Above and beyond

I dont remember too much from that second attempt at the route except knuckling down and pushing for the new distance trying not to get too distracted by all the nice scenery and boats floating along the river.

I do however remember at one point taking a turning and stopping to study the map only to have someone else cycling follow us. You could tell immediately from his accent that he was an Antipodean who was fairly new to Britain going for a bike ride. Steve suspected with his more tuned ear that he was Australian. In case I havent mentioned it my friend is from Aus which perhaps helps explain his explorer/walkabout spirit. The chap asked us if we were doing NCN 4 and if so was this the correct way. I pointed him in the correct direction and he dashed off not weighed down by cumbersome bike spares or tools. Steve and I set off shortly after once I had refolded the map and put it in my pocket.

A little while later we came around a corner at a crossroads and stopped to check the map as we felt we might have gone wrong and who should roll up but our Antipodean friend again. After chatting for a bit we learnt that he was a New Zealander who was very new to Britain and had thought as Britain was so tiny on the map it would be easy to navigate. Turns out that as well as not being encumbered by spares or tools he also wasnt encumbered with a map. After suggesting he use maps in future and giving him directions according to our map he dashed off. We then set off ourselves and got back on track with Steve deciding he had spent too long in Blighty as his Antipodean hearing couldnt distinguish the New Zealand accent from Australian. I suggested Steve could consider himself a true Brit now :)

On the returning leg when we got back to Hampton Court on the way to Kingston for the second time that day I was really starting to feel the pain and after a brief consult with Steve I learnt I wasnt the only one. We decided to head home from Hampton Court instead of going all the way to Kingston. According to the trusty cereal box trip computer heading home from here should still give us the required distance.

That last stretch home was the hardest for me yet and later I found out from Steve that he could see from his vantage point behind me I was working hard because the tempo of my peddling was slowing with the effort. By the time we reached home I was ready to drop and just collapsed on the sofa for maybe 30mins.

If we had to cover this distance every day for 8 days we could be in trouble.