Sophie & Rick roll into Lea Valley Park. It's done!
Regent's Park Gardens.
Inside the Palace walls at the Tower of London. The tudor building on the left was the house King Henry had built for Anne. Unfortunately it wasn't finished until after he had her executed. The private execution ground just inside the grassy area just right of center.
Our tour guide pointing out the gates where boats could come in from the Thames. He notes they were called the "water gates" and gleefully notes, "we had it first!"
Well Sophie and Rick finished LEL and well within the time limit, pulling in together tired but smiling. Stories among the riders all centered around the weather and the effect it had on their average speeds or ability to finish. hundreds of riders crammed together in small rooms at more than one control in their wet gear for several hours, unable to even lay down for lack of space, waiting out a storm.
Sophie had skinned knees and a scrape on one elbow...GPS error apparently. She and Rick were riding together and trying to read their GPS screens on the roll and collided. Rick said the first time Sophie went flying and smacked her head pretty good. He still just shakes his head and says, "oh, man..." I don't think words can describe what must have been going through his head that night. But, she was wearing her helmet and scrapes and bruises don't slow Sophie down much so off they went...only to repeat the same trick later on!
A lot of riders were not able to finish. Mark Roberts had entered, knowing he would have a tough time of it if he were able to finish, since he was still recovering from slipped disc and had not been able to train in his usual way. He had to drop out. Ken Bonner finished several hours ahead of Rick and Sophie, but not up to his expectations. Weather.
I started my day out still in London with a few more places on my list. Amy and I had a great time viewing Buckingham Palace. We were both impressed with the condition of everything. Having seen the White House I expected the same sort of dated, run-down look to things, but most rooms were almost like new...except really old! It was a very interesting tour, we had audio guide headphones, and I'm very glad to have done that. Amy and I had a nice lunch at a Tapas bar/restaurant I'd noticed earlier that day, then she headed home and I took the tube over to the Tower of London for another interesting tour. This time I joined up with what they call a "Yeoman-guided tour." Our tour guide was retired military with a flare for acting. They dress them up in an old-fashioned uniform and this guy was pretty funny. The Tower of London is the castle where Henry the VIII (among others) lived while in London. It is most famous as a prison and as the place where so many famous people were executed. The public execution grounds were just up the hill from the Tower/castle itself. Within the walled grounds, though, wass the private execution spot. As our guide explained it, to be exectued at the private spot, you had to be a friend of the king! His wives, Anne and Catherine were both executed on the private grounds.
A lot of riders were not able to finish. Mark Roberts had entered, knowing he would have a tough time of it if he were able to finish, since he was still recovering from slipped disc and had not been able to train in his usual way. He had to drop out. Ken Bonner finished several hours ahead of Rick and Sophie, but not up to his expectations. Weather.
I started my day out still in London with a few more places on my list. Amy and I had a great time viewing Buckingham Palace. We were both impressed with the condition of everything. Having seen the White House I expected the same sort of dated, run-down look to things, but most rooms were almost like new...except really old! It was a very interesting tour, we had audio guide headphones, and I'm very glad to have done that. Amy and I had a nice lunch at a Tapas bar/restaurant I'd noticed earlier that day, then she headed home and I took the tube over to the Tower of London for another interesting tour. This time I joined up with what they call a "Yeoman-guided tour." Our tour guide was retired military with a flare for acting. They dress them up in an old-fashioned uniform and this guy was pretty funny. The Tower of London is the castle where Henry the VIII (among others) lived while in London. It is most famous as a prison and as the place where so many famous people were executed. The public execution grounds were just up the hill from the Tower/castle itself. Within the walled grounds, though, wass the private execution spot. As our guide explained it, to be exectued at the private spot, you had to be a friend of the king! His wives, Anne and Catherine were both executed on the private grounds.
By the time I'd finished this tour and made my way back to my hotel I was pretty tired. I opted to try a near-by pub for dinner, though and ordered fish and chips, which I had not tried yet in England. This pub was quite old, and very cutsied up with flowers outside. Their menu claimed they often served members of the royal family. I'm thinking if they served my fish & chips to King Henry, he'd have sent them to the public execution grounds. lots of bones in the fish, hardly any fish, gummy batter... Bad service. Couldn't even flag down a waiter to tell him I wasn't going to eat this stuff. Finally, I settled for placing the platter close to the edge of my table, still full of food, and writing "WORST FISH & CHIPS I'VE EVER HAD" in big letters on my napkin. I left the display there where everyone walking by on their way to the restroom stairs would see it.
Of the things I had not yet seen by my last day, one was Westminster Abby. Since that didn't open until 9:30, I opted for an early morning jaunt to Regency Park, which was noted in my guide book as the prettiest park in London. While I'm sorry not to have seen Westminster, I'm very glad I saw the gardens in Regent's Park. London has huge parks and they are all very soothing green spaces, well-manicured and without much dog poop to ruin things. Regent's Park is a huge green space as well (487 acres!), but within that space are several large gardens where dogs are not even allowed. I spent nearly two hours just walking through the garden spaces (just a small part of the whole park, which is really a small part of another much larger park!) Incredible. Right out of Fine Gardening. English gardens, formal gardens, roses everywhere, trellises, ponds with black swans, fountains, huge urns planted with imaginative plant combinations. Wow.
But then it was time to scoot back to Cheshunt so I hopped back onto the tube back to my hotel, grabbed my stuff, bought a train ticket to Cheshunt via Liverpool Street tube station and was on my way.
