Tour plans and first challenge of the year - 2013

Ive been a rather poor 'blogger' of late, rarely entering updates.  Ive had an active winter, only missing a couple of weeks off the bike due to snow and man flu.  But now I'm keen to get back on track with my blogging.
Ive got a few plans for this year:

• I'm returning to France for 5 days in July - touring the Cherbourg peninsula with a couple of friends on our annual boys tour.
• I'm riding in the Prudential RideLondon 100 sportive for my charity the Bren Project -http://www.justgiving.com/Peter-Sackett
• I'm taking part in the Cheshire CTC Bob Cliff memorial rides in June for the third consecutive year
• I'm hoping to ride one of the popular coast to coast routes in the autumn - to celebrate 10 years since I first did a cross country ride
• I'm planning a 2 day Holyhead to Chester cycle route 5 ride in the autumn too - with my small group of Sunday cycling buddies.

Add to this my target for the year is 2500 miles (up from 2200 last year) and it promises to be an active year.

Happy cycling!

C2C August 2003 - my first tour

I got into cycling 'proper' in 2002 and soon embarked on my first tour in August 2003 - the classic Coast to Coast, Whitehaven to Sunderland.  I wasn't very 'cycle fit' and only had a heavy mountain bike - but ignorance was bliss and so 3 friends and I organised the trip and we went for it.

The dynamic quartet was Nige, Gordon, Dean and me and we were ably supported by a back up vehicle driven by Ian (this was the first and last time I've used a back up vehicle - as it turns out its a good job I did).

Now this account is from memory - aided by photos of the trip so it might contain one or two inaccuracies, but I'll try to keep as close to the facts as possible.

We did the trip over 3 days - so here goes:

We left home at about 7am aiming to drive the 150 miles or so to Whitehaven for a 10am ish start.  We had a good run and arrived to bright sunshine.  We changed in the bandstand by the official start and lined up for the traditional photo - dipping our back wheels into the sea in the time honoured fashion.  As I recall it was a Friday morning and there were very few people about - since then I've passed the start point on a handful of occasions and there has always been loads of people preparing to set off - testimony to how popular the route has become over the last 10 years.

The route took us through a housing estate on the outskirts of Whitehaven and then on towards the distant mountains.  The route followed a mix of well surfaced cycle paths and quiet country roads.  I was using an official C2C guidebook but the route was so well signed that I could easily have done without it.

Dean 'falling off' - hilarious.

After what seemed like ages we climbed (pushed) over the Whinlatter Pass and descended into Keswick.  By this time we were down to 3, as Dean was unwell and so was riding in the support vehicle.  This was a stoke of luck on my part as I mashed my cheap chain set trying to climb the Whinlatter - this rendered my bike unrideable but I was able to continue to Keswick on Deans bike.

Nige

The lads

A visit to a very helpful bike shop in Keswick resulted in a new chain and a straightened chain wheel and with that I was back on the road.  We continued on to Mungrisedale and the Vicarage B&B (I don't think it operates as a B&B any more - which is a shame as it was excellent and the owners were very helpful).   We spent the evening at the Mill Inn http://www.the-millinn.co.uk which was excellent, with fine home made pies.

After a very large full english breakfast we set off away from Cumbria across the Eden Valley towards the big climb up to Hartside summit.  I cant really remember much about it except just how long and steep it seemed.  At this stage I hadn't really done much cycling and I was beginning to pay for it as the photos below show.

Nigel receiving attention to his dodgy back.

Me trying to look cheerful

Try as I may I cant really recall that much about the rest of the day.  What I do recall is that it started to rain heavily and there were lots of hills - far too many for my liking.  It turned into a bit of a gruelling ride if I'm honest.

We stayed in a lovely B&B but I cant recall exactly where it was, heres a photo.  From now on I must make a point of not waiting 10 years before recording events - my memory is not great at the best of times.










