The 6am departure time for a 6hr journey to London was painful but the banter en route made it bearable.
Like most urban bikers, I usually value the practical benefits of cycling, as a speedy means of transport and convenient form of exercise, but the Farum route made it as pleasurable as zipping along empty country lanes.
She said the diversity of the route made it so special, allowing people to "watch badgers, see skylarks, visit castles, sit by lakes and, yes, power stations".
This route made it difficult for the officials of Glastonbury Abbey to transport produce from their outlying estates to the abbey, and when the valley of the River Axe was in flood it backed up to flood Glastonbury itself.
"The Ridge Route made it possible for commerce and traffic and tourism to get between the two parts of California," said Alan Pollock, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.
Australia's distance from New England, where journeys could take 115 days, and the consequent high level of wastage – 150 tons of the first 400 ton shipment to Sydney melted on route – made it relatively easy for plant ice to compete with the natural product.
