Day 14: Earth, Wind and Cycling, and a bit more wind

Hitchin, Hertfordshire to Oxford, Oxfordshire (via Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire)
72.61 miles (745.6 miles cumulatively)

The day began like any other; waking slowly, cup of coffee and lovely breakfast whilst contemplating the day of cycling ahead, when all of a sudden another thought hit me like a sledgehammer in the face (I want to say 'literally' like a sledgehammer in the face, but unfortunately I can't bring myself to misuse the word 'literally' to such an extent!) that it wasn't going to be only me toady! I was going to have a cycling buddy with me for the whole 72.61 miles of it! Yes, that's right, Sarah Hughes (for those of you unaware, Sarah is my girlfriend) was going to be accompanying me for the day.
We set off from hitchin, Sarah's home town, and ventured forth to conquer and corrupt (of course we didn't actually do any corrupting, except for pushing that toddler over when he was in our way and I don't know if this totally counts as corruption***) the counties of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire (which I kept calling Berkshire all day and therefore got very confused that I was actually repeating a county! Shock Horror!) and Oxfordshire.
The route was windy and windy, and some of the paths were somewhat akin to cycling over treacle (although I wouldn't recommend putting this sort on your pancakes!) and the distance and arrival time seemed to be getting longer and further away respectively. I think, in fairness, the day took us a little bit more by surprise for the fact that we started wearing the rose-tinted spectacles of possibility and finished wearing the mud-spattered glasses of reality - quite something when you consider I have been on the road for 2 weeks now and should already realise fully the highs and lows that are possible in a day on the saddle.
I've since realised 2 things:

1. That Sarah copes with the emotion of cycling distances in a very different way to me - I moan and groan like a child without a toy, getting more and more despairing about the situation before finally deciding to take on some calories and then feel ok again. Sarah gets her head down and just booms her way to the finish (or the next stop) and somehow manages to cycle even faster than she did before. A new and quite extraordinary way of dealing with things!
2. There's a cycle path...oh yada, yada, yada, I'm boring myself now! Basically during any one day, there are some great parts and some less great parts, some dog's bo**cks and some camel's bo**cks if you like. I think Sarah and I experienced both today!

***We didn't actually do this!