I seem to recall another large breakfast (a clear highlight of the ride, seeing as I cant remember much else) we set off through Northumberland, past beamish and the urban sprawl of newcastle and on past Sunderland's stadium of Light to finish at Roker Pier.  Where Ian our support driver had bought champagne to celebrate.

English Welsh borders tour 2012

Every year for the past 4 years I've been on a mini tour with friends - I'll add the previous years blogs over the next couple of weeks - but here is a brief account of this years trip around the English Welsh borders accompanied by a short video shot by one of our group, Jez Keeling.

The ride was over 4 days in July.  There were 4 of us - David, Jez, Derek and me.  We started at Jez's house in Shrewsbury on the Thursday and rode to Bucknell in south Shropshire - we stayed in the campsite behind the Baron of Beef, a good field, flat and spacious. (http://www.baron-of-beef.co.uk/). I had the thickest burger ever and a couple of fine pints.  The evening was rounded of with a traditional sporting contest, darts and pool - I think I finished last in both disciplines.

Day 2 took us to Hay on Wye and Radnors End campsite, about half a mile out of town (http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/radnorsend/) - it was pretty much booked up but the site owner let us camp on his lawn!  We had a great time exploring the pubs in Hay and had an excellent curry at Red Indigo (http://www.redindigo.co.uk/).

On Day 3 we rode to Ludlow and Whitcliffe campsite (http://northfarmludlow.co.uk/whitcliffe.html) - a hilly mile outside town.  Dinner was fish and chips and a couple of pints - as you can see, during the whole trip, we were clearly eating for maximum performance.

The sites at both Hay and Ludlow were high on the hills overlooking the towns and it was great to have far reaching views - especially at Ludlow where we could sit outside the tents and soak up the view as the sun set.

Day 4 saw us ride back to Shrewsbury and the drive home.  We covered 148 miles.  The terrain was mixed with a fair few hills and the weather was excellent throughout.

Anyway a picture is worth a thousand words so here's Jez's excellent short video:

Brittany journal - day 14 - the end

6/6 - Day 14 – miles cycled = 2, total so far 409

I woke at 6.45 to light drizzle, which only lasted for 15 minutes or so.  I had tea (nothing for breakfast) and packed up to join John and Dawn for the short ride to the ferry terminal and a 9.30 departure.

John and Dawn - on the ferry

I had croissants and coffee at the ferry terminal café – croissants are a hard habit to break, before going through passport control.  Once through passport control I was sniffed by a drugs dog – I’m not quite sure what it made of me, I’m surprised it didn’t pass out, before joining a long queue of traffic.

 After a few minutes I realised that Id’ joined the queue of vehicles that were just arriving – I nearly re entered St Malo – I even managed to get lost on the last 500 yards of French soil.

The St Malo - Dinard ferry

I boarded the ferry, left my bike in the cargo hold and went up on deck to wave goodbye to France.  It had been a great couple of weeks.

The crossing home was super smooth and I arrived back in Portsmouth on time. The whole ferry experience added to the trip and I would thoroughly recommend Brittany Ferries.

Brittany journal - day 13

5/6 - Day 13 – miles cycled = 28, total so far 407

Slept well and woke with a slight hangover.  Breakfast was the usual tea and croissants.  It was heavy overcast and chilly for the first time.  I took my time packing up and said goodbye to Mike and Chris before heading off up the VV2 towards Dinard and the ferry to St Malo.

The ride was smooth and flat on a route I knew from travelling in the opposite direction on my first day.  Halfway to Dinard the heavens opened and delivered the first serious rain of the trip – it was like stair rods.

I arrived in Dinard just in time to catch the ferry across the Rance to St Malo.  On arrival I had a walk around the town – I was hoping that the rain would subside before I went to find the campsite.  3 hours later it was still lashing down so I decided to bite the bullet and find the campsite.  The site is on a headland just outside the main town, it’s a municipal with reasonable facilities (14 Euros).

