Jan 7: I woke up and had breakfast with vinay but left shortly after so I could go to the museum for a bit before leaving for Milton keynes. The museum had the whole history of shoes which was more interesting than it sounds, plus a small section on the local sikh community. So I left northampton at 1:36pm and found the route 6 easily and followed it thru a local nature reserve out of the city and thru some villages and salcey forest, which I would have liked to have spent more time at but it was getting dark and I wasn't too close to Milton keynes yet. At one point I stopped along the road to put on sunblock and there seemed to be Bramble there cause it got stuck to my gloves but I didn't think anything of it. So I'm going along, following route 6 quite well. The villages were nice and the countryside was pretty and hardly any cars on the road. Not too hilly or windy either and it was sunny all day. Saw 2 badgers as road kill , within 1/2 a mile of each other :-( I then follow a path along a railway track for a short distance then I go thru ouse valley park and follow the river. It was starting to get real dark now but I wasn't too far away but I had a funny feeling my back tire was flat, and I was right! So I pumped it up and it was a slow leak at first, so I exited the park and took the roads to stoney stratford where I met my next host, mark, at the center. Luckily enough there was a bike shop at the junction so I bought another inner tube, but still rode on the flat. It got worse though as we rode to crownhill, the suburb he lived in, which was 3 mi south of where we met. So that was slow going. But we got to his place at 6:33 pm, I did 25.59 mi, max 27, avg 7. His gf calls and says she is doing a pub crawl and asks if we want to join. I said I wasn't up for it but he could go if he wanted and he said he didnt really want to go either. So him and I went out to a pub for dinner, I ate so much, and could have eaten more!! He was a real nice guy, he loves bicycle touring, he rode the entire length of route 66 for charity, for the world wildlife fund! And he also biked across Europe and Africa! he said he got a lot of respect on the road, especially in france, people wouldnt go around him until they had a very wide margin! and to my surprise, he didnt have any obnoxious drivers in the US. i guess they only exist in places like NY and Boston where everyone is an asshole behind the wheel. So that was real awesome hearing his stories, and how he survived Africa after everyone told him it was too dangerous (although the officials in one of the countries told him he shouldnt go to Nigeria alone so he diverted his route to some other country). his defence was that there is violence everywhere, even stabbings in Milton Keynes, so whats the difference if he goes to africa? and people were asking if he was afraid of his bike getting stolen while he is sleeping in his tent? and he said no because no one knows who is in that tent, and what they could be carrying! good point. But he made it to capetown in the end. and he didnt see much wildlife which i think is kind of pointless to be riding through africa, the least damaged by humans continent on the planet, and not try and take in the atmosphere, where instead you just ride all day long and do nothing else. I saw his pics from his trips, wow he brought lots of stuff! But he was camping and so had to bring a stove and water filter. He was lucky enough to quit his job and they offered it to him when he got back to England one year later. So that was a bit of inspiration for me. He's an electric engineer and he designed an AA battery charger in the saddle so he can charge his lights! Handy! And after we got back from the pub he fixed my flat for me, took him so much less time than what I would have done it in. And he picked the thorn out of my tire. Damn bramble!! Then he saw my cables were crossed so he started taking them apart and I got a bit worried cause he seemed to know what he was doing but I didnt want him messing with that. Luckily it was trickier than he thought so he left it alone and did up everything how it was and told me he will look up websites on how to fix it and email them to me. So I went to bed after that in his computer room on the floor but i didn't mind, at vinay all I had was a plain mattress and got a little bit cold in the night so this was a step up cause I got a sleeping bag and blanket lol. So the next morning Jan 8 I met his gf although she was a bit hung over. Mark told me he would show me Milton keynes and asked her if she wanted to come, cause they are planning a long distance bike ride thru Europe so he wants her to practice as much as she can, but she wasn't up for it. So mark and I set off, there wasn't much there to see and at 10 am on a Sunday, the place was a ghost town except for 2 cars. We went to escape where we watched some skiers and some air lift thing and that was it really, also some old entertainment center called the point which is practically shut down now since escape came to town, so then at 11 am he took me on the local bike routes to the grand union canal and we parted ways. I followed the canal until I got to a town called leyton buzzard and I had lunch there. Then I went along more country roads thru more villages and off road onto another old railway line. Saw kestrels, I'm pretty sure. Then I got to a town called dunstable and I stopped in the park for a bit. Route 6 continued past the park but was supposed to go on a bridge over a railway track, but there was some excavations going on there cause the bridge and track was gone, and the path boarded up. So I checked the map and saw I was only half way to st Albans, so another 14 miles to go and I told the guy Pete who I was staying at next that I would be there at 3:30 and it was 2:45! He was going to a gig in London and he said he wanted to leave around 5 so I wanted to get there with plenty of time for us to chat so he would feel comfortable leaving me alone in his house for several hours. So I got on the a5 and flew there! I was doing about 12 mph, something i didn't think I could do with all my stuff. Once I got into st Albans I had a steep hill climb and it nearly killed me. So I arrived at his place at 4:20pm and he gave me a quick tour and left! He didn't look very happy that I showed up late! So I felt bad but he told me once he got back that he didn't miss the beginning of the show so I felt better :-) but after he left I went wandering to find some food, and there was no local supermarket chain so I had a full breakfast at a cafe, and was still hungry again!! I went back to petes and ate lots of biscuits! And then went to bed. So ill end it there. Will continue tomorrow!
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