Henry and the Argo go forth

Home

2009-09-27T05:54:00.000+01:00

Well we've made it home - so a few wrap up posts are perhaps in order, first this one... Lots of people ask us what the best part of the trip were, so a quick list to get you started.

Top 5 Places to Stay

- Hartington: Parsons House B&B
- Cropston: Horseshoe Cottage Farm
- Glastonbury: Chalice Hill House
- Machynlleth: Penmaendyfi Country House
- Edinburgh: 16 Broughton Place

Top 10 Experiences to have in the UK

- Go to evensong at a big cathedral.
- See a stone Circle.
- Visit a big Welsh castle.
- Climb a Munroe.
- Walk across a high moor.
- Visit Snowdonia.
- Visit the British Museum.
- Drink a hand pulled local ale in a small village pub.
- Travel on a steam railway in the welsh highlands.
- Go to Vindolanda on Hardians Wall.

And 11 when your in Ireland:
- Visit New Grange.

Reflections on being a cyclist

2009-08-17T13:00:00.002+01:00

Nomenclature
I think I can claim to be a cyclist now. That may seem a weird thing to think about, but it's like when I started running: at what point can you claim to be a runner? Anyway, I figure 1600 or so miles in three months is enough to claim being a cyclist.

I cannot imagine having done this trip on any bike other than Argo. I named it (her!) The Argo after the ship which carried Jason and his fellow ruffians - sorry, heroes - on their trip to steal - sorry, find and retrieve - the Golden Fleece. In some of the legends the Argo is attributed some sort of sentience, helping keep the Greek toughies out of some trouble. I figured this was a good name for a bike that would be taking me on (to be a little cliched here) the journey of a lifetime; while I'm not planning on stealing a national treasure (and let's not talk about Medea), I was rather hoping she would keep me out of trouble along the way. And yes, I do have a tendency to anthropomorphise objects; spending such a huge amount of time with it seemed to make naming the bike a good idea. It also allows for some displacement activity when negotiating particularly hairy sections of track; plus, how else could she Twitter?

Built by Baum, Argo is over-engineered for anything other than a trip like this. I know I'm meant to like the gears because they're hub-gears, etc etc; I just like that they allow me to ride (slowly) up inclines of 10% or so. And I know I'm meant to like the brakes because they're hydraulic disk brakes; I just like them because they allow me to ride (slowly) down inclines of 20% or so with my main terror being that I'll fall off if I grip them too hard. And I love the loopy handle bars because they're more comfortable, and they look different.

Experience
Being a cyclist is a remarkably sociable activity. Out riding, I can almost remember the number of fellow-cyclists who haven't said hello to us; and most of them were chavs (bogans) out cruising because their other wheels got taken away from them. And most of the time pedestrians - when you're out on the real cycling trails - also say hello. Frankly, it makes being a pedestrian again, especially in towns, really weird: you no longer stand out, you're no longer exceptional, because you don't look any different from anyone else. We've passed a lot of fellow cycle tourists, but we're still something of an oddity for most people in this country, which makes people pay attention. Actually, I think we finished the cycling at the right time, because I was just starting to get the urge to pull faces at people when they stared at me and Argo - especially when we were puffing up hills.

Being a cyclist also makes you remarkably non-scary. Arriving by bike almost always starts a conversation at lunch time, and especially at our accommodation. Opening our traps in bars and pubs, revealing ourselves as Aussies, often starts a conversation too - but add in the bit about the bicycles and all of a sudden people are interested in chatting, finding out why we're so crazy and where we're going. You don't necessarily get that sort of reaction when you're traveling by car - I guess because you're not that unusual.

Sadly, sometimes it bites to be a girl cyclist. For example, let's imagine a day of riding oh, say 30 miles. You have to drink a lot to keep from dehydrating. You have lunch on the trail - maybe 2-minute noodles. And you don't pass a single public toilet for the entire day...

Inevitabilities
Despite what I drummed into my Yr12 students, some things really are inevitable.

If I put on sunscreen, it will rain.
If I take off my rain jacket, it will rain. (And sometimes, vice versa.)
When I am puffing up a hill, gasping for air, then will the greatest concentration of insects in the shire appear.
Whenever I encounter a descent, there will be an opposite - and frequently unequal - ascent in the near future.
The quantity of cream in a Lunchtime Bakery Treat is directly proportional to how long and/or steep the hill will be within a mile of the lunch stop.

In the end...
I've enjoyed being a cyclist. It was of course a very different experience for me - I am not really all that comfortable as a tourist, but at least on the bike I got to feel like I was genuinely experiencing the country, at least to some extent.

Will I now be a 'real' cyclist when I get home? Insofar as cycling to uni, sure; and around Melbourne a bit, absolutely. I'm keeping Argo as my normal bike; no way am I giving up those gears. But will I be out racing with the lycra loonies on their road bikes? Hell no.

Thank yous, acceptance speech, etc

2009-08-15T08:08:00.003+01:00

Dear Mum
I hope you can sleep better now that we're not on our bikes riding around like crazy things.

Dear Justin
I hope you have stopped frantically refreshing this blog now that we have indeed completed our circuit.

Dear Gillian
I'm not sure whether this trip will have turned me into a 'real' cyclist. I still hate the idea of riding a road bike, I hate drafting, and I think Argo on Beach Rd with all those nutters would be... interesting.

Dear Dave
Although we've stopped riding, I'm going to make James come running with me now. So I hope you're upping your training for the Degani.

Dear Kate, Tansy, and everyone else who thought this was a nutty idea
I hope you're happy now that we've stopped riding and are back to being slightly more sensibly tourists.

Dear Tansy (again)
Thanks (again) for setting up the LiveJournal feed for us. I'm sure the seven subscribers appreciated it ;)

Dear Bron (and Mike)
Does the map make you happy? Turns out it was a very good idea after all! :D

Dear Kathryn
You did such a good job giving us ideas for Edinburgh, got any suggestions for London?

Dear Kim
Sorry we haven't given you any more opportunities for snarky comments. I do hope Tennant F Creek is treating you well.

Dear Wilski (and Gina)
We'll be home soon(ish) for pizza and brewskis. Promise.

Dear everyone who read but did not comment
...

The End

2009-08-14T15:51:00.003+01:00

1610 miles (2592km) and we return back to where we started. The final stretch of riding from Hathersage was comfortingly familiar, between a few days walking out here and a ride almost to Hathersage when we first arrived in the UK 3 months ago we'd been on most of the roads we would need to travel today. A hard 3 mile climb to wake up the legs and get up and out of the town and over the ridge into Sheffield starts the day, after that it's just downhill through the farms, and then parks right into Sheffield we were are back to staying with Martin and Liz for a bit.

Rolling up their back driveway was quite a different feeling to the one we had leaving in the rain with our bikes a bit overloaded with books and so-on. We'll follow up with a few more posts on the best places to see, some of the things that worked well for us etc, but expect less regular updates as we just play at being tourists now for a bit before we come home. Sheffield, some more time in the Peaks, Cambridge and London are the main agenda from here.

So thank you loyal readers for following the adventures of Henry and the Argo around this small island, we apologize for the lack of calamity in the last few weeks, I can assure you that we thrive on our misadventure just as much as you do. It feels like a good TV soap opera where all the story lines get a bit weak at the end before the network cans the show.

On a happy, and yet bitter-about-all-the-things-I-carried-and-didn't-need note neither of us had a single mechanical problem on the entire trip, not even a flat tire. The Joe's No-Flats solution seems to work well, I stopped even bothering to pump up our tires for the last 6 weeks, they just weren't loosing any air.

Henry and the Argo would like to give their thanks too, but we already took them apart and stuffed them back into boxes.

The Peaks are beautiful

2009-08-12T21:21:00.002+01:00

As James said, the Peaks District really is beautiful. The ride to Hathersage included scenes like this:

and like this:

Bakewell was disappointing, both because of the number of people and the disappointing lunch we had. However, Hathersage is much more interesting, especially for James because it's got three outdoors stores. Today, we went for a walk along Stanage Edge. We've been along here before, but not in the same direction. The views included this:

and this:

Impressive, no? And we managed not to get rained on, which was delightful. It was a good, three-hour walk - up hill and down dale, through a nice variety of landscapes. And the rest of the day... well, quite restful, really.

Stalled

2009-08-12T08:09:00.002+01:00

The more observant of our dear readers will have noticed that the two ends of our circuit appear to have met, but of course you also zoomed in abit to find out that we appear to have stalled just outside the gates of Sheffield. This is true. We've put up in the little village of Hathersage for a couple of days before we finally complete our circuit tomorrow.

Riding over to here from Hartington was spectacular, particularly the long descent into Bakewell with villages and farms visible in all directions... I do believe Alex might even upload some photos of it later. The second section after lunch was not quite so spectacular, a long 10 miles section on a hilly B road which the public had seen fit to drive up and down constantly. Anyway we survived. A long walk in the hills today and then we'll pack our bikes up one more time to finish our lap !

And then there was Hartington

2009-08-10T20:46:00.010+01:00

Derby to Hartington (yesterday): 33 miles

We escaped Derby and eventually made our way into the Derbyshire Dales, which is basically part of the Peaks District.

We did this on a Sunday, a very sunny Sunday, and like our entrance into Whitby waaay back in May, we rode into a traffic jam in Ashbourne. Ashbourne is a fairly cute little market town, with lots of antique shops. It seems to be The Place where people come on sunny Sundays - maybe take Grandma out for a jaunt, maybe eat an ice cream, maybe ride or walk sloooowly along the cycle track that other people also want to use.

Other things we had to negotiate on our way. Fortunately, we were going in the opposite direction... unlike quite a line of cars...

We got to Hartington mid-afternoon, and it too was crawling with people eating ice cream and sitting outside baking in the sun.

Fast forward to Monday, and we woke up to the sound of rain. Which continued on and off for the entire day; no sunscreen required today. Only a little deterred, we ventured out into the Dales for a walk that ended up being a fair bit longer than we expected; it took about two hours to do a circuit that included the site of a Norman motte and bailey castle (all that's left is the motte, or earth mound) and a remarkable number of sheep pastures. Also waterlogged shoes.

However, it was very pretty, as promised by James' cousin on whose recommendation we are here.

Additionally, our B&B is probably winning in the breakfast stakes. My porridge was so good, it probably had something illegal in it.

The West Midlands: from Oxford to Derby

2009-08-08T20:33:00.007+01:00

Stopping at: Winslow, Castlethorpe, Market Harborough, Cropston and Derby.

The Midlands. What is there to say? There was a lot of this:

and this:

BORING. Flat, and boring. It finally got more interesting yesterday, but seriously this is the most boring area of England - of Britain - scenery-wise that we have ridden through so far. Meh.

Perhaps the only interesting bits of the last few days (all about 30 miles or a bit more, for those keeping track) have been the towns we've ridden through - and how they compare with our expectations. Milton Keynes, as the prime example: we had expected it to be utterly, utterly dire: the middle of nowhere and a real nowhere town. However, almost because of being the middle of nowhere it seems to be the middle of everywhere - you can get to a lot of interesting places very quickly from there. Also, I don't know how but they have an amazing green belt, following a series of streams and canals; and fortunately for us the bike path followed through that belt. So it was a really lovely ride, and we saw more canal boats in that area than I have ever seen in one place before. Northampton and Leicester, though: both awful.

