Back to Cambridge

I arrived early yesterday at Heathrow to a very gray damp morning - even British travelers remarked at the dismal weather.  I used the coach (bus) service to Cambridge because I had a normal suitcase plus my bike case - too hard to handle two cases on the Tube and train.  The coach had too much heat, which the driver could not reduce, and didn't work properly in reverse. In our experience British coaches often have transmission or heater problems.  My luck to get one with both problems simultaneously.  Mary Lou met me at the coach stop and we dragged the cases home (two blocks).  

After a nap, and as the weather improved, I unpacked, cleaned and re-assembled my bike.  I made a short test ride, then parked the bike and went for a short run.  By 8 pm I had fallen asleep - I had not slept during the overnight flight and for only a few minutes on the coach.  Mary Lou, out and about on Saturday errands, left me a note and a periwinkle flower this morning.  The 'Good Morning' greeting of the note almost expired, and the flower had wilted, by the time I woke - I slept most of 14 hours.

I attended to various computer update and backup tasks and finished work on my bike, then headed out for a moderate (length and speed) ride.  First the dilemma of how to get out of Cambridge - which route will involve the fewest pedestrians, dogs, prams, cows (summer on the Cambridge commons), construction, traffic?  In any direction it takes about 20 minutes to escape.  Once out, though, one has green hedges, many trees and shrubs in blossom, bright tulips and bedraggled daffodils along the roadside, and green (or bright yellow - rapeseed) fields.  Despite vehicle traffic and very rough pavement in many places, I enjoyed this English countryside ride after never really getting out of the city during two weeks of riding in Washington DC.  Of course, with rarely more than 3 or 4 km between villages in this part of England, and various constrictions, impediments, and barriers in the villages, I maintain a continual search for undeveloped stretches suited to longer and harder efforts.  And hills?  Forget it in East Anglia.  

But now, with sounds and smell of dinner (including fresh local asparagus) in preparation, and unlimited daily first-hand reportage on horse health and performance, I feel very glad to have returned home.  I noticed that Mary Lou had one of the DVD cases from the 'Lord of the Rings' out.  I knew she viewed DVDs during her break, but I thought she must have felt pretty bored to have watched 'Lord of the Rings'.  In fact, one of her equestrian friends knows a person who owned one of the horses used in the movie - we will have to view it again but with an equine focus.