Our first day was quite a day. We headed off @ 7:30 on Saturday 22nd July with a radiant sunshine and humming holiday tunes in our heads... and thinking of the long day waiting for us. After just 100 yards, a speeding car smelling of beer and redbull roared up the road, with noisy youths throwing cans at us, splashing Trave with redbull, opening car doors and shouting all sorts of things... then thankfully disappeared on the next corner. They really scared me! I think I even swore ;-( With hindsight this incident reminded me of The Motorcycle Diaries, when right at the start of their ride Alberto and Ernesto have a mishappen with a streetcar.
We then cruised along countryside roads, stopped at lunchtime in Moreton-in-Marsh where we bought sandwiches which we ate in a public park.
After about one hour after lunch, heavens suddenly opened: this was a big thunderstorm with lightnings and diluvian rain, leaving us to ride on a road covered with 2 inches of water... Luckily, we had 'waterproof' coats and had wrapped everything in bin liners and covered the panniers with waterproof covers. However, cycling became very challenging and my spirits were significantly down I must say!
We rushed into the first pub The Lamb Inn where we found very hospitable people who let us dump all our belongings in the hallway, gave us blankets to dry off and tumble-dried our so-called 'waterproof' coats.
We spent something like 4 hours drinking hot tea in this pub. The weather looked like it was never going to improve and we were starting to seriously consider staying overnight, but as we were starting to get ready to leave, a pinch of blue appeared in the sky and this was such a relief I tell you! :D
We arrived in Marston Meysey @ 19:30, pitched the tent, had a shower, and walked to the Red Lion, "first pub on the Thames" where Lewis Gordon Pugh had stopped a few days earlier at the beginning of his Thames Challenge. Although the food looked great (we both had ordered cheese and tomato ciabatta with chips) we were too tired to enjoy the food, but Melodie the Landlady organised the ciabatta to be wrapped for us, which was very kind.
Back to the tent... ZZzzzzzz...
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