Chinese Water Torture

I slipped in that we'd been to China.  And so had, for a week.  Hardly the grand tour, but Shanghai and Hangzhou were our two ports of call.  I'd say we saw a teeny, tiny, tiny slivver of the country and its culture, but it was absolutely entrancing.  And exhausting.  And it rained a bit.  And its a long way.  It was a fabulous week, entertaining and educational in equal measure.  I took a record-breaking 2000 pictures, which is ridiculous.  So here's a few, without a word of explanation:

Bike ride

In preparation for a cycle ride to Amsterdam, after my ride to Paris last year, I went on a long ride.  It's called London Revolutions, and is literally that... a ride around London.  200 miles in two days with a night spent in a tent at Ascot Racecourse.

I wasn't particularly fit after a week in Shanghai and not doing as much cycling as I ought before that...but hey ho, it made for a better challenge.  I discovered that Surrey has many hills, some of them steep, but it also has some very pretty villages.  The latter was nice, the former were a real challenge...for the first time ever I actually got off and pushed for a hundred yards.  That depressed me until the next day when I saw many people get off and push up most of the hills, whilst I stayed on.

I didn't enjoy the first day all that much, but loved the second, and certainly came into my own when finishing through the London traffic.

I also discovered my sports tracker doesn't work with my new phone which was disappointing as I like to record these things.

Not many photos either