Cycle: 17.95km//1hr20min//13.3km/hr
Friday Sept 6
First Day in the UK and we awoke to: rain. Light rain that progressed to heavy rain, and then finally upped it to the kind of rain that has sheets of water running down the road on minor hills. You'd think it couldn't last long at that rate, but it did. Any plans of cycling were quickly banished, and we B-lined for the nearest refuge. Mansfield Library. Warm. Dry. Books. Information. The Internet! Exceedingly friendly librarians. Coming in with all our panniers, completely drenched, we look a lot like the homeless people also seeking refuge there. We planned our escape to Scotland, in particular, Edinburgh and Elise's flat (not that we didn't love what we saw in Nottingham)
Second day impressions of the UK are: the sudden and complete loss of a shoulder on the road (I will miss you shoulder refuge). Driving on the wrong side will take a little getting used to, mostly when pulling out of driveways and looking for immediate danger in the wrong direction. For the record,.they even walk on the opposite side of the sidewalk. Pedestrian traffic is even switched! I really should look at the toilet flush swirl...or maybe that is just Australia...... Tonight, sleeping under a maple tree on the outskirts of Mansfield (a very strange town filled with teens with babies).
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| The weeping willow and babbling brook we camped next to in Sherwood Forest. |
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| The ducks, the rain. Yes, we're in the UK now. |
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| You can only hide under a bridge for so long. |
