< ![CDATA[  Our first day of riding dawned bright and beautiful. The kids were cheerful. Jet-lag had been banished and all seemed right with the world. We met several lovely folks while assembling bikes in the lobby of the Sheraton (far too nice a hotel for this sort of behavior on their cool marble floors!) It was with great anticipation that we rolled out the front door and waved good-bye to our Philippino bellman who had "clarified" the directions we'd downloaded to our host family's house. Hmm. The first ride had its ups and downs. Ups: lovely lilac scented air and overhanging greenery as we cycled along through quaint town after quaint town. Downs: difficulty balancing the full load on the new touring bikes and more than one little crash. However, all of the above were made even better by the presence of the wonderful paved cycle ways along every major road. We were safely removed from the traffic, which eased my mind greatly. It wasn't until about three hours into the ride that we entered Slough. Quite literally... it's the name of a town. While sitting at a crossing an Englishman with cigarette perched between two fingers looked incredulously at our little parade and said, "So, you've come on a cycling holiday to Slough, have you?" "Well yes, it's the center of the cultural universe, isn't it?" I replied. He bobbed his eyebrows in disbelief and took a long drag on his cig as we cycled off. Slough indeed. Two or so miles further down the road we pulled off at a McDonalds to let the boys use the facilities. Of course. If you've ever been anywhere with us you know our boys' need to test the cleanliness and efficiency of as many bathrooms as possible. It was at this same McDonalds that we made the fateful discovery: We were going the wrong way. Not just a little the wrong way, almost ten miles the wrong way. And it was four o'clock. This meant ten miles back to the Sheraton and THEN another seven or so to the Knosen's house. Despond. I'd be lying if I said the second half of the day was as lovely as the first. However, after many wrong turns and a couple of phone calls to our hosts we arrived. Not without assistance, mind you. Sherrit came out on his mo-ped to scope out our location and then Corinne met us on her cycle and guided us in the last mile or so. We felt like a (very tired) UN convoy. In spite of the fact that they were only obligated to provide us with camping space and a shower we're ensconced in their guest bedroom, having had warm baths all around and the best spaghetti we've ever tasted, washed down with two glasses of wine. We like them both very much already. We're looking forward to getting down to the business of exploring the city tomorrow... by train!]]>