geeteetravels

Today’s ride was really our first good ride, yesterday’s was just a warmup. We rode through several interesting hilltop cities: Ostuni, Cisternino, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, and finished in Alberobello. The cities have a Greek flavor, all constructed with whitewashed stones and almost glowing from a distance. The terrain was quite hilly also between the cities and was mostly rural areas full of orchards growing olives and all kinds of fruit. The roads were absolutely charming, narrow with stone fences. The farm houses and barns are also built with stones and stained white but in a distinctive conical shape. They are called “trulli”. Many have been renovated and are now beautiful homes and guest houses. We are staying in one in Alberobello.

A break in the climb up from the sea on to the murge

We climbed out of sea level to Ostuni first

Cattedrale in Ostuni

Inside the trullo is built with fitted stones and a capstone

Outside there is a rubble layer finished with sloping flat stones for watertightness

An unexpected ode to cycling in the form of a fence

White and blue in Cisternino

Italian, Alberobello style

We had a bit of a slow start due to needing to pack things away to store while we ride for the next few weeks.  Then we immediately managed to get separated from our riding buddies before we even left the city and spent a half hour reconnecting. Brindisi is an interesting port city with some ancient Roman influence.
But soon we were on our way north up the Adriatic coastline enjoying the beautiful azure water and rugged shores. We stopped for lunch and waded in but it wasn’t hot enough to swim. It was a windy day, of course against us, but we weren’t going too far so it was okay and kept us cool.
Torre Santa Sabina is a small beach resort town on the coast, nothing much to see except an old tower of course, once used for defence purposes. We stayed in a lovely hotel close to the water.

Official trip start from the centre of Brindisi

The pleasure boat dock in Brindisi

The Roman columns are symbols of Brindisi

Il mare adriatico. Happy to be here

A quite distinctive Torre Santa Sabina

A very Greek looking Torre Santa Sabina

03:30 comes early regardless of the time zone you’re in, but that’s how it goes with a 06:20 flight from Gatwick to Brindisi. We checked in to easyjet once we got the bikes out of the left luggage office and went to find breakfast. Our breakfast was a bit leisurely perhaps as we heard our names being called to the gate. We did make it to the plane however and arrived to cloudy but hot weather in Brindisi. We figured out the local bus was €1 to central Brindisi as opposed to multiple other expensive options and off we went. The B&B we had booked was fine and we got the full touristic scoop from Giuseppe the proprietor. Rob and I assembled the bikes outside amidst the occasional light shower (what? rain on our hot dry holiday!) and espresso break. Later we found the local TIM store to purchase a SIM card for the phones and found where the local Conad (with a C) food store was for purchasing tomorrow’s lunch supplies.
We followed Giuseppe’s restaurant recommendation to Siamo Fritta (we are fried) to have some local fish and wine. We selected a fat looking sea bass from a platter of fresh fish and sent him away to be poached in water, olive oil and tomato. Beautiful, and a local wine pairing was exceptional too. I love this country.

Easyjet landed another one

On the tarmac in Brindisi

Pausing for a caffè while the bike is almost assembled

Bike assembly without espresso is like a fish without a ...

The maestro Roberto at work

The next two days we spent visiting and exploring parts of London we hadn’t seen before. We always take the tube for transport when we are here but it can be expensive so we tried catching a bus downtown. That started well but 50 minutes later crawling along Whitechapel road which was totally torn up with construction we gave up, got off, and caught the tube the rest of the way in. The girls rode into town using the ubiquitous bike rentals and only got lost once. Lyndsay has the system figured out. If you dock the bike back into any of the racks within half an hour it’s free. Then you immediately take out another bike and ride another half hour and never pay. We met at Victoria station and then off we went to Hampton Court by train.
Hampton Court is one of the royal palaces near London. It was the home of Henry the VIII and its 500th anniversary is being celebrated this year. Since the weather was reasonable we wandered the grounds and gardens rather than going in. There is a maze (Harry Potter’ish) we tried and an ancient and huge grape vine to wonder at, as well as as the formal gardens.
The evening was spent with Anette, the wife of my cousin Poul, at their flat at Limehouse basin. This is a historic and picturesque spot connected to the Thames by its own lock. There are several canals that go off from here and it is really a wonderful spot to live.
Tuesday we met all three daughters near Guildhall, Erika’s alma mater, and had lunch chosen from one of the kiosks/food trucks that spring up at that time every day. Erika had a gig that afternoon but we went with the other two to explore the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. Lyndsay convinced us to go by bike, in the heart of London, on the wrong side of the road, destination Trafalgar Square. What could go wrong? I am happy to say it was uneventful and we survived. London has great cycling infrastructure but with 8 million people it’s still a bit crowded. After supper we said our goodbyes and took the train to Gatwick for a one night nearby hotel stay due to the early flight the next morning.

I want to use this slogan for work!

No one was lost or found a portkey either

Henry lived here

Chimneys with highly artisanal brickwork

A sign you won't find in Calgary soon

Limehouse Basin, I'd live here

The rent-a-bici team near Trafalgar Square

Ya know, one is ok maybe two, but a whole line of these guys really takes away the magic

We arrived in England at Gatwick airport, 2 am Calgary time or 9 am local time, feeling less than chipper after only sleeping what felt like 5-10 minutes. We searched both terminals for the left luggage service for our bikes and finally got rid of our load before heading into the city.
The daughters headed to their sister’s flat to rest and we sought out our hotel. We were early though and decided to kill time wandering around West Ham Park where we found a cricket match and a garden to entertain us. We were definitely dragging though and soon found a bench to rest on.
We had a short rest once into our room then met the girls again,  snacked, then set out for Liverpool station to meet with Erika for supper. She had been busy rehearsing for her latest show Bugsy Malone.
Finally we got to go to bed, we lasted until 9 pm. Tomorrow hopefully we will feel back on track.

All 5 of us together! We're at the Liverpool Street tube station just after meeting Erika.

London fashion stroll.

The classic examination of the tube map.