Almost full circle

We’ve progressed nicely along the coast of England in the past two days. Plenty of hills and plenty of wind, but nothing like the 50-mph gusts we experienced from Dover to Rye. We have sore muscles again!

We’re now within an easy day’s ride of our starting point, which means tomorrow we come full circle and return to Hilary and Stephen’s house. We are looking forward to seeing their black lab, Broccoli, and meeting their new beagle, Ptoly.

Yesterday we happened upon some pretty awesome castles, Hastings and Pevensey,  and we couldn’t help but explore them both. Lyle in particular was super jazzed about the Roman ruins. 

The hills  — they continue to amaze. Battery Hill is worth mentioning. As I was pushing the bike up the steep part...

...a lady said, “You must be mad to ride your bike here.” Yep, the English still think we’re loony, daft, and bonkers, and they still look at our children with pity, 1,768 miles later.

We paused at the top of Battery Hill for a family photo. Seriously, if you’re going to do something that mad, why not celebrate?!

I can’t believe it, but tomorrow is our last cycling day. We’ll stop by Castle Arundel on our way to Storrington. Some things about bike touring I will really miss and can’t wait to do again, like exploring all day long as a family, discovering unexpected delights like castles, villages, and beautiful rural landscapes, and working as a team to accomplish something physically challenging. 

But we’re also feeling a bit grungy. Today we rode through chalky, goopy puddles and ended up caked with white junk. I spilled black olive juice down my leg and one of the panniers. Lyle got a fresh coat of bike grease on his sock and ripped one leg of his rainpants in the chain. We ran out of the sea salt we’ve been carrying since Plymouth. The kids’ toothbrushes are shot, and I think we’re all ready for some fresh clothes.

Supper tonight:

— Liv