Kendal to Keswick – 40 miles Another late start. I had trouble pumping my tyres with a flash new pump I’d bought specially for the trip. I felt I had to lube my chain too. Almost every attempt we’ve made to leave before 8.30 on this trip had so far failed. Ah well…sloth has other benefits. We rode out of…
Chorley to Kendal – 57 miles Chorley and Preston are blessed with a beautiful network of cycle tracks, superior to anything around our hometown of Bristol, which is supposed to be an especially cycle-friendly city. They undulated, new and smooth, through woods and secluded valleys, marred only by very annoying kissing gates which couldn’t have been designed with bikes in…
Chester to Chorley – 56 miles Breakfast at The Grosvenor Guest House was served by a thin young woman with dark eyes and a face mask. Phil later learned that she was Colombian and transgender. She wore a stylish long striped dress that came down to her ankles. Her grasp of English was slight and our questions were often met…
Day off in Chester I snuck out of the hotel early, hoping to get a coffee and a head start with my blogging. The streets were almost empty. The only noises were the roar and beep of a reversing rubbish truck. The lack of people gave me a chance to fully appreciate the wonder that is old Chester, a faithfully…
All Stretton to Chester – 56 miles As well as morganisation, there’s another new word that has entered our vocabulary during this trip: komooted. It refers to the ordeal of being sent down (or even worse ‘up’) some stony track totally unsuited to pannier-laden bicycles by our navigation app Komoot. I have to admit that even though of its features…
Fownhope to All Stretton – 49 miles I awoke with the cock crow. Barbara told us that it’s a myth that cocks only crow in the morning. I suppose it doesn’t make much difference what time they crows, they’ll still wake you if you happen to be asleep. I liked waking up that way. It felt timeless. But Jules said…
St Arvans to Fownhope – 32 Miles Hardness of climb, distance to ride, size and type of road, these were the considerations that we were constantly rolling around in our minds, trying to find the perfect fit. Rodney, the landlord of the Parkfield B&B in St Arvans told us that the high road over the hills to Monmouth was preferred…
Glastonbury to St Arvans – 46 miles The four of us – myself, Phil, Tim and Nick – sat outside the Market House in Glastonbury waiting for the manager to come and release our bikes from storage. The streets were quiet in the soft morning sun. We had packed our bags, breakfasted and were ready. The manager had promised to…
Wellington to Glastonbury – 31 miles Our first day off had become a day of catching up on lost miles. Only 31 of them, but still. When I took a look at the Komoot profile I texted it to Jools in Bristol with a simple ‘Hallelujah!’. Jools meanwhile had looked into replacing all our remaining campsite bookings with B&Bs or…
Lydford to Wellington – 59 miles We decided to set off early this time. Early for us meant 8.30am. We had a long way to go, and our faith in our ability to go the distance, especially in the land of hills like Uruks, had taken a knock. So we skipped breakfast and hit the Granite Way, which turned out…