Of Leicester, let me tell you one story. As we entered the town, we rode along this trail:

If you look very carefully, you will see that every single pole has a white blob. Those blobs looked like this:

front and back.

For more than a mile, every pole we passed - left and right - had a wraparound sticker, identifying it as Route 6. Let me be clear: there were no turns along this path. None.

And then (I do hope you are all aware enough of narrative techniques that you knew there had to be an 'and then' coming up), just on the outskirts of Leicester - near the National Space Centre which we ignored despite the Soyez because it was too expensive - there were a series of turns and not-necessarily-that-tricky sections... which had no stickers or signs.

Gargh!

Anyway - we are now in Derby, which as far as I can tell is well on the way to being the Paisley of the South. Good thing our accommodation is lovely and has a selection of DVDs. Tomorrow we hit the Peaks district, which will at least be prettier, if also hillier.

We are not dead

2009-08-07T09:24:00.001+01:00

We are however in the midlands, so nothing at all exciting has happened for a few days. Unless you count getting a bit lost and having to ride along a canal for a few miles one day, or riding through a long (450m) unlit tunnel using our wimpy little dynamo lights which stop if we stop. We'll be back in the peaks in a few days, we promise some more pictures and stuff then !

What's so great about Oxford ?

2009-08-02T21:17:00.008+01:00

Oxford for all the apparent romance of this center for learning isn't really a very nice place. It's full of cars, rusty bicycles and worst of all students. But all is not lost, it has some redeeming features, the fabulous Blackwells Bookstore an excellent Sushi train and two very special museums.

The first is the Natural History Museum - it's taken me three visits over 3 years to understand what's so special about this place. It's not the biggest natural history museum I've been in, it's not the smartest either, most of the collection here is simply presented in identical wooden framed glass cases about 12 feet high and 12 feet wide. What is special is that by just walking around balcony of geological and fossil specimens, by walking up and down the rows of glass cabinets filled with stuffed specimens and dinosaur skeletons you journey through the entire natural history timeline of our world much like speed reading Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' but with much better pictures.

The second is the Museum of the History of Science - 3 floors of working scientific instruments carefully organized again into large wooden framed glass cabinets. One of the earliest flasks of Penicillin, Marconi's experiments with radio waves and electricity and so on and so on, it's all the instruments used to conduct all the experiments you (ok perhaps mostly me) read about as a child, in school science through university physics and chemistry. It's not pretentious, a cabinet might contain 100 microscopes, but only the most eye catching or historically significant two or three will even be given a label. It's beautiful and inspiring without being overwhelming.

Birmingham

2009-08-02T17:18:00.003+01:00

My mother is currently in the UK indulging her inner cricket tragic; she was at the Lord's test, and is now attending the Edgbaston test. We arranged our itinerary to be within easy train distance of Birmingham, with the idea of stealing her away from a day of the cricket.

Fortunately, it rained all day, so she didn't actually miss any cricket! And, from what I've heard, it's a good thing for the Aussies that it rained all day....

When we met Mum in the foyer of her hotel, she was surrounded by bananas: the Banana Army, who - upon seeing that little cricket was likely to be had for the day - decided to start in on one-pint-in-each-hand at 11am. Classy.

Aside from talking, and getting rained on, and making snarky comments about the feralness of Birmingham, we actually did manage to see some stuff. First off, the Pen Rooms. Set up in a former pen factory - don't laugh, at one stage three quarters of the world's writing instruments were manufactured in Birmingham, almost entirely by women - it's two rooms stuffed to the gills with writing paraphernalia. Most of it pen nibs of the most amazing variety, including a set with 5 nibs for drawing a musical stave! And they still have some of the machinery used, which I got to have a go at: they're all fly presses, which means that once your piece of metal is in the right spot you give a big weight a mighty heave - and the blank is pressed, or it gets embossed, or the metal gets curved... it was an incredibly labour-intensive process, and the woman in charge of pressing out blanks, for example, was expected to cut 28,000 in one day in order to make a decent living.

From the mundane to the sublime: next we went to the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter. The Jewellery Quarter was a really important area of manufacturing, way back when; these days it's almost exclusively retail, and the jewellery is imported. But the museum is set up in the workshop of Smith and Pepper: a company founded by an uncle/nephew team, continued by three of the nephew's children... who then, in August 1981, walked out and closed the door. Nine years later, the Birmingham Council got around to doing something about it. We went on a tour around the offices and workshops, and they were just fascinating. Again, so labour-intensive; also, OHS was unheard of - fly-wheels and acid fumes and blow-torches...

These two museums meet our criteria for 'free' and 'awesome.'

The rest of the day involved getting rained on, sitting, drinking beer, eating Indian, and then catching the last train back to Oxford (fortunately sans rowdy cricket fans).

Oxford

2009-07-31T20:41:00.002+01:00

We arrived in Oxford today and neither of us seemed to take any photos, so you'll just have to check out my big set on flickr for a visual update (check back a few posts). Oxford is just as I remembered it, snarling traffic, pretty pedestrian unfriendly even right in the center; loads of rusty bikes and bad cycling. BUT - The History of Science Museum and the Oxford Museum are out of this world still.

We're off to Birmingham tomorrow, and then back to Oxford after that for a few days, I promise more photos and a more interesting update.

Winchester, all day

2009-07-30T20:37:00.007+01:00

One of the reasons I, personally, was very keen on coming to Winchester is because Matilda of Flanders, on whom I will eventually write 30,000 blood-stained words - or "Your Girl," as James insists on referring to her - was crowned here. O! such a connection!

We like fancy ceilings

Yeh, right. Turns out she would have been crowned in the Old Minster, which was demolished to make way for the new, present cathedral in about 1093. Normans and their determination to have shiny new-fangled things, I say. She wasn't even mentioned in the City Museum! Nor anywhere in the cathedral! Humph. Just because basically no one has heard of her...

13th century tiles, upon which visitors are asked to 'tread with care'

We liked the cathedral nonetheless, attending Evensong twice and going once to gawk as tourists. It has a mighty impressive stone screen, with lots of statuary in it, at the end of the quire; Jane Austen has a plaque somewhere in the place, but I never found it. There's a little section off to the side with the Winchester Bible - glorious illuminated pages; most of the pictures in the New Testament aren't finished, probably because they ran out of money, and maybe nine of the picture-capitals have actually been cut out at some stage: possibly for well-to-do ladies to put in their scrapbooks. There's also a Triforium - in what's basically a mezzanine level - with bits and pieces of statuary that was largely destroyed thanks to the Reformation and Bully Boy Cromwell.

We also visited the City Museum. We're big fans of this sort of museum, by now: it's free; it's not very big; objects have been carefully chosen to give a good overall impression of different stages in the city or county's development; there are little hands-on activities for kids; and it's not overwhelming. To get a sense of the development and achievements and history of just one are is incredibly valuable, I think. Even if they neglected Matilda. Winchester, of course, was the site of an Iron Age settlement - there's a nice river nearby - and also a Roman settlement:

A mosaic discovered basically intact, just out of Winchester

The rest of the day was spent organising the rest of our trip, lazing around, and then drinking beer on a patio next to the river. Delightful.

The Giants Causeway (More Photos)

2009-07-30T17:07:00.003+01:00

The Giants Causeway, originally uploaded by Third Glance.

Thanks to MG's efforts back in Australia I have another batch of photos - This set covers quite a bit more time than the last lot, most of Northern England, Scotland, Ireland and the very top of Wales.

Click here to see the second batch.

We must be near London

2009-07-29T20:27:00.005+01:00

Everything has got more and more expensive recently, plus the cars have got bigger and flasher... We seem to be squeezed off the road here a bit more by Ranger Rovers, Audi Hummers (Q7s) and Jeeeaaaaggggsss (You'll have to wait until you see this seasons top gear to understand that one - or click here and watch it). Still this is the very bottom of our loop, next we turn North up towards Oxford.

30 miles or so from Salisbury to Winchester, and sadly no funny stories to recount apart from the cute duckies at lunchtime oh and the point where our route just stopped ... That was hilarious.

Salisbury

2009-07-29T19:30:00.004+01:00

The whole purpose of coming to Salisbury was to visit the cathedral:

And St Jude's Carlton thinks it has problems... the work here began maybe 10 years ago, and won't be finished until 2015

We got ourselves a B&B just outside the cathedral close, which was awesome. The first thing we did once we were in was head over for Evensong, which was delightful even though it wasn't the usual cathedral choir (it's holiday time). Apparently, some of these guest choirs rehearse all year for their week's appearance here. As you would, frankly. Also, some of the choristers were so little they could barely see over the rail of the seats.

The next morning we headed back to the cathedral to be tourists:

This font was consecrated on the 750th anniversary of the cathedral, last September. One of the very awesome things about this place is that it was the only medieval cathedral built all in one go. There had been a cathedral at what is now called Old Sarum - but it was apparently quite a windy spot, and when it got hit by lightning the diocese grabbed the opportunity to build a glorious new building in this new-fangled style called Gothic. Et voila - new cathedral in just 38 years. Amazing! As the font testifies, it's still a living building in many ways - see also this window at the eastern end:

It's dedicated to prisoners of conscience, and there's a huge Amnesty candle in the corner too. The window is only about 20 or so years old; not sure what happened to the glass formerly known as...

Other things we did around Salisbury:
walked along the river in the sun to have a pint and a Pimms&lemonade in a pub that used to be a mill;
visited the Salisbury and Wiltshire museum, which has a cool exhibit on Stonehenge - including the bones and artefacts of the Amesbury Archer, whose burial had the most impressive set of archery paraphernalia of any neolithic burial - and who apparently came to Britain from the Alps;
finally got my hands on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies;
wandered the town centre, much of which is pedestrianised - it's really lovely.

Back to the cathedral for Evensong again the second night... this section of our trip really deserves the name Cathedral Crawl.

Glastonbury to Salisbury

2009-07-27T21:30:00.002+01:00

49 miles (79km)

Sun, Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun, Rain ... The trip across from freak town to spire town is pretty uneventful, takes a while by bike though. We're staying almost on top of the Cathedral in the center of town, spire view out our window. Looking forward to exploring tomorrow, more photos then !

Glastonbury

2009-07-27T20:52:00.005+01:00

Things we did not do

Get our auras read
Attend a psychic healer
Have our tarot cast
Get our fortunes told
Go to the crop circles symposium
Buy a wand, or crystal, or a £329 cashmere dress

Things we did do

Attended a service at Wells Cathedral - here's another picture, just because:

Climbed Glastonbury Tor:

It's a hill rising some 150m or so above the plain, capped with the tower you can see here that's part of a medieval church. James mentioned yesterday that Glastonbury attracts a certain amount of nuttiness... this website about the Tor will give you a better idea of what that's actually about. It makes me giggle every time I look at it. What I loved was that people hike all the way up... and then there's cow pats everywhere. Doesn't do a whole lot for the place's atmosphere.

