Day One

Saturday

I arranged to meet Ian, Dave and Fred at one o' clock in the car park of the big Tesco on the A10 at Cheshunt. I got there to find it was an entire retail park. Exactly the sort of place I try to avoid - especially on a Saturday afternoon. It was heaving!

As expected, Ian and Dave hadn't arrived yet. Ian's always at least two hours late. I fought my way in to Tesco, just in case they were in the coffee shop, but no they weren't. I returned to the car, waited a bit longer, then tried again. Coming out, I bumped into Fred, who had just arrived. We went to get a cup of tea and were just about to sit down when the fire alarm went off and we were all evacuated. After milling around for a while, we were allowed back in to finish our drinks. After that, we waited in the car. Eventually, Ian and Dave turned up - the expected two hours late.

We drove to Ian's brother's house, where we were to leave our cars for the week and were just about to start loading the bikes when the heavens opened. While we looked forlornly out of the car windows, the rain was bouncing off the pavement, the gutters became rivers and thunder and lightning were crashing around the sky. It didn't look good for the beginning of a cycling holiday, but miraculously, after about half an hour of this, the rain eased and the sun came out, as did we. We got the bikes loaded and set off.

After crossing the railway, our first stretch was along the towpath of the River Lea. It was lovely riding. It was flat, with lots of interesting barges and birdlife and despite being in what was once quite an industrial area, the scenery was good. We got further north and after criss-crossing the river a couple of times, started off up the banks of the River Stort towards Bishop Stortford, where we were spending the first night.

At first, the towpath was fine, but after a while it was clear it wasn't made for bikes, as it became more rutted and a bit muddy from the earlier rain. The mud began to clog up my front mudguard and the shock from the ruts was rattling every bone in my body. Eventually, we decided to go back onto the road for the last few miles into Bishop's Stortford.

By the time we reached the guest house, we had done twenty miles and I was pretty exhausted. My 'training' had been about five and a half miles a week in the run up, so I wasn't really prepared for cycling so far in a few hours. We arrived at about nine o'clock. The others went out to get some food, but my legs didn't want to walk, so I stayed and watched some of the Confederation Cup. My legs ached, my arms ached and all my body wanted to do was lie down on something soft and comfortable - which I did.

So that was the first day and it hinted at some of the trials and tribulations to come. These holidays are nothing if not interesting - at least to those of us who go on them!