Cycling Britain: Day 4

Milton Keynes → Bletchley → Milton Keynes → Haversham → Milton Keynes

And I thought yesterday was bad.

This morning Chris and I cycled back through Milton Keynes to Bletchley. We spent several hours viewing the excellent exhibits there.

The collection of computers ranges from Colossus, the first electronic computer...

...to XTs and everything in between.

There were also several captured German Enigma machines along with details of how a series of enemy errors allowed the British team to crack the uncrackable. Most of the tour staff were elderly volunteers who worked there during the war. For a time I shadowed one German visitor who was being given the grand tour. She had worked in Berlin during the war sending and receiving messages which (unbeknownst to her at the time) were being decoded almost as quickly here in Bletchley. Her tour guide today was one of the very people who had been doing the decryptions. Bletchley Park definitely lived up to our expectations -- most worthwhile.

To be honest, this is the first time I've seen a U-boat in a parking lot.

After Bletchley we headed North. Back through Milton Keynes. This was the third time we'd been forced to go through this UK version of suburbia. Just as we exited Milton Keynes, it gave Chris a present in the form of a second flat tire. After applying yet another patch, his valve stem split off from his inner tube. Despite a valiant effort this proved unfixable. We had no choice but to turn around and make our way back through Milton Keynes to the previous night's hostel and wait for a local bike store to open on Monday.

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