Things we didn't do: Glastonbury Tor edition
Invoke the King of the Fairies
Form a Deep, Personal and Emotional Bond with the hill
Participate in, or witness, any neo-pagan nuttiness
Get blown off the Tor
(One of these things actually did nearly happen. I leave it to you to figure out which.)

Went to Glastonbury Abbey:

... sadly, in the rain. The Abbey is another reason for a certain degree of nuttiness in the town. Legend says (and isn't that just a loaded term) that Joseph of Aramethea visited, possibly bringing Jesus as a lad; then came back after the crucifixion, maybe bringing a certain item... (we stayed on Chalice Hill, if a bigger hint is necessary). Add to that the medieval monks who claimed to have dug up Arthur and Guinevere's graves - oh, did I forget to mention that traditionally Glastonbury is the Isle of Avalon? - and there is THIS MUCH potential for crazy-ass trinket shops.

It really is an impressive set of ruins, though; it was one of the longest monastery churches in Britain in its day, and at the Dissolution was second only to Canterbury in dollar value. I really hope wise heads prevail and they don't put up an Arthur statue...

Had pizza at a Lygon St-esque joint:
again.

Bath to Glastonbury

2009-07-26T09:25:00.002+01:00

30 miles (48.3km)

I hadn't really considered that this southern part of the UK would be hilly, in my mind, Scotland was hilly, Wales was hilly, the Pennines were hilly but not boring, flat old southern England. Whoops, the first mile of the day was a 10% climb and that was a pretty good indication of things to come.

Up, down, up, down, long up, long down - Oh look, the Glastonbury Tor in the distance, and a 30 miles per hour descent for the last couple of miles in to Wells. A quick lunch stop at the Cathedral to have a look around and chat to my bike nerd buddies in Melbourne (who were all partying/watching the last mountain stage of the tour, and some what incredulous that I'd not timed the day better to be watching as well). We raced to Glastonbury to try and catch the end of the race, which we managed, the last 6km anyway. Turns out not much happened up Mt V anyway, the three leaders were split by too much time and Armstrong was never going to take Andy Schleck.

Glastonbury is eeerrr, different. If anyone needs me to pick them up a spare wand, a new spell book or perhaps a template for 'make-your-own-crop-circles' just drop me an email today. We finished up the day with wonderful Italian pizza made by a small army of elderly Italian gents in a bustling little pizzeria.

Bath

2009-07-24T15:32:00.006+01:00

Bath achieves a remarkable sense of light through one main factor: the vast majority of its buildings are built from, or at least faced with, cream-coloured sandstone. This uniformity of colour can sometimes be bad - Edinburgh, because it's so grey, felt awfully gloomy when it was overcast. Here, because the colour is so light and because it's offset with darker roofs and dark roads and a variety in the cream - well, it's just stunning. When you add that it's a bit like Rome in that the town seems to be built on at least seven hills, and that more modern buildings still often follow the Georgian trends for terraced houses: Bath is a very attractive town.

Of course, the big attraction of Bath is THE baths, Aquae Sulis - the Roman bathhouse complex that I believe is one of the best preserved in the world.

The bath complex is a wonderful museum. It would have been so easy for it to be either overwhelming, with too many artifacts, or entirely cheesy. It's neither. There is a good, relatively small, selection of things to look at: reconstructions of mosaics, and the Gorgon pediment, were my favourites. I also like the tiny little gems which may have been offerings, but were more likely lost by their owners because the glue in the setting was loosened in the water; many of them have tiny pictures etched on them, like a discus thrower or animals. Then you go out and through the different sections of the bathhouse itself: massage rooms, the cold-plunge room, etc. Of course, the centrepiece is the grand pool itself:

Tourists get an off-kilter view of the site, really, because the pool would have been roofed, for the Romans - there's a bit of the arch left, at ground level - and part of the museum which shows the courtyard and main temple area, which is now contained within the building, would have been exposed to the elements. Still, it's another occasion where you get to see something that's survived - in some form or other - for 2000 years. The other thing that makes a visit to the baths very special is the audio guide. We've eschewed the guide everywhere else, but there's a good reason for getting it here: the Bill Bryson commentary. Which he clearly recorded as he walked around himself, because you can hear background noises like the springs in the recording as well as right where you are.

Interestingly, we think that the experience was somewhat better in winter. This is partly because in winter it's easier to see the steam rising off the water; it's also because there were fewer people. Having said that, we were amongst the first people through the doors this morning - it was only as we left that there were lots of people crowding around.

The other thing I loved about Bath is the Abbey.

That previously mentioned sandstone helps here, too, because Bath Abbey manages to evoke an immense sense of light and majesty, for me anyway, because the flying buttresses and soaring columns seem somehow lighter in weight because they're lighter in colour... something like that anyway. It's aided by this incredible window:

... which has something like 56 panels showing seems from the Bible.

And of course, we love ceilings:

Finally, I tried really, really hard to buy Pride and Prejudice and Zombies here, because I've found it nowhere else. Sadly, here too it was sold out. Darn it.

Two days in one: Abergavenny-Chepstow-Bath

2009-07-23T21:03:00.009+01:00

Abergavenny to Chepstow: 34 miles (54.4km)

A final hurrah through Wales that included one massive climb, with a section at 16% incline for what felt like a very long time (me, I piked early and walked). Perhaps the coolest thing we saw was the view out over the Severn inlet. It's incredible tidal, and the tide was well out as we looked down on it. The bridge is an amazing structure... but more on that later. We also saw a castle in Chepstow, which was much more impressive than I had expected; it looked from the outside like just a single section of a keep, but it turned out to be about three times longer than it is wide. I also got the chance to get a mad picture of the spiral stairs:

OK, so this was actually taken by James, leaning out and endangering my camera. Whatever. The other cool thing about Chepstow Castle is that they stage Shakespearean plays (and hopefully others) in the grounds.

Chepstow to Bath: 46.5 miles (74.4km)

Actually, to say we were in Chepstow itself is somewhat misleading; we were staying in St Arvans, about 2 miles out of Chepstow. But that's ok, I won't hold it against James; these mistakes are easy enough to make.

Our journey today would have been 8 miles shorter had we not recklessly decided to visit Tintern Abbey as well. Tintern is north of Chepstow, so we sweet-talked our (Irish) hostess into letting us leave the bags there while we zipped up and back. We took back-roads to get to the Abbey; we took the A road back, which was faster, and not as steep to climb, and didn't have mossy sections nor wet leaflitter to negotiate. Tintern Abbey itself was incredible, and worth the extra 8 miles:

After we reclaimed our luggage, we headed out through Chepstow and threw ourselves across the Severn. There are two bridges over it (it's weird they have a website for that, yes?): this is the one we didn't ride across.

Fortunately there is a dedicated, barricaded-from-the-cars cycle path; otherwise this would have been a decidedly hairy ride, since it was a bit windy. It's nearly a mile from end to end. And there were blokes out painting it while we rode... Paul Hogan, anyone?

From the Severn we rode to Bristol, which was an entirely uninspiring and basically boring ride through ugly countryside, boring suburbs, and hair-raising inner-city streets. Give me Newcastle any day. Or Glasgow. Fortunately, the last section from Bristol to Bath was along one of our favourite things: a disused railway. It was basically flat the entire way, so we managed to do it in decent time.

Ensconced in our B&B (Kiwi hosts this time), I'm really looking forward to tomorrow - Roman Baths! Woohoo! I can almost guarantee we will disappoint those Jane Austen fans in the audience; author-tripping is not something that appeals. And the Georgians are waaay too modern.

Finally, because I can never resist the Kates:

I also like puddles

2009-07-21T22:05:00.002+01:00

By The Argo
Transcribed, and spelling corrected, by Alex

I do not like gravel paths;
I do not like not-flat paths.
I do not like mucky wet leaf litter on the path.
I do like smooth bitumen;
I also like puddles.

I do not like bridle ways;
I do not like A-roads.
I do not like bogs.
I do like little country lanes, especially with smooth bitumen;
I also like puddles.

I do not like steep ascents;
I do not like steep descents.
I do not like tricksy oh-you're-nearly-at-top-oh-no-you're-not corners.
I do like nice flat little country lanes, especially with smooth bitumen;
I also like puddles.

I do like starting out;
I do like finishing up.
I like following Henry,
And I like zooming past him.
I also really, really like puddles
(As long as they're not too deep).

Alex's view on Wales

2009-07-21T21:49:00.003+01:00

Just call me Dory; it's a good thing I have a bad memory.

I love Wales. It really is a beautiful country. Even the riding has been... mostly ok.

Hay on Wye

This one is for Kate

As James said, Book Town: a big secondhand bookshop was opened here in the 1960s, I think, and in some way that I don't entirely understand the town eventually got itself a reputation as the secondhand book capital of the country. There are apparently over 30 bookshops here, and The Guardian Book Week (I think it's called?) floods the area in May each year. I was mildly paralysed when it came to figuring out exactly how to exploit the place without being sent mad. The answer turned out to involve basically ignoring the two really big places (especially the Hay Cinema Bookshop: imagine a cinema that's converted to holding books...), and having a deliberate section of books to look over thoroughly. Unsurprisingly, for me that was the SF section, and I picked up eight old paperbacks - mostly feminist SF I've been meaning to get for ages. This was good also because I arrived in Hay with no books left to read. The horror!

Brecon Beacons

We loved this area when we were here last time, so it was good to see it again. Even if, when we announced our plan to go this way, our hostess in Hay looked slightly alarmed on our account; looking at the graph in James' post below you'll understand why. However, hopefully my photos will give you some idea as to why it was (basically) worth it.

Llanthony Priory

This was our lunch spot on the way to Abergavenny. Feels like ages since I've seen something medieval!

Challenge the Dragon - Lon Las Cymru

2009-07-21T07:00:00.005+01:00

We're back faithful readers, stymied by lack of internet and flooding for a while, we've emerged out of the electronic darkness and into the light. We've also challenged the dragon and won.

The major cycle route down the spine of Wales is called Challenge the Dragon - depending on exactly where you go it's about 300 miles. We've just arrived in Abergavenny which marks the last of the climbs (I'll include a couple of recent profiles for the bike nerds to enjoy).

Cwrt to Rhayader - This was without a doubt the hardest day in Wales, the major climb is 13km and just gets steeper and steeper as you go up. For us it also started raining at the bottom and just got heavier and heavier before it set in for the rest of the day. The last section of the big climb on the profile above is sort of deceptive, the reality is it's lumpier and steeper, so there are short 200 or 300m sections at 13 and 15% with shallower climbs between. Very hard on the legs and difficult to keep a rhythm.

From there it was a long undulating descent to our lunch stop at the 30 mile mark (49km), I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a hippy cafe. REAL FOOD, I had one of the best baked potatoes I've ever had in my life, and everything there (like all good hippy cafes) was CHEAP. We still can't quite get over just how expensive food is here, and normally good food is really expensive.

