Notes from a Damian

Highlights?
The company of course.
The hostels. The variety was great.
The whole area around the Wye Valley was really nice. Wells Cathedral was fantastic. Clifton Bridge amazing.
Riding over Dartmoor was great including that thrilling descent.
Some great cafes including the National Trust one and that one in Leominster.

Lowlights (if any)?
That road through Plymouth
Every time I go to Cornwall it rains!
Stopping in Lancaster rather than John O Groats

Best hostel?
I liked them all in some way. It was the variety that made it interesting. Liked Exeter for its facilities and comfort, Street for querkiness, Bridges for strangeness and that other one in the Wye Valley for being scenic [Welsh Bicknor]

Top Tips / Advice for others?
Shorts and knee warmers, arm warmers and gilets for flexibility.
Get nutrition and hydration right (little and often; carbs only whilst riding, plenty of protein in the evening). Shakes were really good.
Wash stuff rather than carrying it.
Use Gator Skin tyres.
70 miles per day seemed about right for challenging riding and sight seeing.

How do you feel now it's over?
Great memories, already thinking about the next adventure

How do you feel about the Scottish section?
Bring it on!

Anything else you would like to share? I think cycle touring is tremendous. There's always something around the next corner and all you have to worry about is where the next toasted teacake is coming from.

Ian's Story

What were your Highlights?
The run along Wye Valley picking up a bite at Tintern Abbey. Then Monmouth.
The drizzly drag over Dartmoor. Challenging but very satisfying. Lovely horses.
That last 12 miles into Exeter.
Damian's navigation.
Cycling over Clifton Suspension Bridge (It's a civil's thing).
Buying Savlon.

Lowlights (if any)?
I was looking forward to showing the gang Looe, Cornwall but it looked terrible on the day. Felt a bit guilty dragging them around.
Leading us to Wells church causing Rachel injury [Don't worry it's just a large bruise due to co-ordination/pannier error]
That pub that locked its doors on us just as the taste buds were getting excited.

Busy A roads, probably a necessary evil.

That bus that nearly tagged us - very neat side shimmy though Rachel.
Putting on and taking off blinkin duvet covers.

Best hostel?
I've tried to put them all out of my mind, but Golant was quite nice. There was a soccer buz going on and the Peroni was tasty and the huge dorm was almost empty. Not that I'm antisocial or anything.

Top Tips / Advice for others?
Be really, really disciplined, ruthless and sensible about packing. Think hard and logically about it. I didn't and hauling useless stuff up hills really annoyed me.
Make sure your bottom and your saddle are the best of friends.

How do you feel now it's over?

Physically fine. Mentally, pleased that I managed it and didn't let anyone down. Happy that my old bike fared well too. Told you I wasn't going to puncture this time. Glad we all got on well over the week.

How do you feel about the Scottish section?

Suppose it really has to be done. With Annie and Jake.

Anything else you would like to share?

I didn't know until sunny Friday that you can get sunburned through
lycra shorts. Skin on lower back and upper butt is glowing red.
Did this happen with any of you? [No but my hnads are very red/brown especially the right, along with my right thigh and calf]

The end of the road

Well the bags are unpacked, the washing is done and the bike's been put away for a little rest.

I feel like I've had more sleep in the last two nights than I had all last week and apart from a rather red right calf due to excessive sun on our race for home on Friday I feel quite refreshed. Although I've yet to get back on my bike, think I will leave that for tomorrow.

Along the way we often discussed the route we were taking and what we could have done differently. We hadn't put a great deal of effort into the planning to be honest as we decided to follow (half of) the 14 day CTC YHA route, which by it's very nature is restrictive as your days are decided by the location of hostels.

All in all it worked well and the directions proved to be pretty spot on - with some excellent interpretation by our guide de jour Mr Bonsall.

I kept a brief summary of our journeys and hostels which I will post later on - even so many villages, roads all start to blur into one. I have failed to identify locations on several photos already. Oh well.

We have arrived!