All went like clockwork until I got to the National Train station at Liverpool Street. No more trains today. They're on strike! Now what. The slightly confused railway info people sent me up a flight of stairs with the vague instructions to go to bus stop 'E' and take bus #149 to "something Green" and then transfer to another bus there and then... What??? "just go up there and they'll tell you what bus to take."
No idea who "they" were supposed to be but I found myself on the street with no "they" in sight. There was a bus stop "E" though, so I went there just as the 149 pulled up so I got onboard and away we went.
For miles, we meandered through London suburbs and I had no idea if we were even heading in the right direction. Finally I pulled out my phone, pulled up the directions from current location to Cheshunt and it said I was on the right bus (yeay!) and told me I needed to switch to the 279 to Waltham Cross, which I actually recognised as the next burg from Cheshunt. My 30 minute train ride that would land me next to the LEL finish line, just turned into a nearly 2 hour bus ride that would land me in the next town. Oh well, life's an adventure. I had just stepped off the bus in Waltham Cross about 12:30 when Rick called to say they were about 60k out from the finish and hoped to be there in about 3 hours. Guess I didn't need to worry about being late!
Apparently getting from Waltham Cross to Cheshunt was going to take two more buses so I grabbed a taxi from across the street and got myself to the hotel.
Unloading the car and checking in didn't take nearly as long as working up the courage to drive Sophie's parent's car to the Lea Valley park. I was about to just leave it and ride my bike over to greet them when another rain storm came through. A, I didn't want to ride in the rain. And B, I didn't want to have to ask Sophie and Rick to ride even a few more kilometers in the rain.
What I feared most was not the driving on the left, but the who has the right of way thing. I even had trouble at a lighted intersection figuring out when to go and when to stop! They have yellow lights both turning to red and turning to green. I tried to yield to just about everyone and didn't get too flustered when people honked at me. I got lost once and had to turn around, and that was the hardest part. I finally got there. No harm, no foul. On the way back I tried to get Rick to drive but he refused. We stopped at a store on the way back to the hotel. It was only a few blocks but I'd been honked at several times and when I asked Rick if he was ready to drive yet, he immediately said, "yes!" fine with me.
Many riders on LEL had problems with the riding on the left thing. Fatigue sets in and old habits take over. It was Sophie's biggest fear and they caught each other doing it several times, right turns into the near lane, wide lefts into the far lane. Bad idea. One rider did hit a car head-on. I heard rumors of a broken jaw, but wonder about that as Sophie and Rick reported that after a trip to the ER he decided to try to finish the ride. His bike was toast but another rider who had dropped out due to health issues loaned him a bike and from what I understand he did finish. Some 25% of riders were not able to finish this ride.
I'm not sure Rick or Sophie will ever want to do it again. Sophie said no, but she did express an interest in riding more in Scotland. Even with the relentless rain, the beauty of that area impressed her greatly.
As I write this Sophie & Rick are snoozing behind me. We were able to cancel our London-Paris segment of our return so we could drive back to France with Sophie. She was worried about driving in England and I don't blame her. Due to horrible traffic in England and our recollection of the long lines for customs on the England side, we are planning to leave here around 2am to catch a 5am ferry back to France, where people drive on the right side of the road and don't queue up for miles to cross a river and think customs is just a chance to wave hello to folks!
Since Rick will drive in England and Sophie will drive in France, I'm not too worried about sleep yet. No more internet after this either, so I'll upload some pics and this message and probably will see you before I write any more.
What I feared most was not the driving on the left, but the who has the right of way thing. I even had trouble at a lighted intersection figuring out when to go and when to stop! They have yellow lights both turning to red and turning to green. I tried to yield to just about everyone and didn't get too flustered when people honked at me. I got lost once and had to turn around, and that was the hardest part. I finally got there. No harm, no foul. On the way back I tried to get Rick to drive but he refused. We stopped at a store on the way back to the hotel. It was only a few blocks but I'd been honked at several times and when I asked Rick if he was ready to drive yet, he immediately said, "yes!" fine with me.
Many riders on LEL had problems with the riding on the left thing. Fatigue sets in and old habits take over. It was Sophie's biggest fear and they caught each other doing it several times, right turns into the near lane, wide lefts into the far lane. Bad idea. One rider did hit a car head-on. I heard rumors of a broken jaw, but wonder about that as Sophie and Rick reported that after a trip to the ER he decided to try to finish the ride. His bike was toast but another rider who had dropped out due to health issues loaned him a bike and from what I understand he did finish. Some 25% of riders were not able to finish this ride.
I'm not sure Rick or Sophie will ever want to do it again. Sophie said no, but she did express an interest in riding more in Scotland. Even with the relentless rain, the beauty of that area impressed her greatly.
As I write this Sophie & Rick are snoozing behind me. We were able to cancel our London-Paris segment of our return so we could drive back to France with Sophie. She was worried about driving in England and I don't blame her. Due to horrible traffic in England and our recollection of the long lines for customs on the England side, we are planning to leave here around 2am to catch a 5am ferry back to France, where people drive on the right side of the road and don't queue up for miles to cross a river and think customs is just a chance to wave hello to folks!
Since Rick will drive in England and Sophie will drive in France, I'm not too worried about sleep yet. No more internet after this either, so I'll upload some pics and this message and probably will see you before I write any more.
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