Onwards; as usual, if we've enjoyed a big lunch there is a large climb just to help it settle, today was no exception. We arrived pretty wet and tired after our 45 miles (72.5km).

Rhayader to Hay-on-Wye (Book Town) - A flat(ish) 40 miles (64.5km) down the river Wye to the town of Hay and we arrived in Book town. I think I'll let Alex write about that in another post lest this one become a book itself. Highlight for me though, seeing 1 day old duckling at the place we stayed on the river.

Hay-on-Wye to Abergavenny - Perhaps my favorite of the Welsh hilly days, only 23 miles (37 km) and most of that downhill. After leaving Hay the road turns upwards straight away for a steady 6 mile climb to the highest point in the Welsh part of the National Cycling Network at something over 500m high. It does get pretty steep in the middle, but then eases off again, so just when you think you might pop the road shows some mercy and up you go. The descent down the other side is a little hairy, for 25km it's a one lane road with 10 foot hedges on either side. I think quite a few people thought they would take the 'pretty' road to the Welsh Royal Show because we passed loads of cars coming at us, and only got passed perhaps once or twice all day. Now here we are, in Abergavenny which is a super little town having challenged the dragon and won. A rest day here and then we're off to England again.

Alex's Aborted Pilgrimage

2009-07-20T14:50:00.002+01:00

Editors' Note: Events may have transpired some days previous to this post, however fickle internet in Wales along with some flooding has seen us silenced for a few days. But fear not loyal readers, today we have 3G again and will post with vengeance.

When we were enjoying the luxuries of our B&B near Pennal, it occurred to me that I should check the location of Bron-Yr-Aur. Bron-Yr-Aur is a cottage that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page lived in for some months, with their families, and wrote half of Led Zeppelin III. I knew it was in Wales somewhere.... When I checked, and discovered that it was just four miles from where I sat, I had quite a Moment. When I check our cycling map and discovered that our route the next day would take us past the track leading to it, I had another Moment. Seeing this, James had basically no choice but to agree to taking me "on my damned Led Zeppelin pilgrimage."

The turn off to the cottage had a sign announcing it as "unfit for motors." We walked up a hill, pushing the bikes, around a corner, and through a gate. At that point we ditched the bikes. We walked up another hill, around a corner, and at the point where Google Maps said Bron-Yr-Aur was, we found a little sign: "Bron-Yr-Aur" and an arrow, pointing up another track. We followed this sign up another hill, around another corner, and eventually we got close enough to see a cottage, which might have been Bron-Yr-Aur but also had a caravan, solar panels, and a Dalmatian.

As we left might-have-been Bron-Yr-Aur and the (now barking) Dalmatian behind, James sad gravely: "You know what that was, Lex ?

"That was experience."

(Experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted.)

Good thing I have several hours' worth of Led Zeppelin on my phone, frankly.

Around the Welsh highlands

2009-07-14T20:59:00.006+01:00

29 miles (46km) from Dolgellau to Cwrt (go on, I dare you to try pronouncing that in front of a Welsh person)

Today was perhaps the most consistently beautiful day we've had to date, in terms of the scenery. Leaving Dolgellau, we climbed up - fairly steeply at first (2km @ 10% average), then a bit more gradually with a few steep bits - for around 8 miles. This brought us up onto a ridge that we followed for a bit longer, and then eventually we plummeted into a valley. We wound our way in a fairly crazy loop around the valley, and didn't quite get to the coast; then we headed back up another hill, through a valley, and ended up at one of the nicest B&Bs we've stayed in yet.

For dinner, we walked to a nearby town - in the rain - and managed to score a lift in a very nice Jag with a very nice couple for the last quarter of a mile or so. It was an uneventful day, but a beautiful day, so why not a pictorial post to celebrate.

Common questions and comments

2009-07-14T17:35:00.000+01:00

These are questions and comments directed towards us more than once in the last two months or so (with attendant answers... some of which have been sub-vocal).

Are you on a gap year?
No, despite looking 22 we are in fact 30 and rapidly heading for decreptitude.

Will you get to x, y or z?
No.

Despite knowing that you have maps showing the cycling routes, let me tell you how to get via a busy A road and in a really complicated manner.
Gee, thanks!

That's a lot of baggage.
We're here for five months.

That's not a lot of baggage.
We're here for five months by bike.

Addenda: ok, so it's now four months; but we were planning on it being five...

Did you hire the bikes here or bring them over?
We brought them with us.

You must be fit.
Yes.

You will be fit by the end of this!
Do we look crazy enough to plan something like this without already being a bit fit?!

Are you riding a tandem?
I'd like to still be married by the end of this trip, thanks.

Would you like the full breakfast?
Hell no.

You should have an engine on the back wheel.
Cue crickets. And maybe a tumbleweed.

Comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else.

2009-07-12T20:05:00.011+01:00

Today we rode from Porthmadog to Dolgellau - 33 miles (53km)

I have to say today has been one of the hardest days riding yet, but Alex tells me that tragedy is comedy when it happens to someone else, so I figure today must be hilarious for all you lot reading. Let's look at the challenges we faced, pictorially.

Hills

There were many hills, most longer, but none steeper than this one

Moss covered descents

These were not photographed on account of both of us being scared of stopping and moving out of the faint wheel marks on an otherwise SLICK road surface (thanks mostly to the mucky wet leaf litter).

Bogs

We turned off the 'main' road onto what could best be described as a farm track; the view at least was spectacular.

Then we came across the first of many bogs.

And another. Alex wanted to give up and walk through, I insisted on us keeping our feet dry. Which resulted in Alex having dry feet, and me ... not.

Rocks and a mountain bike park

I'll just let this section of the map speak for itself.

Update: It has been pointed out to me by a reader that this section, was clearly warned on the map, and is therefore our own damn fault. This is true, however I didn't read the warning until AFTER we'd ridden that whole section...

Wind

Now just when we came out of the forest and onto the open road, Al says, well at least this last section isn't bad, at which point we turned a corner and had to ride into a stiff headwind for the last 5 miles.

We made up for it with Indian for dinner though - Indian and Cobra beer - and now I'm watching new season Top Gear before all the rest of you, so I reckon it's still a pretty good day.

Alex says: hmmm. Good thing I have the memory of a goldfish. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...". I ordered "Sag walla prawn," which would allegedly have king prawns in it. Not so much; they were more like mini shrimps. The riding was all right.

Trains and steam and mountains

2009-07-11T17:00:00.003+01:00

Today we wandered into Porthmadog (we're staying just outside it, in Tremadog) and bordered the Ffestiniog Railway, heading for Blaenau Ffestiniog.

On the way up we rode the David Lloyd George; on the way back down, we rode:

... which is the Welsh name for Merlin Ambrosius, you unlettered people.

The train goes quite high into the mountains, I think; there were certainly some points where we could see out into the valley, and it looked a long way down. I'm fairly sure we saw a nuclear power station in the distance. We spent about two hours in Ffestiniog, wandering the main street and having lunch (as well as slate, I am now in love with Welsh rarebit).

Back at the station, James had the opportunity to chat with the driver and the fireman of the engine, and have a sticky at the (very small, exceptionally hot) footplate and firebox. It's unusual in that the footplate, where the fireman stands, is side-on: the engines on this line are all double-ended, which makes switching ends a whole lot easier, but it means the engine is split down the middle by the boiler. The engines are short, but they're powerful. The fireman has to shovel coal out onto the floor, then open the door of the firebox (without burning his legs), and then shovel in the coal. And I'm pretty sure that the guys running it today are volunteers. Also, the trains on the line - which was of course originally All About the Slate - were in the Olde Days pulled up by horses and then went down courtesy of Gravity. Then, a man whose name I have forgotten wanted to test out his new idea for engines - these double-ended ones - and because it worked so well, he let them make more for this line without charging royalties. Nice!

Anyway, we saw a lot of this:

This area is very different from the landscape we saw on the Welsh Highland Railway - this is much more lush, with very few outcrops of rock until you get right up to Ffestiniog... and even there the town is dominated by slate slag heaps, not by natural outcrops.

We opted not to take the rather expensive tour of a working slate mine, today, given how good the free one had been.

And finally, because I am proud of having taken them out the window and because Too Many Trains is Never Enough (right, Willski?):

Things you can do with slate

2009-07-11T16:28:00.003+01:00

Roofing tiles
Fence palings
Fences
Drinks coasters
Earrings

Necklaces
Plaques of all different sorts
Gravel
Tombstones
Walls (on farms; for houses)
Castles
Churches
Clock faces
Pavement/flooring

James forgot to mention that we took a tour through the Slate Museum. The guide, Peredur, is a carpenter at the museum and had previously been a manager at a quarry, so he really knows his stuff. He was fascinating, and insightful, and exactly what you want in a guide; not a single "And we're walking..." was heard.

Also? I'm in love with slate. I want a slate roof. And slate floors. And slate coasters.

Llanberis to Porthmadog

2009-07-11T07:28:00.005+01:00

32 miles (51.5km)

We retraced our steps today back to the coastline and then followed it around to Porthmadog, not actually very far as the crow flys from Llanberis, but we wanted to avoid a whole day of riding up and down the mountain passes along the A roads. Sadly for me, and perhaps not so much for Alex, there are no little roads that would have let us go through the mountains, oh well at least they have narrow gauge mountain railways then!

The riding followed an old railway for about 15 miles around the coast, very pretty with lots of boats and so on every time we came near the sea itself. Then we turned inland and rode along about the smallest road you can imagine getting a car down, with high stone and then hedged walls; passing people along here took a little good grace on the drivers' part.

One thing I've noticed right around the UK is how often cattle and sheep are just lying on the ground (unlike the cows in the photo humph); with so much green pasture to eat there is obviously not the same incentive to keep moving around like back home in Australia. Here the animals seem even lazier (and the grass even greener). I'd have to say that I think the Welsh highlands are even greener than Scotland and Ireland.

It's all about the slate

2009-07-11T07:03:00.005+01:00

Last day in Llanberis today, once again Snowdon is under a cloud so walking up it, or really any of the high mountains, was out again. We're not actually sure if we've seen Snowdon itself at all on this trip ! Instead we took a wander around town, and once you slide around behind the huge 'Electric Mountain' visitors center and tacky tour departure building which dominates the main A road, you actually find some pretty cool stuff.

One of the most dominating features of the landscape here is this slate quarry cut into the side of the hill. 39 decks of cutting with some being over a mile long, there are also huge slag heaps left around the place from the quarrying exercise.

This first photo was taken from the top of this, the local castle ruin, which is of course made of large blocks of slate.

The next few hours disappeared as we worked our way around the National Slate Museum . Once again proving my rule that the best things in the UK are the free things, this rates among the most interesting things we've done all trip. The museum itself is all built around the old (but for the slate quarry new) HQ. The slate itself was cut and dressed by some 3000 men up on the quarry decks itself, from where it was transported on a system of hundreds of miles of narrow gauge railway on some 12,000 individual carts (like the one above).

