15th - 25th July - London and Thames Valley cycle + Kennett & Avon Cycle paths

15th Spent the morining checking emails and searching for/buying camping & bike gear for the rest of our trip. We walked to Southside shopping centre and bought some lunch which we ate at a local park and saw some quite little squirrels. Had some beer/champagne and nibbles with Robert and Elisabeth when they returned home from work.Then had dinner and Robert took David over to Tim's to pick up our bikes. They didn't fit in the porche so Tim and Pat kindly drove them over to Robert and Elisabeths for us. Had a quick look at the bikes before retiring for the night at around midnight.

16th Unpacked the bikes completely and set them up for each of us. We took them for a short ride heading to Wandsworth Park.David found some movement in his front forks so we stopped by Stratton cycles where a friendly ike mechanic fixed the problem. We then bought our bottle cages, 2 inner tubes, a heay duty lock that he suggested would be a good idea, a hex spanner and a casp for Davids rear light. We then road on to Wandsworth park where we had lunch We passed an unusual car park on the Thames near Putney.We cycled on to a couple more bike shops where we bought our handle bar bags and some attachment to fit them. When we arrived back at the appartment our tent had arrived so we were all set to head off on our ride on the Thames Valley cycleway. Marcus our tour leader from our 2006 Indo china trip came and picked us up and took us back to his plce in Tooting for a BBQ. We met his lovely partner Jo, a couple of their friends and their neighbours.We had a great evening in the courtyard that he had recently ladscaped. We ended up catching the Bus back to Robert and Elisabeths as it stopped very close to their appartment.

17th Woke at around 7am and took ages to get all our gear together and get going. We ended up leaving at around 11am wearing our long sleve jerseys and knicks. We only rode a short distance when we decided to put on our long lycra pants as it was cold, cloudy and windy. We cycled along to the Start of the route, Putney bridge, then off inland to Roehampton Gates into Richmond Park. We saw many deer eating in the grasslands.We rode on through to Ham gate, Ham common and past Ham House (A national trust house- we decided we could stop in to see it on our return as we were running behind schedule). It started to rain so we had to don our rain jackets. We kept on cyclig no problems, the bikes were cruising along, easy gear changing, nice and smooth etc. Rode by Kingston-upon-Thames and across the beautiful bridge, passed through Teddingtonand then onto Hampton Court Palace where we stopped to take a few pictures as it had stopped raining. We were getting very hungr by this stage so bought something to eat and stopped at Molesey Lock to eat it. We watched a couple of boats passing through the lock. It was a very pretty ride, lots of peole rowing on the river and many narrow boats. We stopped for coffee/hot chocolate at a kiosk at Walton-on-Thames and had a chat with the guy working there. It started to rain again but we continued on. We kept on cycling to Weybridge then on to Chertsey and stopped in at a caravan park for the night. We set up our tent and headed back to the Kingfisher for yummy dinner of braised stuffed English pork and hunters chicken.

18th Had breakfast in the tent then packed up and cycled up the river to Staines. We got a little lost at Egham then found our way to Runnymede, rode up our first testing hill (Uphill on gravel) and stopped off at the Commonwealth Air Forces Memmorial with its sweeping views of the valley to Heathrow.Went through Bishops gate into Windsor Great Park where we saw other cyclists and people ridinghorses. It reminded us of Centennial Park in Sydney. We rode into Windsor and took some photos of the castle.There were heaps of tourists everywhere so we crossed the river and cycled through Eton,then following the cycle path along the Thames. We stopped to buy lunch in Maidenhead and looked for somewhere to eat, eventually stopping at a little park in the middle of the suburban area. We rode on through many small streets zig-zagging our way, and then up through forest for our second hill of the day - Knoll Hill. Descended into Wargrave and then followed the A4 into Reading. Lost our way heading along the Kennet & Avon canal route by mistake. We retraced our steps and found the right route and headed off eventually stopping off to camp in Gallowstree Common as it was raining and we were getting tired.We ate nuts and dried fruit for dinner in our tent and we had run out of water.

19th Packed up our forrest tent and headed down the quiet and wet lane looking for somewhere to get water and have breakfast. We Rode to Stoke Row but nothing was open but we managed to fill our drink bottles at the local school.Cycling to Wallingford for breakfast we missed the turn and ended up in Checkendon which was a lovely little town with very old wonky buildings.After breakfast we then rode through Brightwell-Cum-Sotwell full of many old buildings with thatched roofs.Rode around Didcot power station, where the sun finally shone.We made it to Abbingdon and had lunch at the blue boar pub. We rode past its medieval gardens and Abbey on to Oxford. Oxford was very crowded with pople all over the roads and footpaths as it was the begining of the Summer holidays and a weekend.We ended up cycling on to Pinkhill lock where we camped on an island in the middle of the Thames river.There was one othr couple campig there who were canoeing their way down the Thames.

