Hi All-
I have been absent for a long time due to having a new baby daughter (now almost 5 months old) and
working part time. The part time work was accomplished by having a Mother's Help come over and watch
Ellen while I worked in the home office. Well, Mother's Help has just quit giving no notice, so in
order to not be too frustrated I'm taking advantage of Ellen's nap to fill you in on what's been
happening.
Before Ellen was born we got a Burley Solo trailer. We didn't use it until Ellen was almost 2 months
old, then we strapped in a baby car seat and started pedalling. Now I use it very frequently, taking
Ellen for little shopping trips (to the market downtown, to visit the farm shops, to see the egg
lady -- who keeps chickens and sells eggs for 1 quid a dozen) or just to go for a little ride.
Ellen really likes going places in the bike trailer. Initially she cried when I strapped her in, but
was quiet as soon as I started moving. Recently, she has been quiet as soon as I put her in the
trailer, in anticipation of going for a bike ride.
This past weekend we went for a very small bike tour. On Friday we attached the trailer to our
tandem (which we bought ourselves as an engagement present), put on panniers filled with clothes,
and pedalled to Bury St Edmunds, which is just over 30 miles away. One you get a bit east of
Cambridge is starts getting a bit hilly, so we spent some time struggling up hills in the granny
ring. We stopped in Newmarket for lunch and arrived in Bury St Edmuds about 5:15, having started out
at 12:30 in order to let the rain pass us by. We did about 32 miles that day.
On Saturday it was brightly sunny, and we wandered around Bury St Edmunds, taking in the sights.
On Sunday, we decided to take a more northernly route home, as it would be flatter (somehow on a
straight line between Cambridge and BSE you find a fair few hills, but arch north and it's almost
deadly flat). We first stopped by the Anglo-Saxon Village at West Stow, about 6 miles northwest of
BSE. This is the site of an Anglo-Saxon village in the 5th-7th centuries, and they have
reconstructed a few houses so you get an idea of what it might have been like to live there. There's
also a small museum that shows the artifacts they found there. Then after lunch in the cafe there we
headed off. We stopped again in Burwell, not too far from Cambridge, for ice cream. Finally we got
home to Cambridge, about 5pm, with almost 40 miles on the speedo.
And that was Ellen's first bike tour. (Well, the first out of the womb. We did a 10-day tour in
Scotland last year when she was a fetus just a few weeks old.)
-Myra