The HQ was all about supporting those men and the infrastructure they needed, there were some 20 carpenters cutting logs into boards, cutting boards into railway sleepers and slate carts. There was a large foundry where every metal part for the whole operation was first drawn, then patterned in wood (only three patterners for the life of the quarry - three generations of the same family) and then cast and finished onsite. The whole place was powered by a huge 54ft diameter waterwheel until the 1920s, and then by a water-powered turbine until the day it shut in August 1969. It's quite striking to see such a big industrial operation which had to be invented, designed and created onsite, by hand, using largely local materials (except for the Canadian yellow pine that makes up all the buildings), all pre electricity and automation.

Llanberis

2009-07-08T20:52:00.003+01:00

Yesterday involved stooging around Llanberis, wandering the main street; reading; and watching the team time trial of Le Tour (for one of us). There are no photos of these events.

Today involved something for everyone.

First, we caught a bus to Caernarfon, being treated to a tour of Small Rural Welsh Towns. There's a lot of slate. From Caernarfon, we boarded the Welsh Highland Railway - steam engine, of course - and took off for Beddgellert.

The train itself

To begin with, we had a lovely little booth in a heated carriage. However, then James discovered the open-air carriage.

Action shot

It was a good way of seeing the landscape - clouds on hills, ferns, more clouds, cows - but golly, it was cold.

When we got back to Caernarfon, we visited the eponymous castle.

Half of the castle

This is where the Princes of Wales have been invested in the past; there's a mini-museum devoted to just that subject, with a recording of Charles taking his oath of loyalty. There's also a substantially larger museum devoted to the Royal Welch (sic) Fusiliers, which was really quite fascinating; they were initially raised to fight James II, on the side of William of Orange. Given we went to the site of the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (where William kicked James' butt for the last time), it seemed appropriate.

It was a mighty fine day, topped off with our second visit to the Spice of LLanberis... which, um, might be the main reason we came back to the UK.

Today I was So Happy

2009-07-06T21:38:00.004+01:00

21 Miles (34km)

So I wake up in the big soft bed, with a feather pillow in a fantastic remote B&B right up on the coast. I can hear soft rain falling on the windows and I'm reading Harry Potter (still).

I get up and have the most amazing full breakfast I've had for ages including wonderful smoked salt... Yup, smoked salt. We then go back to our room and spend perhaps an hour (perhaps an hour and a half) finding reasons not to leave, reading Harry Potter mostly. By the time we leave it's stopped raining; win!

Now this is really where the happy begins: out of the yard and down the road, wet glistening road and an easy ride into Beaumaris. The castle is fantastic, it's huge, round and you can walk all through the walls, it's basically as good as any small man's imagination could want. A few photos taken, oh and the fact they invited our bikes through into the castle against policy.

From the outside

Inside one of the towers

The chapel

From the top of the walls

Then as if just to lift my spirits even more, we found this little bakery and £7 later I had a full load of bakery treats and drinks for lunch for both of us.

In the afternoon, after some lolling in the town square, we rode across the giant bridge and over towards Llamberis.

Just outside Llanberis

Beautiful and hilly; we rolled into town enjoying views we missed out on last time in the dark and rain. We rode down the high street enjoying the names of interesting shops to explore later flashing by - it was even better than last time. I really love this town.

The place where we are staying has the most awesome shower, powerful and hot. I say again, powerful and HOT. Then I flipped open the laptop, hooked into the free wireless and found a site live broadcasting Le Tour with 20min to finish on stage three. It turned out to be a fantastic finish with a significant break away succeeding, a wonderful sprint by the Manx Missile and Lance picking up 20 seconds on Contador.

By now I have a huge grin on my face, but I'm not done yet. You see I've been talking about 'The Spice of Llanberis' since we got home last time, and we popped in again for dinner. Would it live up to expectations ? Oh yes, a mixed grill, naan bread and a pint of Cobra beer. Totally fantastic.

Today I was so happy.

Holyhead to Penmon

2009-07-06T21:11:00.002+01:00

Um, I think it's Pemnon anyway; there seems to be some confusion over the spelling...

Anyway:

41 miles (66km)

Up and down and up and down and up and down.

Also, we saw a dovecot.

And the coast.

Intermission

2009-07-04T20:19:00.010+01:00

I think we drove more miles in the south than we've ridden our bikes on the rest of the whole trip. Rather than bore, shock or alarm you, our gentle readers, with the gory details of a Pierce family holiday, we thought we'd take you through a little 'daily highlights' package from Ireland.

Stone Circles @ Cregganconroe

A series of 7 or 8 complete stone circles, all quite low to the ground but very much intact. To my mind, the best we've seen apart from perhaps the Castlerigg circle in the English Lakes District.

Galway Coast and Mountain

Alex's view for much of the trip

Kylemore Abbey (not medieval)

Along the coast

Newgrange and Dublin

Not one of ours - you're not allowed to take pictures inside

Newgrange is an incredible Neolithic site, the purpose of which is unknown. It was built 500 years before the first pyramid at Giza, without use of the wheel.

The external wall at Newgrange, reconstructed out of the stone found on site.

Newgrange was found by a man who thought the hill would make a good place for a quarry. It's doing better than another tumulus in the area, which had a road and a teahouse built on top.

Also not one of ours, for the same reason

This is the Long Room, at Trinity College, perhaps most famous for holding the Book of Kells (seeing which was one of Alex's long-held ambitions). This room holds some of Trinity's oldest books.

Glendalough

A round tower

Alex says: James has gone on and on and on about round towers. Now I've seen one. This one is from the tenth century; built to keep precious monastic things safe from nasty marauders. Glendalough is famous for its monastic settlement, based around the hermitage of St Kevin.

Military Road

A spectacular valley we travelled on our way back to Dublin, to catch the ferry.

Happy families taking happy snaps.

Going dark

2009-06-30T09:26:00.001+01:00

Today we are heading to the Republic of Ireland. We're bound to see
interesting things over the next few days, but our fabulous Internet
deal won't apply there so we almost certainly won't be blogging. We
will be arriving back in the UK, in the form of Holyhead in Wales, on
Saturday evening. We promise to update you then, our loyal readers,
about our adventures. And we'll be back on the bikes, too.

Death toll: still zero

An Adventure in Three Parts

2009-06-29T22:16:00.000+01:00

Part One: Dunluce Castle

Dunluce two decades ago

Dunluce today

James has been telling me about Dunluce Castle for oh, about a decade. As a wee lad the castle made a huge impression on him, so it was something that we had to visit so that he and his brother could show their wives around the place. James at least had some concerns that it wouldn't be as good as he remembered... Perhaps the most interesting thing about Dunluce is that part of it fell into the sea about four centuries ago: the kitchen, and the dinner, and the servants preparing it.

Part Two: Bushmills Distillery

Next, we went to Bushmills - the oldest, continuous, licensed distillery in the world: it was granted its licence by James I in 1608. We went on the guided tour, which was quite interesting; we saw the mash being stirred, and then the stuff being fermented, then being distilled, and then eventually being bottled. James is disillusioned with whiskey: he had thought that, like beer, the taste might come from how it's made. Instead, turns out the taste basically comes from the barrels it's aged in - in the case of Bushmills, sherry, port or bourbon. James now wonders whether he can just make it at home; if you know where to get used barrels, please let him know. Yes, we did also get a 'free' tasting with the cost of the tour; the girls had a taste of the 1608 heritage whiskey, while the boys all had the 12 year old reserve, which you can only purchase at the distillery.

Part Three: the Giants Causeway

Basalt columns as a cliff

Basalt columns up close

Again, something that made a huge impact on young Pierce boys. Tesselations! So exciting! We walked down a long cliffside trail to the Causeway itself, and had a pleasant time sitting on the tiles themselves.

Note: it has been pointed out to me that I missed a fairly significant feature of yesterday: peat. Shedloads of peat. Cut into brickettes, drying out, stacked into piles. Peat!

Two Irelands in one day

2009-06-28T20:45:00.003+01:00

If you're only reading this blog because you are interested in amusing cycling stories, now might be the time to take a week-long hiatus from us. For the next week, Henry and the Argo are broken to pieces (well, two main pieces) and flat as pancakes in the back of a 7-seater Vauxhall, while we travel around with James' family in said car and its twin.

Today saw us take a long car-trip (I think we travelled as far today as James and I have travelled in the past fortnight) over to the west coast of the island of Ireland, which involved crossing into the SOUTH (as their road signs have it), which happened as we went West, and is a completely different country: Eire, or the Republic of Ireland (IRL... heh heh). There was a distressing lack of drama, or even signage, as we went into this country that fought so determinedly to be separate from Great Britain. We did change to kilometres from miles, to euros from pounds sterling, and to bilingual signs from ones that just had unpronounceable names.

Firstly, we went to (London)Derry, where we Walked the Walls:

Sadly, nothing was open; it was only 11am on a Sunday, after all.

We went to a national park at Glenveigh, and took a little walk around their grounds; we neglected their castle as being too modern (19th century? pfeh!).

We went over hills, and through valleys, searching for Authentic Wild West Coast Ireland; sadly large sections of the west coast have been taken over by, we think, the elite of London and Dublin. And possibly Americans. How dare they ruin our search for Authentic Wilderness?! We arrived, eventually, in a bay where we looked out over the North Atlantic, with nary a skerrick of land between us and Newfoundland. Now there's a profound thought. It was a glorious little cove, the tide a long way out and rock pools to poke in - and it was almost warm enough that I almost wished for bathers.

On the way home we found Wilder West Coast Ireland to look at, which mollified us somewhat. And mitigated the feeling of being in a rally car that those in the back two seats in particular experienced as we went up and down hills and around bends.

Did I mention that all six of us were travelling in what is theoretically a 7-seater? I spent about half the trip in the back, with my knees around my ears, which was its own special brand of entertaining. James and his Dad are the only drivers allowed near the steering wheel of this car; this too was own special brand of entertaining. In its own way. Imagine the merry band of travellers, if you can: a mad Irishman delirious with joy at bringing his family, as adults, to his childhood home; James; an exuberant music teacher; and Robyn, Mike and I trying to keep the peace, keep it peaceful, and not die in a variety of entertaining ways.

Death toll: zero.

Troon to Portstewart

2009-06-28T19:17:00.003+01:00

We rolled the 3-odd miles down to the ferry terminal, which is actually in Troon, and lined up with all the cars. After a quick wait we were issued our tickets and sent to the very front on the queue, nice. We rolled on again down to the boat and the bikes were tied up to a rail just inside the car loading dock. To be honest it seemed a bit ad-hoc compared to the very precise parking instructions and strapping down the cars received.

The trip across to Northern Ireland (Larne) was flat and foggy; pretty typical big ferry replete with shops, bars and food joints etc. We were first off the boat once we arrived and then the only thing which remained was to rendezvous with Dad who was driving up from Belfast to meet us. There were some phone calls, and some waving, and then some running, and then some jumping back when Dad drove past (backwards then forwards), but eventually we were reunited and found a park. We broke the bikes down a bit and drove back to Belfast.

We met up with Mum, Mike and Bron and typical family behavior ensued ... I'll leave the details to the imagination of the reader.