The Final Push

It's only quarter to eleven and we're already in Ormskirk (in a contemporary tea room nonetheless)! As we've taken the most urban route possible we've been going at a fair old speed along the A roads. Not the most scenic by any stretch of the imagination but I think everyone just wants to get home now.

Set off in full sun just before 8am along the A41 to Birkenhead to catch the Mersey ferry at 9am. Arrived with a good few minutes to spare except we were at the wrong terminal. Luckily it only took us 5 minutes to get to the right one at Seacombe, and with enough time to buy a breakfast pastry and partake of the FREE tea & coffee.

We've been round more roundabouts and through more sets of traffic lights (about 67) in the last 30 miles than we have all week.

Fastest/shortest day today from Bridges (Long Mynd) to Chester. The first few miles were up and down (although the 'big hill' failed to materialise?) then it was lots of downhill/flat miles.

Managed to add about 3 miles on by going in the wrong direction but all in all we've made very few directional errors - thanks to Damian and his bar bag reading. I suppose a little bit of getting lost/confusion is to be expected, and at least we haven't lost anything else although Ian rescued my sunglasses twice (in one day) and left his wallet in a pub. Not like the guys who stopped us on the road between Lands End and Penzance who had managed to lose a bike from the back of their car!

We arrived in Chester early for us - around 3pm in glorious sunshine. We're staying at a backpackers place just a few doors down from The Edge - so we popped in and had a quick look round on our way into town.

Feels quite strange being so close to home - doesn't feel like quite so much of an adventure now, especially when tomorrow's ride is basically to get home.

Still trying to work out our route back to Lancaster tomorrow. Expecting it to be around 75-80 miles - including our 4th and final ferry trip. Forecast looks great for tomorrow - just a pity it wasn't like this back in Cornwall so we could have gone for a dip.

Think once we're back home we will have more time to reflect on the trip, contemplate what we might have done differently and share any tips.

Anyway hasta manana. Lancaster aqui venimos.

A bridge too far

Wednesday 1 June: Another delayed entry due to lack of signal in Shropshire and a small accident involving a toilet and mobile phone.
Anyway here goes:

Another day that turned out to be a bit longer than expected at almost 70 miles. Good weather in the main but perhaps a bit boring. Lovely countryside but no real places of interest.

Fairly flat but on day 5 all slopes start to feel like hills and all hills like mountains. Felt a bit like it was just cycling today - turning the pedals. Damian had his 2nd puncture.

Arrived at the hostel to find out that the next door pub that offers food was closed for refurbishment and the next nearest one was 3 miles away. In the nick of time we managed to order in house: 3 courses for just £10 - the catch? You have to wash your own dishes. And no beer!

Abbies Galore

(Yesterday - Tuesday 31 May)

Our first dry day and sunny too hurrah. Also I think the one with the most to see.

We started the day travelling through Glastonbury and Wells (where we stopped to look at the cathedral). Then past Chew Lake and over the magnificent Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The route to this point was mainly flat/undulating punctuated by quite a long climb out of Wells, on the Old Bristol Road, and a very steep hill in Long Ashton, just before Bristol.

Then it was a fairly easy ride to our next bridge over the Severn. It was quite a strange experience riding for what seemed like a good mile over the bridge adjacent to a motorway.

Then we were into Wales - Monmouthshire. Lost track of counties visited now as not sure which one Bristol is in, but we're now in Herefordshire and we may possibly have briefly entered Gloucestershire too.

The A466 to Monmouth didn't look overly appealing at it passed Chepstow racecourse, however it soon turned into a lovely wooded road sweeping down through the Wye Valley.

Suddenly out of the trees appeared the ruins of Tintern Abbey, and a cafe which was a welcome sight as I was feeling pretty hungry. So we stopped, filled up and admired the view and hoped that the road didn't climb back up.

Luckily the road continued along the river (reminding Damian of the Loire Valley). Switching between Wales & England just as we reached Monmouth we turned onto a cycle trail which continued along the river for c.5 miles to Symonds Yat -where the aforementioned punctures occurred.

We knew the hostel wasn't much further but up a hill - what it didn't say was up a hill and then down very steep rough track so that's something to look forward to first thing after breakfast.

