Summer Bank Holiday

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D & A rarely make campground reservations. D doesn't like to over plan. Consequently, he occasionally under plans. They try to do most of their touring in the Fall when most families are locked into work and school schedules. However, holidays sometimes present a problem. D & A prefer to camp in a comfortable and secure campground but these places tend to get booked up over holidays. The last weekend of August is the last Bank Holiday of the Summer in the UK and therefore also the last big hurrah of the Summer for most campers and caravanners in the UK.

Naturally, D had not made campground booking for this long weekend. He thought he'd try to find one near London but the closest he could get was for one night at WYATTS COVERT C.C. campground in Denham which is well west of even Heathrow. Beggars can't be choosers. So, they took the booking. Fortunately, the weather turned a bit rainy which seemed to scare off some of the would be campers. The next morning they were able to get a second night due to a cancellation. D employed his new Mifi modem and notebook computer to find a different campground for the following two nights that would get them through the weekend.

Since they had a satellite dish but no satellite receiver, D had been trying every electronics appliance store they'd come across to find the right one. Finally he realized that the battery operated model he needed was primarily sold at caravan and motorhome dealers and most of those dealers were sold out with it being the end of the Summer season. Still, between the computer and the cell phone (mobile phone) he eventually found one in Reading even further west.

D & A took a scenic drive to the Reading area where indeed they were able to buy the satellite receiver as well as a good jerry can for fresh water and a Wastemaster which will enable them to dispose of gray water without driving to a motorhome dumping service point (not available at all campgrounds). Then they took another scenic drive back east, only briefly on the dreaded M25 past Chertsey to the Walton-0n-Thames C.C.C campground in Hersham, Surrey where they spent four nights.

The Wastemaster and jerry can were just what they needed. Once they had the van level, they could leave it that way and carry or roll the fresh or waste water to and fro with abandon.

They spent three hours each way on foot, train and underground to visit with A's nephew, Haley who they treated to a fine meal at a Japanese restaurant that he recommended. Then they just took it easy for a few days except for a couple of interesting bike rides.

D & A headed out one evening looking for a supermarket. D thought he'd use the old Garmin Sat Nav to find his way on the tandem but it was difficult for him to hear the voice commands with the device in his pocket. So, he tried riding with the device between his teeth. The gadget was running low on battery and it seemed to send them around in circles with no supermarket in sight. Then they thought, perhaps they should go to the pub they had passed for dinner. The pub was busy with lots of young people in high spirits as well as high volume. It was just too noisy for them and the menu didn't look too promising either. Finally they found a very nice and very fancy Indian restaurant across the street. By this point, they hardly cared how expensive it was but it was quite reasonable and very good food.

The next day D & A decided to take the tandem overland on some rough trails in a park between two reservoirs to get to East Molesey to, at last, do the grocery shopping. Their bike, not being a mountain bike, wasn't entirely suited for the terrain. They had to carry it up some stairs at one point and once they got to the end of the trail, they had a hell of a time getting the bike out of the park through a pedestrian gate. D, in the end, had to lift this long bike up over a rather high fence with great effort. Once they found the business district, they had lunch in a busy diner. D tried unsuccessfully once again to find a chicken pie to rival his memory of his Grandmother's and A had some chicken soup that could have had more chicken in it. They did their grocery shopping and upon A's insistence they rode back to the campground by proper road.

The ride back was fairly uneventful until they got to the lane that took them the last half mile or so to the campground gate. D is still learning how to captain a tandem. So, he decided that it would be best to keep the speed up as they approached a section full of many potholes. D feared that they might fall over if they lost their momentum. With a single bike D probably would have weaved his way through those potholes like a pro but the rear wheel of a tandem is significantly farther back than the rear wheel of a single bike. You guessed it. While weaving at too high a speed, the real wheel of the tandem dropped into a deep pothole. Now, with a standard mountain bike or even a standard road bike that might not have been much of a problem but their Bike Friday has considerably smaller wheels than a standard bike. Once the rear wheel found its way out of that pothole, the front wheel seemed to want to wander all over, left and right as the two of them desperately tried keep the bike from crashing onto its side. D doesn't know if it was luck or hard work or just destiny but he somehow got the bike over to the far side of the road where they crashed into the bushes. Keep in mind these two are not spring chickens. D asked A if she was alright. She answered "Yes." and she asked D if he as alright and he answered "Yes." Then a previously unseen person called to them from beyond a high hedge over the other side of the road to ask if they were alright. They both answered "Yes." Now with two flat tires and bruised egos they walked the bike back the rest of the way to the campground. Some eggs were broken and so was part of the derailer mechanism of the bikes gear system.

D was able to patch one of the flat tires successfully but the other one proved to be beyond his skills. When it still wouldn't hold air after applying three patches, he broke down and put on a new tube. The derailer was another concern. The bike is made in the U.S. and not knowing how easy it would be to find replacement parts in the UK, they decided that a side trip to Bath would be in order. They knew that there was a Bike Friday dealer there and it wouldn't be too far out of their way after getting the storage boxes installed in Cornwall. D was hoping to have the bike shop give his assembling job the once over as well.

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