Not without a certain amount of palaver, we waited in the middle of a street parade for quite some time on top of a red double decker to go on a tour around the sites of Belfast. The highlight for me was probably seeing the twine cranes, in the docks Samson and Goliath - The other interesting and sad part was to see much of the area where the troubles have focused for many decades, things like the 2+ mile wall with gates closed at all times outside standard business hours. Flags, murals, lots of razor wire and decay give the strong impression that underlying feelings that drove the conflict only sit just below the surface.

Tour over we packed everything up and drove up to Portstewart for a few days. Dad spent most of his childhood up here, so he's like a big excited kid showing us around, taking us down to 'the front' (the waterfront) and harbour for fish and chips, and icecream apparently still made by the same people from his childhood. A late night, probably the latest we've had all trip; we all got to bed exhausted.

Today in Question and Answer

2009-06-26T19:42:00.005+01:00

Did you manage to get out of Paisley without being mugged ?
Just, though it is a miracle we didn't get a flat with all that glass

Why do Henry and the Argo have flecks of fresh bitumen all over them ?
Because Alex and James ignored the 'road closed' signs and rode over the increasingly fresh bitumen until they caught up with the truck laying it, at which point they quickly made a get away along a side road.

Why does it take 30min to walk back to the B&B from central Troon (population 14,000) ?
Because as it turns out Alex booked us a place in the next town, Loans, on 'Troon Road', by accident.

How can you impress your wife in unexpected ways ?
Try opening a beer using nothing but your bare hands and a bus stop...

Also, here are a few pictures from the top of the tower of the Abbey in Kilwinnie:

And on to Paisley

2009-06-25T19:08:00.003+01:00

36 miles (58km)

Well, the post below details one of the recurring aspects of today's journey. However, it wasn't all like that.

(Note: if you're just reading this for the pictures, you're going to be disappointed. Today, while interesting, was distinctly difficult to take pictures of.)

We started the morning following the River Leven, which flows out of Loch Lomond and is Scotland's fastest flowing river. It's been the site of many and varied textiles industries down the years. Eventually, we joined the path that follows the Forth and Clyde Canal way. We'd been told about this path, which goes from Edinburgh to Glasgow (or vice verse, depending on who you talk to): it's been recently done up, and the canal re-opened I think. We went past a few locks, which meant that James could explain in that condescending manner that girls like how they operated. Exciting. Perhaps the most interesting lock was one which was underneath a road - presumably cheaper than building a higher road bridge?

Just out of Glasgow, we made something of a detour... because the turn-off we required was signposted only by a wooden post about a foot high. We did discover that there was a ferry we could take, from Renfrew (site of our detour) to Paisley (site of our accommodation). Not knowing the times, and determined to be Authentic (or something), we decided to continue on the cycleway and go into Glasgow, out of Glasgow, and then on to Paisley by bike. It was only an additional 18 miles or so.

The ride into Glasgow, along the Clyde, was quite fascinating. I'll be honest: I've always heard of Glasgow as the poorer, more industrial cousin to Edinburgh. And the outskirts were, frankly, feral; lots of glass on the path, rubbish in the long grass on the edges, rundown buildings when we got towards town. Oh, and a bloke being arrested on our path. However - as in so many places, Melbourne included - the docks and waterfront are being remodelled, as shipping no longer comes right into the heart of the city. By bike, the transition from derelict buildings to high-class apartments seemed to happen really quite quickly. And it was very cool to ride past the Glasgow Science Centre, and BBC Scotland - whose entire wall facing the Clyde is window.

We went off track and into Glasgow proper for lunch, because there was nothing on our route and because we were making far better time than we had anticipated. Following the Clyde ever further in, we eventually turned into the city centre and found quite a nice stretch of shops and cafes not too far away. Glasgow quite obviously is much more than the country cousin to Edinburgh; they have a Dr Who exhibition on at the moment!

We caused some amusement amongst the suits and stockings out basking in the sun and eating their lunch along the river by stopping to put on sunscreen; we then crossed the Clyde and headed out of Glasgow proper to Paisley. Our route took us through Pollock Country Park; I have no idea who Pollock was, but there was a golf course and a big old house and a mountain bike course that had James crying for suspension on Henry. Paisley... well. It has an abbey, from the 12th century; and a campus of the University of West Scotland. And a big rambly secondhand bookshop (hello, more Harry Potter). It also has skanks and neds (aka chavs, aka bogans) being scary and shouting at each other, and shops with iron bars on the windows - those shops that are not boarded up, anyway. We're staying in a very pricey place that's really catering for people on the way to/away from the airport, and for people with business at the uni. Frankly, in some ways it feels like an oasis - or perhaps a gated community in the middle of the feral heartland...

We're currently enjoying the lounge, wifi and a book. Normally we like to find a pub etc and meet some locals, but I think tonight we might give it a miss.

How to ride the End to End (Lands End to John-O-Groats)

2009-06-25T18:02:00.003+01:00

First a quick note for the uninitiated, a classic 'big ride' for British touring cyclists is to ride the End to End route from bottom left to top right, about 1000 miles depending on the exact roads chosen. Amazingly the cycling record is just 44 hours and 4 min. Anyway, here's my advice for anyone wanting to attempt the route in a sensible amount of time (14 to 20 days seems to be typical).

1) Get some maps
2) Get quite fit, as doing 60 miles (100km) each and every day is a fairly big ask on the body, even for regular cyclists.
3) Don't plan to ride 90 miles in one day including a traverse of a large city like Glasgow (just for example).

Today we repeatedly met 3 chaps who were attempting the end to end for the first time. When I say we met them repeatedly, we kept passing them and then they would catch us up when we stopped for lunch, sunscreen, a few-mile diversion into town etc... Now Alex and I don't exactly fly along, I think we managed an average of around 9 miles per hour today, so it's safe to assume these chaps were averaging about the same. But I don't think that's really where they were going wrong; let's see if we can figure it out with a quick check against the list of advice above.

1) Get some maps ? Well, no - despite planning to cycle from one end to the other of one of the most densely road-covered countries on the planet, these gents and decided not to bring a map of any kind; I can only assume they were looking for a bit of adventure and thought that they could just wing it.

2) Get quite fit ? Well ... no - They were a combination of young and fat, or old and slightly less fat. As I said, when actually turning the pedals Al and I consistently sailed past these chaps with our 5 months' worth of luggage and without being in a particular hurry to be anywhere holding us back.

3) Don't plan to ride 90 miles in one day ... See now this is where I really think these fellows came unstuck today, when we first passed them at about 9:30am they had just set off for the day and we leap frogged each other to Glasgow where we left them behind as we diverted into Glasgow central for lunch. Just out of our destination town of Paisley we met them again at 3:15pm - where they hailed us down and asked for directions (no map you see... the town they were trying to get to was on the border of England and Scotland, some 65 miles away (plus another 5 miles back to Glasgow to get on the right road).

We have no idea how this story ends, but these lads have a long way to go to Lands End at their current rate of progress !

Blowing the Budget in Style

2009-06-24T20:44:00.006+01:00

We had a fairly lazy start to the day, necessitated by James' addiction to Harry Potter (#2 completed in 2 days; #3 not yet in possession, hopefully to be rectified tomorrow).

Eventually, we went walking:

... around the bottom of the loch. It was pretty enough, although there was a bit of murk around.

Blowing the Budget #1 involved going to the Loch Lomond Aquarium:

We liked the Asian short-clawed otters - watching them get fed was very entertaining - and I liked the seahorses a lot. Of course, these sorts of huge tanks are always entertaining to watch, too (Alex G, you better be good to my tank) - especially when the decorations etc are so non-authentic as to include faux Viking helmets and Roman ruins.

The Aquarium from the loch - it's so ugly! And so big, it's utterly incongruous.

After wandering the aquarium, we looked with some bemusement at the Loch Lomond Shores mall: it's a small-scale, very up-market shopping centre, and I just don't get it. Why would you travel to Loch Lomond to go shopping in somewhere like that?? People are weird.

For the afternoon, we decided to go on a cruise of the loch (Blowing the Budget #2).

We had hoped to go on the two-hour cruise, because that would take us past a few of the islands. Sadly, it wasn't running today, so we had to go with just the one hour version. We did still go past some interesting stuff - including the biggest island in the loch, which is privately owned and home to Scotland's oldest established noooodist colony. Things I like about Loch Lomond: it's the largest body of fresh water in the UK; it's one of the deepest (over 600ft deep!); and there are running arguments about how many islands there are in the middle (some say 23, some way 30, others are in between).

It was a good idea. Tomorrow, along the River Leven, which flows from the loch to the Clyde - and we go through the glory that is Glasgow.

Two random pictures

2009-06-23T20:05:00.001+01:00

In a beer garden in Callander:

Things I did not think I would have to worry about in the UK:

Callander to Balloch

2009-06-23T19:50:00.005+01:00

We left Callander this morning with hardly a cloud in the sky - tshirts on, sunscreen slathered - and the day stayed that way. (In fact, as I write this, we are wondering exactly how we'll manage to sleep tonight.) This was a nice change from cloudy, and would have been made a whole lot nicer had we been doing the ride a few years ago - before large sections of the countryside got logged.

The first part of our route took us past two lochs:

It's not this one, because there were no good spots for a picture, but one of them was called Loch Drunkie....

Much of the day was off-road, which was mostly good except for a couple of steep gravelly sections. Also, we saw a deer! (Actually James saw two - I was too busy negotiating gravel to see the second.) James forgot to mention that seeing a deer was one of the highlights of our walk up to Bracklinn Falls, yesterday. I've never seen deer in the wild before. Now, to find a hedgehog... and a red squirrel.

We also went over a couple of bridges:

Things Alex does not like

We got into Balloch mid-afternoon, parched and desperately in need of a cool shower. Having recovered some semblance of humanity, we walked into the town proper, via Balloch Castle and Loch Lomond. James was utterly dismissive of the castle - built in 1808 ("pft! modern!" he says; that's supposed to be my line!) - seems I've created an historical snob (and this is while he's still in therapy because I suggested that not all the ruins we'd seen were exactly, erm, as ruined as they might have been...). The Loch is indeed impressive; it's one of the biggest, after all. There were lots of kids swimming, and a few less-than-sensible people out on jet-skis mighty close to the swimmers. How can there be jetskis on Loch Lomond??

Also? While James has been getting into the Harry Potter love (and therefore has to retroactively take back the nasty things he said about my month-or-so long HP obsession, before we left), I've been reading a book that made him terribly depressed for a good few days: Six Degrees, with a chapter looking at predictions of consequences for 1C global rise in temperature... 2C global rise in temperature... etc. It's enough to send me back to science fiction.

Chillin in Callander

2009-06-23T08:03:00.004+01:00

We've had a couple of days off the bike here, just hanging about, lots of walking in the hills and along the rivers etc. Highlights include the falls, walking along the top of the 'crags', a trip to the kirk and enjoying the main-street of a classic english village. I have become addicted to harry potter after finding a few in the second hand shop for a pound. Off to Loch Lomond today.

