Days 1 and 2 - MN to Bath

Very smooth and successful travels to Bath, despite the ominous 1.5 hour late departure from Minneapolis Thursday night. We actually touched down at Heathrow Airport 15 minutes early! To add to our good fortune, we sailed through Immigration Control, our bag was waiting for us at the claim, and we got an earlier bus to Bath than we had reserved. From our front door to Bath's Avon B & B took a total of 15 hours, amazing when you thin about time and distances.

We had our bikes delivered to the B & B by Ian of Iron Donkey, our tour outfitter - we'll do a shakedown ride tomorrow and adjust as needed. We of course brought more (or perhaps heavier) stuff than we recall having on our 2005 MN to Yale journey, but the daily distances are not as daunting so we should be OK.

Had a very simple first evening - a walk around the Bath town center to try and clear our heads, a cappucino, and a great experience hanging out at the Royal Oak pub across the street from our B & B. We greatly advanced our knowledge of cricket (not saying much there) by watching England play Australia in what appeared to be a very major series (won't leave you hanging breathless for the outcome - England lost by 4 after a valiant comeback!). The local ale was lovely and the plate of chili-smothered french fries was straight out of State Fair - note to self when reading menu, "chips" are FRENCH FRIES not taco chips, right!

Got a very good night's sleep with the aid of Tylenol PM (thank you Carolyn S.) and had a "full English Breakfast" to fortify us for the shakedown ride. We found the Bath-to-Bristol Bikeway quite easily, a very charming route along the river Avon with wonderful passenger barge boats going through small hand-crank locks. We biked about 16 miles out and back on the bikeway and got to know the bikes a bit better. We also moved our mirrors to the right side and I for one am amazed at how hard it is to train your eyes to look back the opposite way! I still am doing double (triple)-takes at drivers sitting on the right side...

The Avon-Bristol Bikeway

The Avon and Beautiful Bath

We followed the bike with a great walkabout of Bath including a "home tour" of No. 1 Royal Crescent- the Royal Crescent was a prominent backdrop in the BBC version of Jane Austen's "Persuasion", a great favorite of mine. Fun to see it firsthand, now I have to watch the film again! Had "Cream Tea" at a small shop (consists of 2 scones, clotted cream, jam and tea, so good) and in a short time Peter and I will walk over to my cousin Chris' home in Bath for dinner - I will be seeing my two cousins and their wives for only the third time in my life - first was in 1963, second in 2003 - at least we didn't delay for quite so long this time!