Was it the fact that Britain won its first Olympic Gold in Beijing in cycling or was it my good mood (see earlier post). I decided to cycle to London via Windsor and then catch the train back from Paddington. I did all that – it took about four hours but without the detour when I lost my way just before I arrved in Bray and by following the actual National Cycle Route 4 which seemed to disappear in Windsor (or was it my own error in wanting to cycle past the castle – you can’t go to Windsor without doing so), I reckon I could have done the ride in three hours. Following the main routes – A4 via Windsor – the AA say it is about 43 miles from Reading to Central London. The route I took (including the “detours”) must be 50 miles. That’s about 70 kilometres. It is a very rough 2,500 kilometres from Reading to Brindisi so if I were to average 100 kilometres per day (about 50% more on top of what I did today) – or about 5 hours minimum cycling per day, I would be able to get to Southern Italy in just over three weeks. I have given myself the month of August to do so. I think it is definitely doable. To prove that I did get to Trafalger Square I took the picture above of a rainbow over South Africa House. It threw it down just as I arrived in central London. None of that is proof that I did cycle down there of course. A photo wouldn’t stand up in court. My exercised limbs would be persuasive to a sympathetic judge.
I got back to Reading by train and the lodger had arrived back from his three-week visit to the west coast of America – one week work and two-weeks of holiday. He too intimated that I had put weight on although not in such a direct way that my female friend in London on Friday…