Trying not to fall in!

The path across the Crags

Callander from on high

Killin to Callander

2009-06-21T08:14:00.004+01:00

26 miles (42km)

After a 4 miles climb out of Killin in drizzle the ride improves significantly. From the top of the mountain pass it's an undulating descent into Callander a few hundred meters below along old railway lines and forest paths. I'd have to say it's one of the prettiest days riding we've had on the trip yet, for a long time the trail follows along high up the side of the valley so you get great views down the whole way. When it finally touches down at the bottom of the valley you're in lush forest and riding around the shores of the various lochs between the two towns. Bit hard to take a good picture of it, but here's a few from the day.

Oh the other small detail was that for the entire day we were riding against the flow of the Robroy Challange, at first it looked like a pretty serious race, skinny whippets in the cockpits of road bikes going flat out along a mix of gravel paths and bitumen, but as our day progressed so did the field, by the end of the day we were weaving our way through the novices. Or perhaps they were weaving and we were just riding straight, it became hard to tell at times.

Killin' time in Killin

2009-06-20T17:11:00.002+01:00

Disappointingly few businesses here take advantages of the pun-opportunities of the town's name. (We passed a town called Dull on the way here; I wonder if they have good business names?)

After a poor night's sleep, for reasons that remain unclear but surely have nothing to do with late-night Celebrity MasterChef, we went for a walk along the lovely River Tay, which feeds into the eponymous Loch:

Getting back to town involved negotiating bogs-in-the-making and not falling into the river, both of which were accomplished.

Just outside Killin

Pitlochry to Killin (delayed broadcast)

2009-06-20T17:05:00.001+01:00

39 miles (62.5km)

A fairly long day that started and finished in the rain, but had some lovely patches of sunshine in the middle - including when we stopped for pasta on the banks of a river. The second half of our ride was along Loch Tay, at the western end of which is Killin. There's a road on both sides of the loch; one is an A road, which is probably consistently well-paved and fairly flat. I wouldn't know. The southern side has a smaller road, which is where Sustrans directed us; having ridden a bit of an A road earlier in the day, I was thankful for that (people drive fast on A roads! Nasty!). However, our road clearly doesn't get that much attention from the road improvement people. Just when you get to to the top of a hill and think you can relax a bit on the descent, the road turns into corrugations... and when it's also raining, well, that's just a bit too much fun for me.

To get into the town of Killin, you cross a bridge over the Falls of Drochart (one of the rivers that feeds the Loch):

Our accommodation is lovely, although there is basically no reception in our little dale (hence the delayed broadcast).

The redemption of Pitlochry (delayed broadcast)

2009-06-20T16:54:00.002+01:00

It rained, again, on our second full day in Pitlochry. Around about midday we both got a case of cabin fever and ventured into the wet, to get lunch; the less said about that desultory, expensive experience the better. We followed it up with another walk to the Salmon Lift (sorry for the picture doesn't do it justice; there are 34 sections!):

We didn't manage to see any Real Live salmon through the viewing chamber this time - but we did, once again, have to cross a suspension bridge over a lovely river:

After whiling away the afternoon with some serendipitously discovered West Wing, we decided to treat ourselves to a good dinner, at the restaurant you can see next to the bridge (above). And very nice it was too - complemented by a good-natured argument in the corner between two rather inebriated fellows about how long one of the fishing rods on the wall was. James' involvement in this discussion got us an invitation to their table to help them drink a bottle of 'pudding wine' (dessert wine to us; Sauterne, to be precise). They were perfectly lovely gents to us colonials.

Walking home from dinner at 9.45 in just-nearing-sunset light was slightly surreal, but that, my friends, was the Redemption of Pitlochry.

Brooks B17 Leather Saddle Review - An English Classic ?

2009-06-18T09:21:00.002+01:00

My biking mates were divided 50/50 between bemused and horrified when they saw we were planning to head off and ride 5000 odd miles on HARD leather saddles. I must confess I was apprehensive also. In the lead up to our UK adventure I've been reading quite a few books of other crazies who done similar things, cycle around the world, across a desert etc etc. These characters all rode very different bikes but there was always one thing in common. A 'Brooks' saddle and most often a B17 (the original and cheapest model).

The B17 design has been made the same way for more than 100 years, it's essentially a piece of thick, hard leather stretched between two frames, a wide one at the back and a narrow one at the front. It's kind of like a hard leather hammock for your arse. As it ages and the leather stretches there is a bolt at the front to move the two frames apart to keep the tension even and maintain the same sitting position. Fans claim they can last 20+ years, I'm not as convinced.

Some months before we were due to head off I took advantage of an online sale (www.chainreactionclces.com) and snagged a B17 for me and a girly B17 for Al for about A$60 a piece to try them out. We both used them on and off around melbourne but it was hard to really tell how they were panning out. You know how good leather shoes are stiff and perhaps a bit uncomfortable before they suddenly and magically become like your favorite jeans? The most comfortable thing you own? A leather saddle is kind of like that. You have to break it in, using mostly your sit bones and a bunch of kms to get there though.

I had a bit of a 'Come-To-Jesus' moment with mine. It had been slowly getting a little less hard over about 1000km and then we did one 70+ km day in the rain early in our trip here in the UK. 5 hours of riding in the rain and it was pretty well soaked (strictly speaking a no no). Anyway when I stopped I noticed the saddle had two distinct dints where my sit bones are and the whole saddle was soft and floppy. Urk. We got sunny weather the next day and then had a few days off the bike, so it dried out pretty well. I tightened up the tension on it a 1/2 turn, and it's been MAGICAL ever since.

The saddle really does mould itself to your own particular rear end. Not sure I'd put one on my road racing bike, or even a mountain bike - perhaps one of their different designs - but for a long distance touring bike where you sit up a bit more, or a commuter bike it's a good choice.

'Myth Busted'

In Scotland it Rains

2009-06-17T11:37:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we saw Real Live Salmon in a fish ladder by the Hydro plant, which was running.

Today it's raining, like yesterday.

So we decided we're having a weekend and doing some planning on where to go later in the year, and reading a book and stuff. We almost have a rough plan now for the rest of the trip, not sure what we'll do next time it rains ? Perhaps read some more of the 10 or so books I seem to be hauling again (we get it down to one or two and then buy more, like an all you can eat salad bar)

Also if I have to drink anymore tea in this country, I might spew.

Dalwhinnie to Pitlochry

2009-06-15T18:49:00.002+01:00

28 miles (45km)

Mostly downhill or flat but raining all the way we made pretty quick work of the trip to Pitlochry, we left the Highlands and entered the region of lochs and glens we'll follow through for the next week or so. Beautiful riding in-spite of the rain, but no pictures as a result.

Pitlochry itself is a little bit disappointing, super touristy, but the kind of crap and cheesy touristy, rather than the good with lots of tempting places to spend your money touristy. We're here for a few days though and there are quite a few interesting things to do around the place, some day rides and a bit of walking too. Plus a great looking indian place that does a 3 course lunchtime special ... score ! Honestly I'm not sure why we don't eat indian in AU all the time, it's just not as good as here I think.

PS: Bron/Mike I added the map at the top today just for you.

We bagged a Munro!

2009-06-14T21:39:00.006+01:00

Translation:
Munro: any of the 284 peaks in Scotland that are at least 3000 feet high.

Bagging:

For James, a leisurely Sunday morning stroll.

For Alex, a sometimes grim, but generally plucky navigation of an occasionally-absent track, negotiating scrub, burns, bogs and a minefield of loose rocks just waiting for the opportunity to turn an ankle. This is me at the cairn, celebrating my conquering of the dastardly peak.

We spent the afternoon immersed in books, listening to the rain and being glad we weren't out in it - unlike the five Glaswegian lads who entertained us last night (when I could understand what they were saying), who were riding to Inverness today.

A few photos to spruce up the page

2009-06-13T17:06:00.006+01:00

For Kate: the front of the Georgian terrace that won our hearts. I would like to have an apartment like this one (on the inside and the outside) when I grow up

The top of the Walter Scott monument. Somewhere, Banjo is muttering: "where the hell's MY spire?"

The Lewis Chessmen. A millennium on, folks, and don't they look wonderful?

We didn't do as much of actual Edinburgh 'stuff' as I had expected, mostly because as James said the touristy stuff was mighty expensive and just that - touristy. The Royal Mile: how much cashmere, tartan, and whiskey - in varying combinations - can one street sell?? Also, having spoken to my sister and James' cousin, I suspect Edinburgh is a city you fall in love with by living there. It's the quirky bookshops (like the photographic book one James discovered), the cafes, the festivals, the walking paths along rivers and 'waters' - it's the ambience, the vibe of the thing, that people really love about the place. I could tell that in a couple of days. However, I'm not sure I could handle the crowds every day...

Edinburgh

2009-06-13T14:46:00.001+01:00

We had booked even before we left Australia to take a few days here as a bit of a rest up from a fairly big week riding around the coast to get here and also to check out the town. We missed out on coming up here last time we were in the UK. We walked the final mile or so to our accommodation as we found our way through the center of the city. Riding here would be a bit of an art, it's very hilly, many streets are 'pavé' (cobbled) and there are heaps of roads which go over and under each other with bridges, or through buildings etc. The whole city is very multilevel.

When we arrived at the address we'd written down, I could feel myself thinking 'stupid woman, she's got the wrong suburb or place or something'. It was just residential house, a door in the middle of a row of georgian buildings on a normal street. Anyway, we checked, checked again and eventually decided we were in the right place. Finally I saw 'Robinson' on the door bell and that matched the email. Ok then, ding dong. About a minute later a voice answered, I explained who we were and Eric chirped back 'Oh are you downstairs with your bikes ? I'll be right down.'.

A spritely white haired gent answered the door and welcomed us in with perfect BBC english. We worked out where the bikes were to stay in the entrance hall locked up to the stair rail and followed him up with our panniers. From there we were welcomed into Eric's stunning georgian home, superbly decorated and covered floor to celling in every room with art collected over his 70+ years. Our room was just superb, big comfy bed, a few reading chairs arranged around the window with an excellent view. The rest of the day was spent organizing our selves and having a quick dinner at a place at the end of the street before flopping into bed to sleep off the last week's riding. Breakfast the next morning was just served in the kitchen, rather than some fancy/sterile dinning room like most places and was just as elegant as the Eric and the house.

While we were in Edinburgh we walked all over town to look at things, past most of the popular tourist stuff electing not to pay £26 for the Castle or £20 for Holyrood Palace etc, even the whiskey experience wanted to fleece us for £22 for a look around a model of a distillery. The royal mile is the street which runs from the Castle to the Palace and sadly it's been a bit of a victim of it's own success. Great spot to come if you want to buy a cheaply made (but expensive) kilt, over priced whiskey or a postcard etc but kind of soul less as you walk up and down avoiding the tour busses.

