October 9th 2016: Suffolk: Grafham Water (again)

Monty the Motorhome is back on his home drive after a week away in Suffolk.

Last night we were undisturbed in a pub car park, which was surprising considering it was Saturday night. I think there were only three other cars parked there, and we never heard them leave.

This morning dawned with bright sunshine and we were soon back at Grafham Water to hire a bike. Yes just one bike. A tandem.

The intention was to ride the 10 mile cycle path around the reservoir. However after about 2 minutes riding I thought we’d be lucky to make one mile. Neither of us had ever ridden a tandem before, and it was really challenging. Both riders have to pedal at the same time - sounds obvious - but in reality quite tricky. If one rider stops pedalling, even for a couple of seconds, the other rider is taken by surprise and finds a considerable resistance in the pedals, which can throw their balance off. Also any shift in balance by one rider will affect the other person - again quite obvious - but really disconcerting to suddenly feel the bike go out of balance without warning.

I felt like it was like riding a bike for the first time, before balance becomes second nature and something you don’t think about.

Poor Ruth was on the back, with handle bars too low for her (they were part of my seat, so couldn’t be raised any higher), which meant lots of pressure on her hands. Plus her saddle wasn’t the best, which quickly leads to one thing - saddle sores.

However we made our way, slowly, with lots of wobbles and lots of stops. Two hours later we had made it. A complete circumnavigation. Two proud people.

A quick picnic lunch in the van, then the drive back.