Had to beg the staff to let us have dinner as we had arrived late - followed by a couple of beers in front of the tv.

4 days in and my legs are a bit tired now - feeling glad I got that new block put on, although hopefully the big hills are behind us now.

Ian was disappointed to have missed the Rapha bus in Lancaster - what timing - but all in all it's going well.

Peregrines & Punctures

Well we managed to get to day 4 before we got a puncture - but what a spot!

Somewhere on the Peregrine Trail adjacent to the River Wye about 2 miles from Symonds Yat, and about 3-4 from the hostel .

Our second puncture followed hot on the heels of the first - about 30m later!

This is much better going than our Way of the Roses trip in March where the first puncture occurred within 10 miles, and our 2010 C2C trip where we had one within the first four miles followed by 5 in the last 10.

Summary of today's ride to follow.

At the dark end of the Street....

(From yesterday Monday 31 May)

Had a leisurely start to the day due to pouring rain in Exeter (Bank Holiday Monday of course ) and the fact that we were only doing c.56 miles today - although due to some route amendments (to avoid certain A roads) and some map misinterpretation it turned out to be 60.

So now we're three counties down - in Somerset about 5 miles from Glastonbury (Street to be precise).

Thinking about with hindsight what would we have done differently or brought with us?

Rachel - my clip on reading light (none of the hostels have had individual lights so you cannot read etc, although in an ideal world I prob wouldn't stay in hostels either - although you do get up earlier)

Ian - performance enhancing drugs(?)

Damian - his mobile phone (which he left on a train a few days before we set off).

Delightful Dartmoor

Turned out not to be our longest day today - just 75 miles (not the promised 84 as stated on the CTC route - not quite sure how that happened but welcome all the same).

The first part of the day was not overly pleasant due to drizzle etc and just seemed very long. Dartmoor was an unexpected pleasure, although the road to it from Plymouth (A386 to Tavistock) most certainly wasn't. Avoid if you can* .

The climb over Dartmoor was quite hard but rewarding and it was the first time we've seen the sun since Friday. Imagine it could be pretty bleak at times but today was lovely - warmish w little wind.

There were a few tough climbs after Dartmoor particularly out of Moreton Hampstead - including a nice 16% one.

We've been over 3 car ferries so far: Prince Harry on the first day was £1.50 (for the 3 of us), Torpoint to Plymouth was free but Bodinick ferry was £4.70??

Anyway off to Somerset tomorrow nr Glastonbury Tor.

* wouldn't it be nice if buses gave some kind of friendly warning to cyclists using the bus lane that they were there instead of just hurtling past with inches to spare - well I guess we can dream.

Day One: Drizzle

Well that's day one over with - about 66 miles down just 400 something to go.

We actually did just over 70 miles today - through a variety of drizzles, light rain etc. - as we had first to reach Lands End before we could leave Lands End (see photo for shot of rather tacky start point).

No major problems today - D narrowly averted disaster by losing and recovering the map twice, my chain came off just nr Charlestown (v pretty by the way) but that's pretty much it - exciting eh?

We were out on the bikes for quite a long time - about 8 hrs - but this did include 2 food stops and multiple map reading stops plus a fair few putting on / taking off of waterproofs stops.

Tomorrow is our longest and hilliest day we think - what kind of a combination is that? - with our end point at another YH, this time in Exeter.

Day Zero

After 8hrs on the train and a breezy 8 mile ride to St Just - we have finally arrived at our first night's stay - The Lands End YH.

A slight delay to the start of journey due to a small map reading problem (Ian) and a cleat on the wrong way round (me) - you decide which is worse. The hostel is in a lovely location and only a 15min walk from St Just, where we are currently enjoying a pub meal and a pint.

Breakfast is ordered for 8am then we'll be setting off for the ubiquitous photo at the LE sign. Think it's approx 65 miles tomorrow with our first night proper in Golant.

First Fig

FIRST FIG Edna St.Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!

The Wind

Luckily the wind for Saturday is currently forecast as WSW which is good news for us.

