding of the day. It is worth noting that cycling in this part of New York State should always be north-south, but since we were doing a triangle, today as the east-west portion. We rode along the high plateau for a bit, then plunged down to Warsaw. Really down. Really steep and long down. We stopped for a drink to fortify ourselves for the inevitable trip back up, and that was the plan for the rest of the day. We climbed and climbed, then plunged, then climbed and climbed, then plunged. Rinse and repeat. No towns of note along the way, just a convenience store in Orangeville, and an old-fashioned general store in Wales where we had ice cream and got route advice from the owner of the store. It was such an old fashioned place that while we were there a man came in and gave the owner his card because he wants to use it for a movie. I seriously expected Sam Drucker to pop out any minute. Incidentally, a rousing recommendation for Hershey's Roadrunner Raspberry ice cream. From there we went up and down a couple more times and then rolled into E. Aurora. The teenage girl at the convenience store back in Orangeville had told us, "Oh,E. Aurora. It's cute, really cute. It's like a mini-city!" Which Orangeville was definitely not. E. Aurora is the birthplace of the Arts and Crafts movement, and the town is beautiful. The Roycroft Inn, which we had decided to splurge on, is stunning. We are on the first floor in a three room suite, the bathroom of which is bigger than our entire hotel rooms in NYC. Our bike is in a suite of its own across the hall, no locking it to a fence in the parking lot. The desk clerk wanted to make sure we had plenty of room. We are ever so glad for this decision, because this is probably one of the nicest rooms we have ever stayed in, including the Waldorf. And we're pretty sure the clientele will not be having loud parties. At least we know our bike won't be, and it's the closest other guest! Yay! Time for a nap and then dinner in town.