The Heart of England

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North from Oxford now. Keeping east of the industrial cities and the hills. Keeping west of the coast Keeping off of the main roads and, as much as possible, off of dirt tracks. The challenge is to find a straight, narrow, paved, well-signed, light-trafficked, northward-heading one. The Sustrans routes work well at times. Otherwise we seek the ideal path on an Ordinance Survey map and hope to not get lost. Most of the time we don't

More hills at first and wind, then rain. Downpour in Market Harborough, so we duck into the covered public market for a lunch of jacket potatoes with beans and cheese. Ordinary cheese to them, good strong white cheddar to us. Asking people in town for directions to the bike route. "Where are you headed?" "John O'Groats; we've come from Land's End." "Oh, you should have gone north to south , ya know; it's downhill that way." "Yes, so the fellow in the last town told us. We'll give that one a try next time." The sun comes out, finally, but the late day is colder. To avoid the busy road we take the Sustans route to Melton Mowbray, which leads up a steep hill on a dirt trail and then through a sheep pasture. We pass by the seedy hotel above the raunchy pub at the entrance to town and then end up staying there because there is no other room due to the Stilton cheese festival. Turns out to the be decent food and one of the most comfortable places we had.

Sunny days now, and longer ones. And the land flattens out. Shadow on the left in the morning, ahead at noon, to the right in the afternoon. Sheep country gves way to wheat country. Fields of yellow daffodills give way to stunning yellow fields of rapeseed. Simulated shotgun blasts, we think to keep the birds off of rapeseed. Wait! Those are real shotgun blasts -- a goup of skeet shooters off the road to the right. Pheasants running on the roadside, a family of quail, tiny-headed pigeons, jackdaws and magpies, a few hawks (buteos), a kite! (avian), and a kite (man made) used as a scarecrow.

We avoid the large towns and cities and seek the small villages, each with a red telephone booth (some with signs "this unit does not accept coins" but all apparently operational), many with a post office, most with a beautiful church. The square topped ones and the tall steepled ones of the Framlands parishes (salmon fishery modelers might consider seeking advice at one of these). Signs for small country enterprises. Free range eggs 1.00 or 1.20 or .80 or .60 (further south) per half dozen. Kennels and Cattery (besdies a place to board your pets, you get two good seven letter Scrabble words here). Pubs in many towns The Nag's Head, The Kings Head, The Black Horse, The Red Horse, The Red Cow, The Red Bull, The Red Lion (most common), The Butcher's Arms, The Bricklayer's Arms, The Cyclist's Calves (my mind is wandering), The Glass and Bottle, The Keg and Kettle, The Kennels and Cattery (mind is wandering again), The Slug and Lettuce (this one is for real). And many signs reading, "Lease this Pub. Start your own business," or just "For Sale," I wonder how long the country pubs will last.

Roast beef and roast pork dinners at the Kings Head in Collingham. This is the Sunday carvery (another good seven letter word for Scrabble) attended by most of the local townspeople. One portrait on the wall is Henry VIII, obviously. But that one with the long curly hair couldn't be an English king. "Who's that one of?" we ask, "one of the Louis?" "No, he's English, one of the James's, I think. First or second, I don't know." History is everywhere. "Here Cromwell defeated Charles I in the decisive battle of the Civil War." And at one small town house "On this spot on September 4, 1754, nothing happened."

On the right road surface, I can hear the sound of the tire tread on the pavement. On a slight downhill in a high gear with the sun on my right shoulder and the tires humming slightly pushing just a little in a high gear it seems as if we can do this whole thing right to the Orkneys in about three days. Five hand positions on my drop bars: straight bottom for pumping on the flat straightaway, angled bottom for downhill crouch with easy access to the brakes, front by the shifters for gear changing and some curves, front side for head up and looking for direction signs, top inside for straight back and slower riding. Long vistas over the fields, hills in the distance, motorway to the north, railroad to the west, church and town to the east and back to the south and on top of that hill over there. Green field of wheat on the left. Yellow of field of rape ahead. No hedges here. The freedom of the open road, English style.

-- Kit

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