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It's here. The first day of the ride in earnest. Waking up early had its benefits today. We were able to pack up and get out by just after 7am. Our luck continued when they let us take our bikes on a peak hour train towards London. We were training it to the Thames (about 20kms) and then riding along the Thames as much as possible towards Oxford without much chance of reaching there tonight.
That's about when our luck changed - So, What Could Possibly Go Wrong (WCPGW)? Just as we started to ride, I pulled over to adjust my camera with Jeff just behind me. By the time I was finished he was nowhere to be seen. I thought he gone on so followed, but he had gone around a corner behind me to take a photo. I had stopped to wait when I couldn't see him and he eventually caught up. Jeff still needs to get his phone connected so we can communicate.
The day then started to unwind as we followed the Thames Valley to Oxford route I had found. It was not a GPS map and it was quite rough and hard to follow
Hampton Castle
Not sure who lives there but very impressive. Built in the 1500s. - numerous wrong turns ensued. And then to make matters worse it started to rain.
After riding for a bit we pulled up under a tree for some cover until the rain eased. I turned to Jeff to check he was ready to go and then gently moved off. After 250m we did a turn on to the Thames again and I glanced over my shoulder and Jeff was nowhere to be seen??? So I waited . . . and waited. And then went back to the tree and he was nowhere to be seen and I couldn't call him to find out where he was! Eventually I started to ride on hoping some how he had gotten in front of me. What had actually happened was Jeff didn't immediately follow me and took the only wrong turn possible when he couldn't see me and was feverishly trying to catch me up. We were now separated, with no idea where the other was and unable to communicate!!!!
About an hour later I got a call on Messenger from Jeff who had gone to a pub to use their WiFi. After we worked out how we got separated he
dropped the big bombshell, he had realised he'd forgotted his passport in Croydon (under the bed) and couldn't find his debit card.
We needed a plan.
First off, Jeff called his bank and put a hold on his debit card. The he needed to go back to Croydon for his passport. It took 3 trains but he made good time getting there. The plan was for me to ride on to Reading and then Jeff would catch a train here tonight so we'd be back together again for the 50km ride to Oxford tomorrow.
The ride itself was quite tough today. Just over 90kms with lots of gravel and a number of hills.
Jeff will be arriving just after 8pm. Considering all that happened today, being in the same place tonight is a minor miracle.
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Yama
Yama Hilder
Where's Jeff?
Only one morning until your first "Where's Jeff" moment? Why am I not surprised?