Day 3: The Real England

Today we got our first true taste of England. It rained and then rained harder. Then we got a light mist. Then it rained. Blue sky poked out between the clouds. We rejoiced. Then it rained.

While it was raining, we tried to visit the castle featured in “Downton Abbey”, but for some reason it was closed to the public. It was at this point that I started hatching an idea to leave England for sunnier climes. Then we stopped at a pub for some tea and a roof over our heads and my contempt for England waned. Rain isn’t so bad, so long as you can dry off and warm up.

When we left the pub the train had subsided. With renewed enthusiasm, we pedaled off in search of our next campsite. This task proved to be a challenge. Since we don’t have internet access on my smart phone, and since there doesn’t seem to exist decent maps for the wondering cyclist, we’re relying on the Open Streets data built into our GPS app Maps.me. Open Streets is essentially crowd sourced waypoints with things like restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, etc. It’s handy but not consistently accurate.

Despite our reservations, Maps.me came through with a sweet campground behind a pub. Did I mention that pubs are perhaps the saving grace of England?