September 8, 2022
Day 3: Airport to Horley
Our airplane was called a "Dreamliner", but I think the dreamy part was mainly in the reveries of the airline financial officers, who had the thing set up to pack in as many sardines as possible. Except that after only about half the trip my tail bone was already unbearably painful, and little room to squirm around, the flight was fine. The onboard meal was quite yummy, and the screens in front of each seat kept us suitably mesmerized the whole time.
Only once or twice did they bring around coffee and drinks, but their second sortie was a real wake up call. A wake up, that is, for Dodie (who does not even drink coffee) and the lady seated across the aisle from her. Using some kind of "reverse English" that we did not even see, the flight attendant managed to spill boiling coffee on both Dodie's foot, and that of the other lady. This made for a really lot of yelping, and some hurried searching for packs of ice. This could have been our fastest bike trip demise ever, but as I write this now in the hotel room, the foot only shows a bit of pink. Whew!
Our first impression of England, straight off the plane, was of things being small, and rather dowdy and dingy. For example, the first ladies' washroom we came to had only a small door, and quite a crowd of ladies. Or look at the seats, where we attempted to assemble our bikes, in the surprisingly subdued lighting of the baggage reclaim. And when, after several hours of reassembling the bikes, we emerged from baggage, we did not find any sort of glitsy duty free, nor a large concourse filled with restaurants and shops. There was just one little coffee shop, and you are out on the street.
On the plus side of this rather parochial feeling experience, the street did not feature any really giant impassable roads. The whole thing was rather like an airport in a small-medium BC town, but not as shiny. Very unexpected.
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We had made a track from the Gatwick north terminal to the White House hotel in Horley. At first the GPS showed a bit of shell shock and insisted we were still in BC. But given some time it locked in. We however did not, and could not quite spot the way we were being directed to follow. But Dodie spied airport employee out on a break, and he knew very well that the way was a hard to find tunnel. In a really nice gesture, he used his break to walk us over to the tunnel entrance. From there we found we were on NCN (National Cycle Route) 21, making it easy to reach Horley.
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2 years ago
Horley looks very "British" to us. That is, brick houses that are ok, but not exciting. This is sure not Dinkelsbuhl! The hotel was, yes, small and rather dowdy. Of course there is no dedicated bike parking. But that is an area where Bike Friday shines. Once Dodie took all the bags off, I simply carried the bikes down the narrow hallways, up the narrow stairs, and into our little room. They look very snug here, and of course are now totally secure.
I am eager to finish this entry now, because then I will walk to Horley high street to Spice Boys Indian restaurant for a take-out. Indian restaurants are a major dividend from the Empire, and we hope to cash in on it a bit. The Spice Boys' menu seems very advanced for a little hole in the wall, and I am very curious to see how it turns out.
Horley is quite an attractive town, though again in that sedate British way.
I was pleased to find at least three grocery stores, including the large Waitrose, and a LIDL. The LIDL seemed to be having some kind of supply chain problems, but I still was able to buy a quite nice chocolate bar for 69 pence.
The Spice Boys were fun, with the menu writ large on the wall. I got one of the Boys to explain Balti to me, since that's a term I have not heard before. It's a particular spice mix used with stir fried meat and resulting in quite a liquid sauce.
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We are really tired now, but could not help turning on the TV, to absorb soe of the wall to wall Elizabeth coverage. We saw a lot of interviews with the "common people", the speech from Charles, comments from the Archbishop of (Somewhere), and we wondered about the crowds at Buckingham Palace. Tomorrow we will wade right in, and see what is going on downtown!
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2 years ago
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Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 42 km (26 miles)
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