We were away by 6.30 trying to avoid the heat of the day. This pub is called ‘The Hole in the Wall’ At some stage in history it was built into the Roman wall that surrounded the city. 
I must admit the national cycleway to London is fairly well marked, but it varied greatly from busy roads to ‘cycle only’ tracks. I think ‘horse only’ would be more accurate
At Tiptree we were ready for breakfast. 
It’s not unusual for the signs in England to be covered in weeds and you had to be checking carefully at intersections. Still managed to miss one and ended up going through Witham. 
This has put us on cycle route 50 which is slightly further north. It’s mostly small lanes with very few cars. We did however meet a tractor and trailer and in her haste to get out of the way Christine rode into a ditch and ended up lying on her back with the bike on top. I quickly helped her up and later thought, darn, should have got the photo FIRST .
Essex up to now has been fairly forgettable but now we are seeing a lot more ancient thatch houses which are really pretty. 
Pleshey. A beautiful little village which used to have a castle and moat next to it dating back to 1460. All that’s left of it are the earthworks and some ruins
At High Easter we worked out a route to take us off 50, and back down onto route 1 . The goal tonight is Fyfield. 
Fine except the map didn’t show the Ford .It was a bit too deep so luckily there was a little bridge beside it.
And then straight onto a road through a farmers paddock. Road ?
Hey , the sun is shining and there’s no traffic. Feels good to me !
The pub was only one mile away and I could already taste that first beer orgasming down my throat.
Oh nooo ! Road block and they told us we would have to take a 5 km detour. Like hell. We rode into a neighbouring property and noticed they had another entrance further down the road . There was nobody home so we rode through their back yard. Saved !
The Black Bull, Fyfield. This pub was once a staging post in the early 1400’s. I just love old English pubs. The rooms were only £65 with breakfast and I’ve had a beautiful crockpot for dinner .
Paris to Paris 