Act III- Dutch Dreams come true in England

 In my last post I signed-off by alluding to an impending quest to buy a bakfiets. It would be a journey that would require the backing of a great patron, the blessing of two small blond knights, and the aide of a diver of Uber.
 I have been seeking one of these fine feats of bicycle engineering since we first glimpsed their use in the Netherlands five years ago. Expensive and rare in the U.S. I was never able to get my hands on one at home but,here in Cambridge, need and availability have converged into one great possibility. We tried for several weeks to find a decently priced used one on the craigslist of the UK, Gumtree. When that did not prove a viable route we started checking in at local bike shops. While Cambridge sports and healthy number of bike shops only a few sell cargo bikes. I described our first visit in a previous post with a pleasant but ultimately unhelpful shop nearby. We then widened our search radius and found Outspoken Cycles, a good hour's walk from where our flat is. Kurt spoke to one of the salesmen on the phone who said they had a decently priced off-brand, Bertus, that might suit us. So on Thursday last I packed our bike helmets and a snack and called up a pleasant Uber driver by the name of Lawrence. With Lawrence's help the boys and I made it across town to the industrial area where Outspoken is located. Like the other bike shop the staff was friendly and laid back, quickly accessing our need and means. The Bertus was bigger than the Bakfiets that I had tried previously but was just as easy to handle. After a bit of a test-ride, a good once-over and exchange of credit card details the Bertus was at last ours! We bid farewell to the staff who seemed somewhat astonished at the ease of the sale, and embarked on our first real ride. The bike lanes in Cambridge are not as well defined as those in Holland but are still amazing- I particularly enjoy the subterranean bicycle traffic circle that runs underneath one of the larger automotive circles in the east side of town. Superb!
 
   That afternoon the boys and I celebrated our new mobility by pedaling out to the paddling pool at Lammas Land park. On the way home we experienced our first rainstorm since arriving in England. The bike handled well and the boys didn't seem to mind getting drenched (which is good because we did not opt for the Bertus raincover due to its price tag).
 
  On a side note, so excited was I when we got home with the bike, that I forgot my cardinal rule of unlocking the auto-lock on the door to our apartment. Thus when I went out into the yard to help the boys with something, I locked us out of the house. Luckily, Klaus is just small enough that I was able to boost him through one of the vent style windows of the kitchen and he let us back in (He was very proud of this rescue:). This little incident led me to the realization that if this happens again when I am home alone that not only will I be locked out but that I will be trapped in the garden as the gate to the street is also locked with a skeleton key. My only salvation will be a neighbor who might let me borrow their phone. With this in mind I have precautiously placed a card in the kitchen window listing Kurt's cell number. Fingers crossed that I have learned my lesson.
 

On Friday, we finally got to include Kurt on one of our adventures and set out on a road-trip to Bristol to meet up with another sabbaticaling Gettysburg professor and his family. James, Xingyi, and their son, Noah, are good friends of ours and so we were all thrilled to find out that we would be in the UK at the same time as them and immediately planned to meet up.
 Google maps reported the trip to be about three hours in length but apparently it could not account for all the summer holiday traffic and construction near London and after several detours through the adorable but winding narrow roads of the Cotswolds we arrived in Bristol two hours later than expected. The squeals of joy from the kids quickly helped us forget the trauma of the drive and soon we were all climbing onto a double decker bus headed for the cluster or restaurants around Bristol's harbor. After a lovely dining experience (minus the nearly full pint I knocked over) we took the kids to a grassy area to play a little football. Overall we found Bristol itself rather unexciting and unmemorable but the company was great.
 

The Pucketts are not staying nearly as long in England as us and so they opted for a small efficiency in Bristol. Despite this they were able to creatively house us all for the night and in the morning we all set out for the western coast. First stop was West Bay beach with its high cliffs, crashing waves, and punishing wind. It wasn't quite what we had envisioned when we planned to go to the beach but it wasn't unenjoyable; Rather than sand, the beach was covered in smooth fine pebbles, that were definitely easier to shake out of our shoes. The boys still splashed in the waves though the surf was too big for them to really go into the water which was just as well because the water was pretty cold. Next to the beach are some beautiful ochre-colored cliffs which James and Xingyi said were a filming location in the series Broadchurch . We climbed the long trail to the top and walked around a little enjoying the ocean view and the golf game that was happening on the course just adjacent to the cliff ledge.

After a pub lunch at The George, we drove a little further to a fossil beach James had read about called Charmouth. For the rest of the afternoon we joined the ranks of the other fossil hunters, breaking apart the soft gray rocks that had fallen down from the cliffs to the stony beach in hopes of finding ammonite fossils, small Jurassic-age creatures that look like the modern nautilus. After our crew spent a few hours breaking apart rock after rock caveman-style, Xingyi eventually figured out that searching through the sands of the beach was actually the best way to find ammonites. The Pucketts were definitely the better fossil hunters but the boys seemed happy enough with our small finds.

   That night we ate dinner on the Quay in Exeter. While the food was excellent, the wind ruined our plans for a relaxing dinner, often upending the lego kits that we brought to keep the kids happy. Best laid plans. 

 

On Sunday, we took the Pucketts to one of our favorite spots from our 2013 trip to England, Dartmoor National Park and Haytor. Haytor is a large rock formation at the top of a hill, the product of severe erosion to the earth around it making it an impressive presence on the moors. Just like last time it was a perfect English day- rainy and misty (Incidentally I found out that my "rain-coat" is not actually waterproof). The hike is a good one for kids- barely 15 minutes with a cool pay-off at the end in the tor itself. The boys clambered all around the rocks and while the adults sheltered from the wind and took pictures. Kurt and I tried as best we could to recreate a selfie we had taken with the boys the last time. We did an ok job. The similar weather helps. I think we are actually near the same rock!