As is quite common in England, today's bike ride started with a clear blue sky and fine weather all around. Yesterday's late afternoon rain was clearly some unusual pattern no doubt brought on by climate change.
We biked to Burford which is a small quaint village in the south of the Cotswold known only to the biking cognescenti, as well as all of London and anyone who reads Rick Steve's or any other guide book. On Saturday, the village center was virtually deserted and we had the place pretty much to ourselves-
As Geo has to some sort of snack every 15 minutes or so, we stopped at (for us) the appropriately named 'Bumbles" for some cheese, bread and fruit. The place claimed to have been built originally around 1205 and some of the fruit looked like it had been in dry storage that long (well, not really)-
Burford had this really beautiful ancient church which was constructed in 1197 when Richard the Lionheart was king-
It was also celebrating "Leveller's DaY
y" and Jeremy Corbyn (leader of the UK Labour Party) was scheduled to speak. (For those history buffs, the Levellers were a group of proto-communists who were active at the time of the English civil war (1640s). Geo parked his bike here
The ride there and back took us through some typically beautiful Cotswold countryside-
When he wasn't snacking, Geo navigated us through and along some quiet and pretty country lanes-
It being Saturday, along the way we encountered 2 weddings (and one bar mitzfa?). Each appeared to be the quintessential English wedding at the local ancient church-
We tried to crash them, but I think our helmets and bright yellow jackets might not have helped us blend in.
We also encountered these 2 whippers and a pack of about 50 hunting dogs on our ride. For those who desire the 'authentic English experience', it does not get much better than that-
All in all, it was a gorgeous ride, though like all of the Cotswold, hilly (you are mostly either going up or down). 39 miles and 2750' of elevation today.
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