What I love about the English, part I

My absolute favorite English characteristic, one that I hope my children will heartily nurture and surely must run thick in their genes, is the overwhelming love for outdoor activities in the countryside. Walking, biking, tramping through fields, these are all daily practices in Nick's family and whole days are set around walks in beautiful places.

My family is incredibly outdoorsy and you will often find one member or another on some epic outdoor adventure, be it motorcycling through Africa or hiking in the Olympics. But in the US, outdoor activities tend to be just that: epic (and needing a fairly decent amount of planning).

In the UK, outdoor activities are come-as-you-are, dressed as you want, hop-on and let's go! It helps immensely that the terrain is mostly flat and that the wise Brits had the foresight (hundreds of years ago, I might add) to build greenspace around each and every urban space which in turn left plenty of room for paths and trails. (The history of green spaces in the UK are fascinating and the subject of many lectures at Nick and my Oxford master's program, if ever you are interested.) Hunter's wellies are also a functional fashion must-have in this country, which means that most are ready for anything, anytime.

So, in good British fashion, despite the impending rain, this morning, we woke up and decided to go for a bike ride. Four adults, one teenager and two babies rented bikes and rode from the village we are staying in to the next village, which happens to be amazingly quaint and right by the sea. We rode on a retired railway line and didn't hit a road for the entire 5 1/2 mile journey. And there were tons and tons of other people doing the same thing. Of all ages (although I think Poppie was probably the youngest on the trail)!

 We strapped Poppie's carseat into the bike trailer, which was a brilliant idea that we will be doing when we get home. We will also be buying a bike seat for Finn, because he found that to be a tolerable way to travel, unlike the trailer, which dampens his style (unless he wants to sleep).

We started off the trip with me pulling Poppie and Nick riding with Finn, but I am not as fit as I thought and we traded a few minutes in to the ride.

Finn taking Poppie's place on the way home so he could take a nap

We had Cornish pasties and a shandy (beer mixed with lemonade which was delish with the pasties) when we arrived and wandered around the village before jumping on the bikes and making it back just before the rains came. Poppie went back in the car with Grandma and Grandad and Finn took a long nap in the trailer, lulled by the gentle swish of Nick's pedaling and the fresh sea air.