Day 16: Stockton to West Dean, UK: Jubilee!

June 4, 2012

From our spot in the village park, the lovely B road carried on through additional villages. Since it was a weekend, we encountered a number of day cyclists. One, Vanessa, lived in Salisbury, and cycled along with us for a while. This can be difficult since we are slow anyway, and we have heavy loads while a day cyclist is rigged for speed.

The B road continued to lead us through quaint villages

Soon Vanessa left us, and so did the B road. As we got closer to Salisbury, which is a big town, things got confusing. The problem was with the SusTrans signage. It has been really quite good, but this time it just totally petered out. We coursed back and forth, trying to sniff out the trail, but no luck. As we stood there wondering what next, Dodie's gaze fell on the entrance to what turned out to be Wilton House. This is the ancestral home of the Earls of Pembroke.

The question of where our route went got dropped (for a while) as Dodie proposed to go through Wilton House. It took me a while to get into it, since the puzzle of the route signs was still bugging me. But putting that aside, we had stumbled into yet another cultural revelation.

Approaching Salisbury - a little less quaint but still nice

Oh, oh, does this mean we are outlaws here?

Ecen kids books here would teach us a lot

Our bikes are housed in a private covered area

We started out in the basement, where a bit paradoxically there was a collection of classic fast cars. There was no real explanation, but it seems the latest Earl is into car racing.

Toy cars of the the most recent Earl. This is a late model Bugatti produced by Volkswagen - 1000 horsepower!

The basement has some diorama displays that while modest are well done.

The main part of the house can only be described (by me) as cuckoo. Endless corridors of collected statuary, cherubs dripping from painted ceilings, velvet curtains, gold leaf on everything, walls covered with hundreds of large portraits - it just turns me off. On the other hand, as an example of someone else's culture - that means a lot to them - it was stellar.

Part of a knot garden in an inside courtyard

The walls are covered in portraits of all sizes. Dodie shows the scale of the thing

Some bits have been renovated and others show their 400 year history. This curtain is falling to pieces as it hangs

There were many collections of fine china

One of the previous Earls was heavily involved with conditions in the Crimean war. Here among his things is a badge worn by Florence Nightingale

On the other hand, the British aristocracy and me are on the same page when it comes to landscaped parks. I absolutely love them (Dodie too). Yes, some landscape architects could denounce these too as artificial and unnatural. Pshaw! They are super, great! Now here is stuff that can raise your spirits if grumpy (which I deny!).

There are acres and acres of landscaped gardens and 21 square miles of surrounding lands

We met some Canadians, who took this shot

There are many statues on the walls of the catherdral

Some of the statue pedestals are empty. They are waiting for future bishops.

Back on the road, we came across the road to Downton. In fact, there is "nothing" at Downton, but after hours of watching the BBC show, just seeing the name was a thrill.

Downton! We know the "Abby" used for filming is not there, but still fun to see the sign.

We somehow make our way back to a B road. These are the best: smoother faster than a bike path, way safer than an A road.

We now reached the time of evening when tension mounts a bit, because we naturally do not know where we will sleep, are starving hungry, have not updated the blog, etc. In this condition we came down a hill and came upon West Dean.

West Dean is one of the quaint towns that we have been enjoying along the B roads. The population is about 300. About half of these were sitting at the town centre, enjoying a Jubilee fete.

The very first person who noticed us jumped up and welcomed us. They asked if we were hungry and/or needed a place to stay. You can guess what our answer was!

So they headed off and presently returned with Nick, who was Nick Hiddleston. Nick welcomed us, declared us to be his guests, and fixed us up with all we could eat of roast pig, salads, and drink. We joined the family at s table, and immediately felt at home.

Our new family: Niel Dalziel and Nick Hiddleston standing, Liz Dalziel sitting, with Sally and Anna Hiddleston.

The Hiddleston's live in what had been a pub

The celebration continues as night falls

The celebration continued as night fell, and a beacon was lighted, comprising a fire in a container on a pole. At one point, all rose and sang God Save the Queen. It was very touching. The community feeling and the national feeling felt warm and supportive.

There was some debate as to where would be the best place for our tent, or whether we should sleep in the house. We of course only need a 7x7 patch of anywhere to be happy, so we insisted that 7x7 in front of the house would be fine.

Our home in the Hiddleston's front garden, just across the way from the town centre where the celebration was held.

We are writing this the next morning, having slept completely peacefully. We are at the breakfast table with the family and friends, with the netbook plugged in and connected to wifi. What could be better!

Flash Prince Philip is not well. Oh, oh.

Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 393 km (244 miles)

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