Distance: 90 miles
Country: England
Song of the Day: Smoke - Ben Folds Five
I forgot to mention the breakfast part. It is a bed and breakfast kind of place. The night before the managers of the guest house asked if I was full English. Confused, I told them I was part Norwegian. They were actually asking if I wanted a full English breakfast. I have to say, that made the money more than worth it. Bacon, hash browns, a fried egg, beans, fried tomato, plus I had a couple slices of toast and three glasses of O.J. That really put a good start to the day.
I should say in here that when you are touring, you think about food all the time. You just have to keep that engine running. I try to eat something at least every couple of hours. Candy, I love it. Lots of sugar for energy. Burgers and sandwiches, great. Lots of protein and carbs. It is better to get to a grocery store and pick up stuff for cheap, then go to a restaurant and spend five times as much. But often, it is there. If you are lucky you can get a deal as well. On my way into Lincoln I found a place that had sausage sandwiches and hot chocolate for £2. Wonderful. So yeah, just keep feeding that engine. Frankly, I am going to have to start budgeting more for food...
Anyway, back to where I was. So I don't know why no one comes to Lincoln. Maybe they just never camp there. But the city is actually pretty cool. They have a castle and a cathedral. Again, I wish I had more time to play around. I could probably have spent all day here. Plus the (old) city is high on a hill. Okay, it was a pain to bike up there. It was, however, a beautiful view. So if you go there, plan to stay at least a day in Lincoln.
From there it was off to York. I had written down directions from Google maps. Well, their software isn't the greatest at figuring out English roads. First of all, it seems to forget that they drive on the left. It also have a lot of issues with round abouts. Especially double round abouts. So take all of its directions with a grain of salt.
Oh, and the wind had picked up. I spend a couple of hours heading directly into the wind around noon. Not all that fun. But at least it wasn't as bad as Iceland. Oh, and my boot finally gave out around Stow. I really should have changed it earlier. But with the late nights and late starts I never wanted to spend the time to put the new tire on. So that was one more blown tube. Fortuneatly the rain didn't start until I was just about finished. From there it would sprinkle occasionally until evening.
The countryside was pleasant though. I am amazed at how much of the land here is used for agriculture or something. It is almost like riding through a weird, older version of Kansas.
Also, after I hit Scunthorpe, I started seeing signs for the Tour of Britan. They were just warning people that when it starts next week traffic will be blocked. I followed the route basically all the way into York. I felt pretty good. Here I was on my own tour. Doing 90 miles in a day. Lets see them do that with a full load, and wind! This is the real tour! For those of you who were on the Rock'n Horse, that would by like 4 1/2 times that, with full gear. So you are welcome to be envious of my journey, but don't imagine that it is easy.-Davis
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