Here is a lovely poem by Emily Dickinson

THE WIND

Of all the sounds despatched abroad,

There's not a charge to me

Like that old measure in the boughs,

That phraseless melody

The wind does, working like a hand

Whose fingers brush the sky,

Then quiver down, with tufts of tune

Permitted gods and me.

When winds go round and round in bands,

And thrum upon the door,

And birds take places overhead,

To bear them orchestra,

I crave him grace, of summer boughs,

If such an outcast be,

He never heard that fleshless chant

Rise solemn in the tree,

As if some caravan of sound

On deserts, in the sky,

Had broken rank,

Then knit, and passed

In seamless company.

Then There Were Three

Unfortunately due to a virus Annie has had to pull out of our LELA trip - and so the four become three. Get Well Soon Annie.

Well in a little under 24hrs I will be arriving in Penzance* to make (what I hope is) the short bike journey down to Lands End.

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little nervous - although this is not unusual before a trip - have I forgotten something? will the weather be ok? Although now I can add a few new ones - will my legs/bum cope? what direction will the wind blow?

Thanks to Dr Bike my new derailleur is now in place along with my new cassette. Had a little test run today and that ultra low gear certainly spins the legs - let's just hope it does the trick on the Cornish hills and beyond.

There's still plenty of time to sponsor us at http://www.justgiving.com/LandsEndLancaster. Just one penny per mile would be most appreciated (£5).

*Due to the ridiculous situation with bikes & trains in the UK - the other 2 are leaving Lancaster at 0757 and me at 0957. The train between Birmingham and Plymouth will only take 2 bikes meaning we have to travel on separate trains - phhh.

Roses

Just thought this was a nice picture.

Day 2 of our recent Way of the Roses trip. This was taken outside of the West End Outdoor Centre, nr Blubberhouses. It was a very pleasant and well equipped bunkhouse - albeit a little further off route than we thought.

The Dilemma of Packing Light

As it's now only 4 days until we set off my thoughts turn to what to take with me (although truth be told I started thinking about this some weeks ago).

I've got a pair of rather nice Ortlieb panniers and it's very tempting as with any journey to just fill them up and go. But on the other hand I will be riding a bike for a whole week and any extra weight just means more effort.

Thus the process begins - how many pairs of socks do I really need for one week? Can I get away without taking a hairbrush and how much weight will that actually save me? Shall I just take shorts and hope for the best?

Essentially it's a balance between comfort on the bike (the smallest load possible) vs off the bike (spare clothes, home comforts etc.). To be honest the former normally wins - just the thought of those hills is enough to make me put that 2nd jumper back.

Rain, rain, rain and Rachel

Has it stopped raining today - it doesn't feel like it. Perhaps this is normal for May but after the great weather in April it's quite a shock.

Here is the last of the four intrepid riders Me aka Rachel.

Current bike: Cannondale Triple. My other bikes are a Scott mountain bike and a Trek Lexa SLX. The Cannondale is the oldest at just over a year (I went on a bit of a spending spree in 10/11 back in the halycon days when I had employment).

Favourite cycle ride: Most of them to be honest although I do need to be persuaded to tackle some of the hillier ones. Have discovered some great routes in Lancashire & Cumbria over the last couple of years. For some reason Jubilee Tower is my particular nemesis - like diving I know I can do it but it scares me a bit.

Favourite piece of kit: Too many to name...perhaps my Ortlieb panniers? and I do like a good cycle computer.

Favourite cycling quote: “I expect to see the day when not to ride a wheel will be a mark of a defective education, and people will say to such a person, ‘Why, where have you been brought up?’” - Reverend W.J Petrie of Chicago, ‘How to Bicycle’

What does cycling mean to you: Fun, Scenery, Exercise, Health, Transport, Friends, Work, Exhilaration, Happy

It's Better to be Green

My new green bar tape - fitted by yours truly - not the most popular colour with my fellow cyclists it seems, but I like it. The tape was a bit short but for a first go it's worked out well enough.