 I pitched my tent and sat and waited for the rain to subside.  It didn’t.  I decided to go for a walk around the nearby old port.  I stopped for a coffee and got chatting to an elderly English couple who told me that the weather was due to get worse over the next few days – my plan was to arrive here today, day ride or explore St Malo tomorrow and then head home the day after – given the weather and the outlook I decided to change my booking at the ferry terminal and head home tomorrow instead.

I walked back to the campsite and met John and Dawn from Nottingham.  They had been away from the UK for 2 months riding recumbent trikes through Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France.  They had covered nearly 2000 miles and were heading home tomorrow.

This was the first municipal site I’d stayed at.  It was a very large site and there were quite a few people about – its used as a convenient site by people before getting the ferry to the UK.  There were quite a few tents that had a permanent look about them too – I wondered if some people saw it as a low cost living option.

I walked to a local creperie for dinner.  It was still raining and the wind was getting up.  I had a chefs special crepe or gallette (I can never remember which is which), which was very nice, 2 scoops of cookie ice cream and a beer.  Back in my tent by 10, hoping for a good nights sleep – long day tomorrow.

Total miles today = 28

Brittany journal - day 12

4/6 - Day 12 – miles cycled = 35, total so far 379

Slept like a log and woke at 8 to dark grey skies.  Breakfast today was tea, orange juice and a ham and cheese baguette (almost a ‘continental breakfast’!).  I mooched around for a couple of hours before heading off across the river Rance towards St Suilliac and the Rance valley.

It was considerably cooler today and early on I got caught in a couple of short sharp showers.  Cycling on a load free bike felt great, even the hills felt easy.  Today being Monday, most places were closed and I had problems stocking up on food.  I did eventually find a boulangerie open in Chateauneuf d’ille et Villaine and I bought a flan (similar to a pizza) for dinner, 2 croissants for tomorrows breakfast and some milk.  

I then headed back to Dinan for lunch by the river (Ham, frites, coffee and a beer) before a couple of hours people watching and a steady ride back to the campsite.  I’d cycled 35 miles in all.

I decided it was time to wash my fetid clothes so made use of the campsites laundry (I had hand washed daily but seemed to be fighting a losing battle).  On my way back from the laundry I spotted a familiar face(s) – it was Mike and Chris – a real coincidence.  After catching up on the previous 4 days experiences we decided to go to a local bar tabac for a beer or two.

After dinner we wandered into Taden to a lovely little bar by the manoir, we had a few drinks and a great time.  Solo touring has its advantages – such as going at your own pace, stopping where and when you feel like it, eating whenever or wherever takes your fancy etc., but it can be a lonely thing and it was great to have company again.

I got back to my tent at around 11.30 feeling pretty squiffy – an excellent evening.

Brittany journal - day 11

3/6 - Day 11 – miles cycled = 41, total so far 344

I had a terrible nights sleep, even worse than the previous night.  Noisy children playing until midnight followed by a party in a marquee 40 yards from my tent (hidden over the cliff top) – the music didn’t even kick in until midnight – I’m not sure what time it went on until, 3am at the earliest.

I woke at 8 and the morning was cloudy and chilly.  I had a breakfast of tea and croissants (there is a clear theme emerging here) and then packed up and hit the road by 9.30.  My plan today was to head for Dinan and the campsite La Hallerais (where I spent my first night).  I took a circuitous and scenic route to Dinan and managed 38 miles.  The dull weather improved as the day wore on and by lunchtime it was sunny with scattered fluffy cloud.

I arrived at Dinan early afternoon and had a good explore. Dinan is a beautiful old place, full of cobbled streets and medieval timbered buildings – a real treat for the eyes and well worth a visit.

Afterwards I cycled the mile and a half along the river to the campsite, booked in and found a lovely flat pitch.  The site seemed really quiet after the last couple of days – perfect.

After setting up I cycled to the Port of Dinan on the river Rance for dinner (cheese omelette, salad, raspberry flan and beer) before cycling back for an early night.  I decided to stay for two nights and planned to take in a day ride tomorrow).