Lazy day today, thankfully, we were a bit tired after yesterdays effort. The further south west we go in England the hillier it is becoming. Were not talking riding up one big mountain but many short and quite sharp hills that vary from 80-150m in elevation over 0.5-1.0km. Yesterday the GPS told me (and I had it turned off for part of the ride) that we had a total elevation gain of 1200m which over 70km.
Top night at Vicks' and Rich's place last night. I learnt all about Landrovers :) Rich is quite the expert. We caught up with the whole clan expect poor Uncle John who is ill.
First stop of the day was Uncle Mike and Auntie Margaret's in Wincanton and Mike took us on a great tour of the town and the Watts history. Great story about the B17 Flying Fortress 'Old faithful' that crashed into the farmhouse in 1944. We went up to Snag Farm and Mike was showing us where the plane hit the building. He said "See those new bricks, that's where we rebuilt the wall". I had a chuckle to myself as I'm still coming to terms with the age of the buildings here "new bricks" I inwardly smiled, "they were laid in 1944!!" but it's all relative and you could see the distinct difference between the 'old' and 'new' bricks. It's a wonderful yet at the same time sad story of how lucky the family was and how unlucky the nine poor airmen were. It was a sharp reminder that this was but one story from the 2nd war and the poor bugger making what must have been a very long journey back from their mission only to crash over home soil.
A piece of the propeller from the B17
The memorial in Wincanton
Back to happier thoughts; Mike took us back to the house and Auntie Maragret had laid a yummy soup with crusty rolls. We then said our farewells and headed to Eleanor and Greyson's place which is just UP the road.
On the way we rode through Castle Cary, famous for it's 'round house' which was an overnight jail
The Round House at Castle Cary
You ride through Ditcheat and then up what is known as Ditcheat Hill. I had to have a little walk up that as the legs just couldnt do it all in one go.....I must get lower gears. I think Sandy would have made it except she had to wait for me at an fork to find out which way to go.
Lovely to get here and catch up with Eleanor and Greyson again.
We are having a day off tomorrow to let our bodies recover :)
I wanted to take this little piggie home, he was very cute
1 comment:
Good to chat on the phone the other night. Hope you enjoyed the sight seeing yesterday and the pub last night.
Post a Comment