Day 19
The hills
After a wonderful night with family, we were rested and ready to go. Mel was very impressed by our neat packing but not so much by the weight of our fully loaded bikes!
We were expecting a fairly busy and hilly start, Komoot found us quiet roads and to start with at least, kinder hills than we expected. In High Wycombe we stopped to admire the old road to Windsor, which was flooded some years back to create a beautiful space near to the town centre to relax in. We chatted to a very friendly lady and her dog Lottie. She was eager to get cycling herself so was very interested in our trip, especially as we had set out from Scarborough an area she is keen to visit. From there we met more friendly people. We chatted for some time with Carlos and his daughter Anna-May. He was blown away that we are aiming to cycle to China and beyond. It made our day!
Now the going got tough, the big hills arrived, the Chiltern Hills! One after another, up 1.7 miles, down, then another 2 miler. Most we made, but one hill became so steep that there was no option but to push. Not sure if that was much easier though!
Komoot was playing with us again and threw in a wicked off-road downhill, fantastic on a mountain bike, rather tricky on a fully loaded tourer. The was no real option as it was miles more to go by road so down we went!
Not long after this we were faced with a steep down and up on a B.O.A.T, (byway open to all traffic) it was wet, muddy with deep sticky clay sections. Fortunately the uphill road section only added a couple of miles so we ignored Komoot and stayed on the tarmac.
Tom had spotted that there was an old brick kiln in Nettlebed so had plotted the route to pass this. It was sat rather incongruously in the middle of a small housing development but definitely worth the effort to get there. Bricks had been made in that area since at least 1365 if not earlier. This kiln had stood from the mid-1600s and was last used in 1938. By chance a descendant of a William Sarney, who worked the kiln in 1681, had popped along for a look. We had a lovely chat with him and his wife, and we had no complaints from the churchwarden unlike his ancestor!
From here it was more hills, slightly easier thank goodness, then a final flattish road section to Premier Inn at Didcot, and hopefully a restful night in a Hypnos bed!
