Day 2 Bradford to Stonehenge

I woke up to the sound of a dog sniffing something near my ear. Then, a bark, a very loud one. The sound was coming from way too close to my head to be safe. I jumped at least 10 centimeters off my sleeping pad. Where was I?

It all came back to me at once. How we just left our home behind the day before. I was in a tent sleeping next to Josh and we were going to cycle as far away as we could. That was the plan.

What was not part of the plan was to be still sleeping when the sun was already so high in the sky. The tent walls were glowing and the atmosphere inside it was hot and sticky. We were supposed to be gone already.

‘So, we overslept.’ I thought.

At the same time, I heard another dog walker go past our tent, and immediately after, another one.
‘So many dog walkers!’ I thought ‘How come so many people come to these woods to walk their dogs!?’.
I decided to take a peek out of the tent and make some breakfast. I slid the zipper open, on all fours, put my head out of the tent door, and found myself nearly face to face with another face.

‘Good morning!!’ Said the smiling face while it slid away.
‘M-morning?’ I answered confused.
On a second look, the sliding face was attached to a body covered in spandex, itself sitting in a kayak. We had pitched the tent extremely close to the river bed, it seemed. ‘That’s what you get from pitching after nightfall’ I thought.
I turned my own head around to look towards the other side of the tent, expecting to be surrounded by trees, only to make eye contact with a jogger, a mom with a pram, and two dog owners, all walking along a very defined and well-kept path.

‘Hello!’
‘Morning!!’
‘Lovely day innit?’
‘Hey, there’s someone tenting!’

I turned my head again to greet a whole flock of kayaks floating down the river. Sigh. ‘We are not camping in woods removed from sight at all’ I thought.

I slid back into the tent so fast I hit my head on the top of the opening, fought to close the zipper of the tent door without getting the material stuck in it and half-scream half-whispered:

‘Josh! Josh!! I think we should pack up.’ Grumble from Josh.

A bit awkwardly, we packed up the tent and got on our bikes.

After cycling for about two minutes, we encountered the loveliest little town, all made of thick stone walls, white garden fences, cute cafes with tables overlooking the tranquil river, and a castle.

‘That Explains the cohort of joggers and kayakers.’

‘Oh well at least everybody was lovely.’

We sat on a sunny terrace next to a dog eating his very own ice cream and took a well-deserved breakfast.

The path that we chose followed the canal, and it was the weekend. Although that didn’t mean much for our own schedule, the path was crowded with walkers and our progress was slow. That much sunshine and warmth on a mid-September weekend are pretty exceptional and everyone seemed to be in a jolly mood.

The waterside of the canal bank is crowded with moored narrowboats, each painted in a different colour. The only common point between these boats seems to be their long-ness and the apparent taste for slight chaos of their owners – some have gardens on their roofs, piles of seemingly unused bicycles or other knick-knacks. Some of them have plants growing in every available corner, making them look like floating jungle cans. A lot of the boat owners were sitting in folding chairs on their decks, enjoying the sunshine.

‘Oh Hi there!’
‘Hello! How are you?’
‘Well pretty good, where are you guys going like that?’
‘To Kuala Lumpur!’ said Josh with a huge smile.
‘What??’
‘This is the way to Kuala Lumpur. Didn’t you know?’
‘To Kuala LUMPUR?? I had no idea!’
‘Yep, this is the way, and this is where we’re going!’
‘Ha! Imagine the type of people you meet on this towpath. Have a fantastic journey!’

It all seems possible now. Telling people we are doing this makes it true. Maybe we WILL make it back to Cambodia, or even Malaysia. When I see all of these people living on their boats, wishing us well on our trip, I think, they know. It IS possible to live your life as an adventure, they’ve done it.