This is my 'touring' bike - it's really just a road bike but it is a triple and has a pannier rack so it fares better than my others. For anyone interested it's a Cannondale Synapse Tiagra Triple (2009) - and has so far taken on me 2 Coast to Coast rides plus numerous local rides, commutes etc.

Below are some of the recently brought provisions for the LELA trip including a shiny new cassette (to make those hills just melt away) which hopefully will be fitted tomorrow.

I is for Ian and Inclement Weather

Well it seems quite some time ago now that Ian and myself cycled up to the Trough Road - via the 'Marshaw Road' (doesn't appear to have a name on the map) in glorious April sunshine and blue skies - however it was quite a different Lancashire today (some might say normal) grey, damp and very windy. Hopefully this isn't practice for our forthcoming trip.

We did incidentally get a bit of hill practice in - as well as the aforementioned roads it was also my first trip up 'Conder Bottom'. Now just need to spend all day doing it to simulate a day cycling in Cornwall

Enough of that here is Ian - cycling in the Yorkshire Wolds in April 2011.

Bike: Dawes Galaxy. 1994.Dingy green and very few original parts left. A bit like me.

A favourite route: Apart from Jubilee Tower.

Antrim coast -Ferry to Belfast. Train north to Portrush with friendliest conductor ever.Cycle down the beautiful coast via Giants Causeway, Bushmills, lovely fishing villages etc, ending up for night out in Belfast.

Pleasant cycling? - Brittany. Smooth quiet roads, careful drivers, hot weather, wonderful coastal scenery, great (fishy) food and accommodation.

Thoughts on the trip: Maybe I should've taken up bowls.

Favourite kit: Annie's new cassette glistening in its box in the pub last Tuesday

Best cycling quote: “Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride." -Eddy Merckx

Other related thoughts; Cycling accentuates the mind and gives a nicely turned calf. And vice versa. Be game for anything, except dancing when over 50. And really really try to leave the car at home.

D is for Damian and Donating

You might see from his answers that Damian is rather more enthusiastic about the trip then the rest of the group (the steeper the better is in no way a group held theory).

Current bike: Ridegeback Horizon in liquid silver (looks

like titanium). Only 3 months old - the baby bike of the party.

Favourite cycle ride: My quick training ride - Kendal to Kirkby Lonsdale to Sedbergh and back over Black Horse Hill. 34 miles of hills, 3 lovely towns, quite roads and awesome views.

Thoughts on trip: Can't wait. Just wish we had time to go all the way to John 'o Groats. Maybe next year. Really looking forward to the scenery in Cornwall.

Favourite piece of Kit: My Castelli socks. Most expensive socks I've ever bought but they have got a picture of a crab on!!

Favourite cycling quote: The steeper the better

What does cycling mean to you: Cycling is the meaning of life - great destinations, fitness, freedom and wonderful people

Pearl of wisdom: Make sure you've got plenty of inner tubes and a spare tyre.

.....and the donating bit

As a few people have asked if we were doing this ride for charity we thought what the heck we might as well so we've set up a Just Giving page. In the event that anyone reads this and is feeling particularly benevolent then please feel free to visit www.justgiving.com/LandsEndLancaster and donate whatever you can (all proceeds to the Red Cross).

Just over 2 weeks to go

Just over 2 weeks to go now - but we're not really thinking about that right now.

So let's introduce the four - well one of them anyway and in truly democratic style we'll start alphabetically with A for Annie.....

That's her there on the right at the start of the C2C in Whitehaven, and here a few snippets of info

Bike: Kona Jake 2010. Grey. Jake: He's the one.

Favourite cycling route: Hum, there are so many, can I pass? oh, maybe the Kirkstone Pass?! and the splendid route round the South Lakes.

Thoughts on the forthcoming trip: 'Why?' is generally what crosses my mind at the moment.

Favourite piece of cycling kit: Padded shorts; they changed my life.

Favourite cycling quote: "Life is like a riding a bike - to keep your balance, you have to keep moving forward"

What does cycling mean to you: Freedom, friends and pies.

Cyclists nose-blowing is easier downhill with a headwind. That's the only good thing about headwinds.

Tomorrow or next time we should be introducing Damian but we'll see about that.