May 7, 2011

We wake to heavy rain, so the forecast was, unfortunately, correct.  On go the waterproof socks (no, I´m not kidding we really do have waterproof socks) and the rain coats and off we go.

We have to find our way out of Swindon and we encounter what we think is the most creative bit of road planning yet – called The Magic Roundabout (their name, not ours).  We decide that to launch ourselves into the middle of this muddle of traffic is just too scary and we walk the bikes around the outside, whilst watching the traffic in fascination.  The last time we saw anything like this we were in the middle of Delhi.

The rain stops before we even get out of the city, leaving it warm and humid.  We take quiet back roads and again make steady progress, up and down the hilly landscape.  So, the South Downs are hilly and the Cotswolds are hilly – we never realised there are so many hills in England.