20th Beautifull sunny start to the day. We had our breakfast on the dock by the river and we didn't want to leave.We headed off back to Oxford around 10am and managed to get a train to Gloucester. We packed up our bikes into their carry cases for the very first time and found it very difficult to manuvre with the 2 panniers in the other hand. We caught 3 consecutive fast trains, the first to Didcot, 2nd to Swindon and the final one to Gloucester. We cycled in to the centre of town where all the churches were ringing their bells, including the Cathedral which we had a look inside.We had Sunday roast at the Tall Ship pub near the historic wharf area. We then road on down the Gloucester-Sharpness canal along the tow path. We saw a swing bridge in action, the controller had to manually wind the bridge into place and was very helpful with directions on where to get food for dinner.When we came across the next bridge he had phoned ahead to the guy on duty their to make sure we went the right way. We rode on to Gables Farm caravan and camping at Moreton Valence.

21st Woke up to another sunny day. Woo hoo. We were on our way riding to Bristol following bike route 41 without any maps. We made our way back to the canal then cycling along quiet streets to Frampton on Severn, passing small farm villages- very old stone buildings built in the 1850's. We also rode along roads with 10ft high hedges on either side. We stopped along the way and called our Mums and Chris who was working back late.It was great to hear their voices. We stopped at a cafe along the canal for morning teaand the route took us off the canal through farm land and beautiful scenery. Through many small towns each with its own very old fort like church and pub. We stopped off at the white horse pub for lunch at around 2pm where the locals were very entertaining.We then rode on past the 2 bridges that cross the Severn where we could see Wales on the other side.Lost our way and cycled back past one of the bridges making it to Bristol at around 5pm. Managed to get to the Sustrans office to buy maps for our future trips and booked in to the YHA. We bought a bottle of wine, some cheese, chips and olives and had them by the water with the other tourists.
22nd We had a great nights sleep, waking at 7am and had a huge buffet breakfast downstairs. We checked out, set up our bikes on the pavement and set off for Bath along the Bristol to Bath railway path. Lots of people riding into Bristol (maybe to work). We took in the magnificent scenery passing under many tunnels, old platforms and lush vegetation including the canopy. The path was smooth and we made good time to Bath. Rode through the centre of town looking at all the old/historic buildings. Took photos of the Abby and the Roman baths. Didn’t think it was worth the $44 to go in and see the baths so just looked over the wall.
Lots of people everywhere, naturally being a tourist town. We did go in and see the Assembly building a national trust building where they once held balls and other society functions. We rode on to Bathampton where we had lunch in a pub overlooking the Kennet and Avon Canal, very pretty. Rode on down the canal passing many narrow boats with tourists, alternative lifestyle people (ferrals) and such, amazing. We passed Dundas and Avoncliff aquaducts
and stopped off at the historic Bradford on Avon. Stopped at the tourist info and a very helpful lady let us phone through to a campsite four our nights accommodation near Devises. We went on a short tour stopping off at The Bridge (a very wonky old building with a very small door),then along the shambles down to The Shambles down to the old stone bridge and passed by a 14th century Saxon church. We rode on to our overnight camping spot by the river near send. The campground was right next to a Pub called the Three Magpies so after dinner we went over for a pint.

23rd Packed up the tend and headed off to the Caen Hill locks, a magnificent set of 16 locks in a row up the hill.An engineering feat built over 200 years ago. We stopped off in Devizes for breakfast then traveled away from the canal on the cycle route, smooth traffic free country roads with hedges on both sides. Stopped off at a small pub for lunch at Wooton Rivers then set off again along the tow path to the Bruce tunnel. We had to leave the path at the tunnel and find the cycleway again. Didn’t have too much trouble finding it. We came to the crofton pumping station which was closed on Wednesday s and it happened to be Wednesday. We made it back to the canal passing many more locks heading for Newbury. There were many people fishing and enjoying the canal. We cycled on through Newbury looking for somewhere to camp for the night. We had our dinner by one of the locks which was very peaceful and ended up pitching the tent in a field as there were no campgrounds. 24th Woke around 5am packed up our tent and had small breakfast on a bridge over the canal. Set off toward Reading but got lost again and ended up riding around a lake and through a field past grazing cows. Once we found the path again we had to lift our bikes over a few obstacles to prevent motor cycles using the track. It was very difficult so we ended up leaving the cycle path and riding on the road into Reading. We rode into Woodley where we had 2nd breakfast (we are from the shire after all) of bacon, eggs, baked beans and chips/hash browns and a coffee all for under 4 pounds each. We were back on the route we had taken from London (Thames Valley cycleway) and we headed back past Windsorto the place where we camped on our first night at Laleham. Luckily they were able to squeeze us in for the night. We had ridden so far that Catriona was thouroughly pooped and the first thing she did was blow up her air bed and have a lie down.
25th Headed back to Wandsworth taking a different route over the Thames on a pedestrian/cycle ferry.When we got to the other side the ferry man pointed out that Catriona had a completely flat tire. David changed the tire and we found it was a faulty inner tube and luckily not a puncture. We set off again toward London stopping at the mobile café and having breakfast and another chat to the guy who worked there. We cycled to Ham House finding it was closed on Thursday s and Friday s, just our luck, we took a few photos anyway.We arrived back in Wandsworth around 2pm and headed to The Ship for a drink. Once Robert and Elisabeth arrived home we headed out for dinner to a local French restaurant, very nice