Day 9: Milton Keynes - Ealing

Here we are in Ealing where a fantastic welcome from Francis (Ferelith's brother) as well as the satisfaction of having made it in good time made up for the irritations of the day.
Leaving Milton Keynes early, we soon found ourselves on the canal towpath, which at that stage was wide with a good surface. However the Garmin took us off the towpath to take us all over Milton Keynes via quite a complicated route, which meant that we went off course a few time and had to backtrack etc. Finally, we ended up back on the towpath but at that stage, it was narrow and muddy - we persevered a while hoping it might get better but then realised that we were barely a quarter of the way and had been cycling for almost 3 hours! So we ignored the Garmin, left the towpath and found our way with the help of a very large scale and imprecise map, mobile phone and asking people for directions. We managed to get to Francis in good time!
The bits on the towpath were lovely and, with more time and an adequate bike, it would have been great !
Our bikes have gone in for a service and we will pick them up tomorrow - let's hope that they'll be ready fairly early, it's a long day tomorrow!