Morlesau

We were up at 7:30am this morning. Obviously I was desperate for midday to come around so I could go and get my bike but before then we had a lot to pack in.
After a few coffees we left Wanda at 9:30am and took a slow walk back through the town. I had been looking at google maps last night and found a statue of Snow White sitting in a bench and some street art, so we headed to the town church and sitting in a bench was Snow White. It looked nothing like the Disney Snow White were all used too but Snow White was actually a nun.
From the statue it was just a short walk down an ally and through a park to find the street art that is also meant to be Snow White. Ok, this looked a little more like Snow White but she was handing out fish to children. Weird!
From the weird graffiti we headed to the castle that has been fully restored and is now a museum. It cost us just €3 each to get in and that included a free audio guide in English. Speaking to the lady at the till she told us that she used to live in Cambridge, near six mile bottom and she’s visited Norwich lots. It’s a small world.
The castle is filled with all sorts of things and we started the tour in the basement looking at old pottery that had been made in the area. Then it went into a blacksmiths and the iron work that was made in the area.
From the basement we went up a spiral staircase to where glass from the area was displayed, then a wood working section. All of the tools, bench’s and chairs were original. Then we went into mechanical things and they had a bike from 1860 with wooden wheels, no brakes and a metal seat.
From the mechanical things we went up another level and here’s where we started getting into the myth of Snow White with a room full of mirrors including the real mirror she used and her real shoes.
The museum was fantastically laid out and really interactive, I don’t know how many switches, buttons and knobs I pressed. Ellie said I was a nightmare and it has been beautifully restored with sections of the original artwork on walls left on display but behind glass.
We were in the museum for about 90 minutes and when we came out it had just gone 11:30am so it was time to head to the bike shop.
Opening the door of the bike shop there was my bike leaning against the wall. The owner came out and said he’d straightened the derailleur and sorted the gears out and at first I was pleased and he insisted I gave it a test ride. As I was getting on the bike he asked me how I changed gears, which obviously surprised me so I showed him the lever which he hadn’t noticed before. I then wondered how did he fix the gears if he didn’t know how to change gear?
Then as I got on the bike he said I didn’t have all gears but most and did I really need all of them?
This was turning into abit of a nightmare, I’d gone from thinking this guy was really competent to realising he’s obviously never even seen a gravel bike or mountain bike let alone worked on one. Then he asked me if it was electric?
I ignored that and set off up the road testing the gears. As I got out of sight I got off, had a look and the gear cable hadn’t been replaced. Infact I wasn’t sure what he’d actually done but u can fine tune the gears which is all it needs I think.
Now we’re €54 lighter.
To be honest he asked if I was happy and I said yes but walking back to Wanda I said to Ellie I think I’ve just been ripped off.
No I couldn’t straighten the derailleur but I could buy a new one for that price.
Anyway, I’m pleased I have a semi working bike back and I strapped it to the back of Wanda covered it up and then we refilled with fresh water before leaving and taking the 26 mile journey to our next destination.Read more