Our plan for this trip is to fly into Heathrow, bus to Windsor where we will stay the first night, then cycle west and north to Abbeymead, near Gloucester, where we have our first exchange.  While in Abbeymead for two weeks, we will tour the Cotswolds by bicycle and automobile.  Then we cycle on to Wales, stopping for a week in Llandrindod Wells.

The story of this trip actually starts before we departed, because an English television station is filming parts of our trip and exchange.  Two days before we left Sunnyvale, Hannah and Francois from Maverick TV arrived to film our preparations for the exchange.  They spent the better part of the day with us, filming our house, packing bikes, picking fruit and making jam.  They will meet David and Karen Bywater, Alex and Oli at our house this evening and do a bit of filming of them as well.

We left Sunnyvale around noon on July 9, and headed for San Francisco Airport.  The traffic was light, we arrived in plenty of time, check-in went smoothly, and we had a nice lunch while we waited for departure.  We flew Air Canada, and once again were very pleased with our arrangements, connections and service.  The flight from SFO to Toronto, departing at 3pm, was only 1/3 full, so we were very comfortable.  We went through a very thorough baggage screening in Toronto, and Don had to take out all of his gadgets and demonstrate their operation capability.  Even my Monopoly game had to be turned on.

The flight from Toronto to Heathrow left at midnight (9pm California time), and after a snack we fell asleep to Monsters Inc., and slept well until they woke us up for breakfast.  This flight, also, was only about 1/3 full, and we had lots of room to stretch out our legs for sleeping.

We went through customs with no problems, and caught the bus to Windsor with little delay.  Our hotel in Windsor was fairly easy to get to, and we checked in, showered and headed out to walk around the town.  Our objective was to stay awake until 7pm.  This we accomplished easily, and ate paella at a Spanish restaurant in the town before returning to our B&B and bed.  Don fell right asleep, but I stayed up to watch a movie on the idea that I would sleep all night then.  I turned off the light at 11pm, UK time, and fell asleep easily.  It seemed that I slept and slept, but when I woke up, expecting it to be 4 or 5am, it was only midnight.  Don and I talked for a bit and then he fell back to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I read a book until 4am.

Today more Maverick TV people are coming to the B&B to film us setting up our bikes and riding off towards Abbeymead.  Don scouted out several great shots they should take, so I hope they take his advice.  They will meet us again in a few days, as we arrive at our first home exchange.  The weather has been rain, sun, rain, sun.  More of the same is predicted.  Right now it is sunny with patchy clouds, so maybe we can set off in the sun, at least.

Next report

WINDSOR TO SONNING