County- I am unsure!!

[Vorpal]

I use a version of the same logic to justify staying in England, but please be assured you will be very welcome here.

There are enough places in the North Riding alone to last a lifetime

Ah, but you're not really touring if you don't leave your home count(r)y every year or two, are you?

Or one can simply move country every now and then, and have plenty of new places to explore

[Psamathe]

As US citizen I must admit to being illiterate about the different counties. I see part of this site has Riding in Different Counties.
So what counties will we be riding through from Heathrow to Reading down to Poole?
Thanks!!

I don't know about the character of the counties your riding through but there are some fantastic regional "quirks" in different regions/counties.
e.g. shortly after I moved to Oxfordshire I was surprised when a 6ft barman built like a scrum forward called me "My duck" ... how do you react to that until you know it's a local way of addressing people.

But then I guess UK is not alone in such "quirks". I remember when I lived in Netherlands initially trying to remember the various doei, daag, etc. regional variations. And then living in France on a border between a two bisous and a three bisous area and trying to "get it right".

UK has some truly wonderful "quirks" but your unlikely to get the opportunity to experience any are they are occasional e.g. "weighing the Mayor at High Wycombe" - a tradition to make sure that our public servants are not betting fat off our taxes so each year the Mayor is weighed in a public ceremony. But these days in the nterests of confidentiality the weight is not announced, just the increase of loss of weight http://www.mayorofwycombe.com

Or the Abingdon Bun throwing where on certain Royal occasions the town councillors climb the town hall and throw buns to the waiting crows below - guess where that tradition came from historically (with underfed peasants and overfed masters ...). http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/witness-living-tradition/bun-throwing

Or an unusual place to isit on your travels called "Nowhere". and when you get there 9these days) you will find "nothing" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowhere,_Norfolk

Probably gone a bit off-topic by now.

Ian

[Cyril Haearn]

There are enough places in the North Riding alone to last a lifetime

Ah, but you're not really touring if you don't leave your home count(r)y every year or two, are you?

Or one can simply move country every now and then, and have plenty of new places to explore

+1 I did that too
Where will you go when you have 'done' Norge?

[ChrisButch]

...and let us not forget the Soke of Peterborough...

[ I see, by the way, that the OP seems wisely to have fled the scene. I do hope we haven't put Woodtourer off visiting this madhouse of a country altogether]

[Psamathe]

...
[ I see, by the way, that the OP seems wisely to have fled the scene. I do hope we haven't put Woodtourer off visiting this madhouse of a country altogether]

Hopefully not - "Last Visit 05 Feb 2018 02:42" but being from the US or I assume given the 02:42 they are in the US, maybe just out of sync with our timezone?

Ian

[Cyril Haearn]

We have forced him to learn things he never wanted to learn, I love learning myself
Is the horn dance still done at Abbots Bromley? And morris dancing in Oxfordshire?

[Psamathe]

....And morris dancing in Oxfordshire?

Kirtlington Lamb Ale http://kirtlington-morris.org.uk/kirtlington-lamb-ale-2/. Every year late-May/early-June. Loads of local Morris whatever they are called turn-up, pubs stay open, something of a festival. But don't recon on driving home (alcohol involvement)!

Good fun for everybody, right from those who appreciate it through to those that think it's daft and laugh at it.

Ian

[Vorpal]

Ah, but you're not really touring if you don't leave your home count(r)y every year or two, are you?

Or one can simply move country every now and then, and have plenty of new places to explore

+1 I did that too
Where will you go when you have 'done' Norge?

I'm not sure. I really like it here. Mr. V might like to try someplace warmer, though.

[MikeF]

Road conditions can vary considerably between counties. It is possible, in many places along the Essex - Suffolk border, to tell when one has crossed the county boundary by the change in road conditions.

Indeed. That occurs with every county. A good road surface will change from good to bad or vice versa at the county boundary. And sometimes county councils aren't always sure where the boundary is.

[bovlomov]

Just as Yorkshire was divided into three Ridings, each of which was an administrative county, so Lincolnshire was divided into three parts, known as the Parts of Lincolnshire and one was Holland. Like the Ridings, swept away in 1974.

Holland, Kesteven and Linsdsey appear on the Gough map (circa 1400), along with 'Ageland', an area in the northeast of the county.

[bovlomov]

Road conditions can vary considerably between counties. It is possible, in many places along the Essex - Suffolk border, to tell when one has crossed the county boundary by the change in road conditions.

Indeed. That occurs with every county. A good road surface will change from good to bad or vice versa at the county boundary. And sometimes county councils aren't always sure where the boundary is.

Regarding roads that cross county or borough boundaries: in recent years road surfaces rarely go from good to bad or vice versa, but they often go from bad to worse.

[thirdcrank]

... Holland, Kesteven and Linsdsey appear on the Gough map (circa 1400), along with 'Ageland', an area in the northeast of the county.

I've sometimes been caught out using old maps when they've done something like building a motorway without letting me know.

[bovlomov]

... Holland, Kesteven and Linsdsey appear on the Gough map (circa 1400), along with 'Ageland', an area in the northeast of the county.

I've sometimes been caught out using old maps when they've done something like building a motorway without letting me know.

You should be using a more modern map, like the Anglia Figura (1536):

[MikeF]

Road conditions can vary considerably between counties. It is possible, in many places along the Essex - Suffolk border, to tell when one has crossed the county boundary by the change in road conditions.

Indeed. That occurs with every county. A good road surface will change from good to bad or vice versa at the county boundary. And sometimes county councils aren't always sure where the boundary is.

Regarding roads that cross county or borough boundaries: in recent years road surfaces rarely go from good to bad or vice versa, but they often go from bad to worse.

It depends. Almost every time I cycle anywhere I cross one or more county boundaries, and there are a large number of roads in my area that do so.

For example some resurfacing by East Sussex CC has been excellent for cycling, and some of their repairs have been of good quality. But some of their roads are bad. Surrey CC relaid a long section of a B road a few years ago and that is good. It contrasts with some of their roads that have atrocious surfaces for cycling, that change to the better on the Kent boundary. Some stretches of Kent repairs look OK until you try to ride them, when you find they haven't been machine laid. It's a mixture.

[Psamathe]

.... I see, by the way, that the OP seems wisely to have fled the scene. I do hope we haven't put Woodtourer off visiting this madhouse of a country altogether ...

I hope our/my (and others) outspoken views as to the sanity of the President over there has not caused offence. If so, OP, leap-in and point out his strengths (and remember, we base our opinions on the information we receive so maybe our press are to blame rather than we who base our views from them).

Ian