This England -- Let Rick Ride! A Guest Post

For the most part, Rick and I did pretty much everything together during our trip. But there were a couple of times when we split up because a cyclist has to ride and when it's beautiful, new territory, nothing could have kept Rick from the bike. 

So, I'm turning this post over to him, sharing his Facebook post about his cycle ride on our first day. As I was exploring Bath and getting rugby tickets, this was his day!

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This is one of my rare journeys that is not 100 percent by bicycle. My first day here,however, was a bike trip. I walked a mile or two to the canal where I rented one for the day. 

 

It could not have been any better! I headed to Bath by way of the canal and got to meet a lot of helpful people so I could find the rail trail to Bristol. Riding along the canal was fantastic. There were scores of longboats which are probably converted freight boats that are 40 feet long and five feet wide. They varied from pristine to primitive but they all were of unique character.

 

 

England built an extensive network of canals to move goods. They are an engineering masterpiece. The picture of a bridge in the trees is an aqueduct of the canal crossing a hundred feet above the Avon River. How did they do that??

 

 

I kept an eye out for Romeo but never saw him. Same for Juliet. It seemed possible since I followed the Avon River between Bath and Bristol. But I have never seen so many bike riders! Hundreds of them! It was a steady stream wherever I was on the 15 miles of gorgeous views and well maintained surfaces. 

 

 

I was lucky enough to meet a representative from Sustrans- the organization that built the trail in the 1970s. It began over a few pints between some forward looking people. It was built with nothing but ordinary people’s muscle and money. The government was not involved at all. Today, however, Sustrans is hugely successful and not only maintains the Bath-Bristol Trail but many others and operates a vast network of cycling routes all over Britain. The government does give them quite a lot of support these days.

 

 

I returned to Bath on the trail and stopped at a rest stop operated by a local bike club in an old depot. I was astonished by how nice it was and the variety and quality of the food . The Friends of the Kal-Haven Trail have a lot of catching up to do, which I am sure they will in time.

 

My penultimate leg of the trip was on the Two Tunnels Trail. Believe it or not, it has two tunnels, one of which is a mile long. Both tunnels are lit and the long one has a sound track. 

The last leg was the reverse of the first leg, the mile or so walk back to Morgan’s Forge, our base. It was a very different walk back because it was rush hour. The road I walked on is little more than a goat path, wide enough for one car. PERIOD! Usually no big deal but road construction and Google are sending people this way rather than the main road. The brambles grow right to the edge and I wish I had a pence for every time I thought my toes were going to getting run over.

 

So, what was my favorite feature of the today? Unquestionably, the bridges. They may be public infrastructure but more so, they are works of art. Their elegance is unsurpassed. What was most notable is that most of them were probably 100+ years old. It seems like the US doesn’t even have trees that old. 

 

 

The British seem to relish their heritage,history and traditions. We could learn a lot from them. Our history is much shorter but it is still 200 years and more. Why do we have nothing to show for it?

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 If you missed Jeanie's day in Bath, you can check it out here!