OFFICIAL WORLD WANDER STATIONARY

July 9, 1995

Washington DC to Harwich England

After our all night flight on a new Boeing 777 we arrived safely at Heathrow airport outside of London, England on June 14th. Took us a while to get our bikes together. No damage occurred. We got a "30 miles around London" map and a Southern England map and set out to the Hostel in Windsor where we'd recover from our jet lag. Took us two hours to get out of the airport. It was not intended for bicycles and was very confusing. Some construction workers who had closed a bike lane through a tunnel told us of how to catch a bus (with our bikes) to get through the tunnel.

After a day with no rear view mirror I figured out how to move the road kill brake hood mirror Ole had given me one at the beginning of the trip from the left brake hood to the right brake hood so I'd have an effective mirror.

Our progress has been slow getting used to "round abouts" and a spider web maze of roads has taken lots of time and stops. In two weeks we've done a 450 mile loop in Southern England. First we went to New Forest where ponies run free on the reserve roads. Then up to Bath, Stonehenge, Stratford upon Avon, where long canal boats add to the charm of the city. Over to Cambridge, home of the many schools of Cambridge College, and now to Harwich to catch a ferry to Den Haag Holland. We picked up 3 new people. Charles and Lisa on a tandem, and Michelle a fresh college graduate in Mechanical Engineering. In Den Haag, Charles and Lisa will split off to Southern Germany, Michelle will too. We'll meet back up with Louise, and pick up Ole's friend, Steve who will travel with us for a month or so.

That's it for now.

John Purdy