It often seems with touristy towns the more expensive something is, the more likely it is to be a bit crap. Anyway, after a quick trip to the bike shop to get a few odds and ends we ended up in the Scottish National Museum which takes you through the history of Scotland chronologically over 7 levels of a very cool and modern museum. Three things I really loved about it; the first is that unlike many other modern museums (*cough* Melbourne *cough*) they hadn't taken away most of the collection replacing it with overly explained and elaborate display of a handful of items. The bottom floor which contained most of the older artifacts (coins, swords, bones etc etc) was stuffed to the gils. The second thing was a series of art works by Andy Goldsworthy around and through the exhibits, the slate walls and a perfect sphere of whale bones were a real highlight. The third thing is seeing the other 10 lewis chess men which live here (we'd seen the rest of the set in London 2.5 years ago).

Apart from that over two days we saw the usual mix of monuments, statues, churches and parks etc. The botanical gardens are especially nice here. We certainly ended up foot sore and tired by the end of each day trying to take it all in. I think it's always a good test of a place to see if the TV gets turned on or not, here it didn't even enter our heads.

Right now we're on the train heading deep into the Highlands to a tiny town called Dalwhinney, riding out from there to stay in a cottage very near the top of the near by mountain pass as we work our way back down through the lochs and passes before catching they ferry to Ireland in a few weeks. A few people had told us we would be sad to be leaving Edinburgh; I was, but only to be leaving Eric, his beautiful house and charming company.

How Sustrans thinks you get from Thorntonloch to Edinburgh

2009-06-11T17:08:00.005+01:00

43 miles (69km)

(if James calls it 'Edinberg' in public here, I may do something nasty)

First, go back to the A road that didn't manage to get you run over yesterday; quickly take a right-hand turn, at the nuclear power station, and go straight on through the cement works. Cross the railway line, and turn right onto the A199; go past the brewery. Turn left, going under the A1; stop at Hailes Castle.

Continue on to Haddington, and join the railway path. Eventually go north, travelling at 18 mph, until you get to Longniddry Station. Look in vain for the tunnel or ramp you're expecting; unload your bike, and take everything up the stairs, over the bridge, and then down the stairs. Continue on with as little profanity as possible. Join the John Muir 'coastal path' - and then ride along the footpath next to the B1348. Eventually, get to the Firth of Forth; proceed for 5 miles. Turn right, at the bitumen plant; carry your bikes up another set of stairs and over a bridge; push them through the broken glass and empty beer cans. Immediately turn left then right, and proceed along the road approximately 150 yards from the start of the bitumen plant diversion. Ride towards the 'lagoon', which is oddly not a lagoon but a gravel truck depot. Avoid large gravel trucks.

Turn left at Musselburgh - after negotiating innumerable fishing villages; follow the River Esk, and then finally join Route 1. Follow this heavily signed route* into the centre of Edinburgh.

*NB: due to comprehensive signage of Route 1, no funds were available to adequately sign Route 76 (Dunbar-Musselburgh) as described above.

From Berwick to Thorntonloch

2009-06-11T16:54:00.006+01:00

35 miles (56km)

We got into Scotland!

Me: in Scotland. Behind me: not in Scotland.

This was very exciting. But then there were hills. Who said there could be hills again? Also, with less wind there were more insects. Unpleasant.

We went via bits of the coast, and via bits inland. We took a detour to Coldingham and St Abbs, as recommended by our hosts in Berwick, and it is indeed a lovely little bit of the Scottish coastline.

St Abbs

Towards the end of the day, we saw some more Scottish coastline:

This is Pease Bay. Delightful little inlet, stunning cliffs, a nice enough beach... and holiday homes, cheek by jowl.

We stayed at Thorntonloch House overnight; seems like quite a new B&B; we got a huge room. It had the most awesomely powerful shower I've ever stood under, maybe because we were right next door to a nuclear power station.

Reflections on England upon Leaving her

2009-06-09T09:25:00.004+01:00

Tea
There's a reason there's a stereotype about the English being tea-swilling types. They are. I have never been offered tea so many times as in the month we've been in England. Also, there is no way a pub would advertise itself as having tea, but I have seen them do so in England. Plus, tea often comes before coffee in the list of things offered by a cafe/bar/whatever. However, while there are some lovely Twinings blends and some other interesting brands, the ordinary tea we've been given in many B&Bs has been just that. Entirely Ordinary.

Property
Can't find a house to buy in Australia? Come out here! I don't think we've been through a single small town without there being multiple houses for sale. No idea of the prices, but it can't be that bad, surely...

Hoons
We've only seen them once... and they were driving hatchbacks...

Fashion
If you can call it that. Girls in skimpy little outfits, even/especially on freezing cold days... and it just doesn't look good.

Animals
Sheep: white sheep, black sheep, black-faced white sheep. Sheep with tails, sheep with horns, sheep with both. Sheep on the beach.
Cows: hairy cows. Cows with horns (and udders). Cows close to cliffs...
Pigs: showing how urban(e) I am, I'd never seen pigs actually on a farm before...
Rabbits: they don't have rabbits here; they have bunnies, because they are so cute! Now, before you renounce my Australian citizenship, don't worry: I still hate the blighters for the plague they are, it's just that the English ones are such cute blighters! Makes me appreciate Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail all the more.
Wild: squirrels, deer... pheasants. Dead hedgehogs. No badgers.

Old stuff
There's a lot of it. And it's old.

Traffic
We have basically been very impressed with our experience of traffic over here. Having ridden largely on back roads, when on roads at all, we have almost always been treated with respect and courtesy: oncoming traffic has pulled over, often right into a hedge - and sometimes even stopped; traffic behind us has usually slowed right down and waited for a sensible point at which to overtake. There have been a few exceptions, but they only stick in the memory because they are just that. I think this is a result of two things: their habit of using roads that in Australia would be one-way only, due to width, not just as two-way, but allowing parking on them; and the number of 'traffic calming' points where traffic is forced to be one-way due to a chicane. Drivers get used to giving way. Also, we've taken to calling 4WDs 'light commercials'.

Roads
They're crap.

Beer
It's just better here. The real ales, that is: those that are properly cellared, and hand-pulled, and made in this country. There's just no comparison with bottled beer.

Pubs
Connected to the real beers. Real pubs rarely serve food, generally don't look that trendy, and usually don't have young whippersnappers behind the bar, unless they're related to the proprietor. They do have interesting stuff on the walls - mostly genuine memorabilia; their furniture is wooden and well-used; and the regulars will generally make strangers welcome, especially once they discover you're Australian and therefore fair game for insults.

Stinging nettles
We hates them, precious. Yess.

Alnmouth to Bamburgh to Berwick

2009-06-09T06:39:00.009+01:00

25 miles to Bamburgh and then 35 miles to Berwick (100km over the two days)

We left Alnmouth with mixed feelings about the previous 12 hours entertainment, sorry we were going to miss out on another installment and yet somehow relieved as well. The two sections from Alnmouth to Berwick are really where the Coasts and Castles route we are on starts to earn its name. Dotted along the horizon as you ride are castles, towers and other ruins with something always in sight.

The first section follows the coast the whole way to this magnificent ruin at Dunstanburgh, pretty nice despite a little 3 mile bike pushing through the sand-dunes adventure caused by me. (It was on the map, really it was).

Then the trail continues again following along hard up against a rocky strewn coastline through farms and along the train line. The last part was pretty cool, we've seen heaps of trains here along the main line, mostly their high speed electric variety which are quite something up close.

Bamburgh is a tiny little seaside holiday town, but you know you're arriving for miles and miles as one of the best kept castles in England rises from the rocky outcrop on which it's built. We rolled in to town early and went to see the castle, including its collection of artifacts in the state-rooms etc, 15 and 16th century swords, amour and all that, as well as a pretty big collection of early rifles. Without meaning to it was really a museum about the end of steel weapons and the rise of gunpowder.

An early start the next morning as we raced the tide 21 miles to Holy Island and Lindasfarne. Bustling with more tourist than I think we've seen everywhere else put together, and to be honest, a bit underwhelming. The race is necessary though as the only access to the island is via a causeway which floods twice a day at high tide.

Lunch looking at the castle and then on to Berwick and the end of England. Another sensational section of track along the cliff tops with a view over the harbor into town takes us to the end of England. There was some competition from the locals to get into town though.

The locals on security detail, the view from our accom and the view of our accom.

31 days, 1000km, no flat tires and today we start to cross Scotland.

Part retirement home, part Fawlty Towers and part B&B.

2009-06-08T12:33:00.000+01:00

The place where we stayed in Alnmouth, is a magnificently appointed guesthouse hotel with a traditional lounge and dining room. All with a slightly retirement home kind of a feel about it, contributed by all the patrons sitting out the front when we arrived being 70+ and an officious, bossy but well-meaning hostess.

We got the hint that something wasn't quite what we were expecting when we received a detailed tour of the house and then our room, including the individual function of each part therein: the light switches, the shaving socket down to the hot water-bottle... we were even offered full instructions on how to use the bathroom which thankfully we were able to kindly decline.

We'd signed up for dinner, bed and breakfast (actually we had no choice; problem with booking Saturdays only a week out). Dinner is served after summons by a gong. A roll call of names at each table kicked things off, but then after that the other guests started to warm up and reveal to us newbies the funny features of other meals - like the mint sauce container the size of a small cauldron. It seems that being here for one night will be something of a blessing.

After dinner, tea was served up in the lounge, which was quite lovely if overly decorated, and it also became quickly obvious that even more of the guests thought the whole affair somewhat a farce; it was a relief when even the oldest of patrons were making quips about the food, service and the place as a whole. Proof positive that the mind can clearly outlast the body, very inspiring.

We made fast friends at the dinner table with a blend of self deprecating and insulting Australian humor, that scored us an invite to the pub and our gracious English friends insisted on buying us a few drinks, very kind and great fun.

The process for everyone to order breakfast and dinner for the next night and morning, while eating breakfast, was further hilarity the next morning during breakfast. Delivered as a monologue and at a rolling pace, a continuous list of options and alternatives. Starters and mains are however are dictated, only dessert is a choice and then there are an exhaustive N-factorial number of options. Fresh fruit with ice cream, cream, Greek yogurt or custard and of course double cream comes around in a jug. Creme Brulee, Cheesecake, Chocolate Lumpy Bumpy, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Sorbet etc - all with the same ice cream, cream, Greek yogurt or custard options and of course double cream comes around in a jug.

On the breakfast order everything must be specified right down to the specific item you will eat (eg a particular jam Danish vs some other kind of Danish). The combination of the food we received was quite good though everything is super sized: tea pots, milk jugs, yorkshire puddings, cheese serves... a simple 'small' serve of scrambled eggs was one of the biggest we've ever seen for the table next door.

The strange service and good company made for one of the more entertaining places we've stayed yet.

Rollicking good fun.

Sometimes you get what you wished for

2009-06-08T12:28:00.001+01:00

James says:

I can't very well go around extolling the virtues of the slow trip, traveling by bike and how you see all the little things you miss as you wizz past in the car without occasionally taking a spoon of my own medicine. Let me run you through the first few hours of our day.

Hour #1

This morning we left the land of a million stag bars, replete with plastic palm trees and neon signs advertising cheap booze and cheap women in roughly equally quantities. Our journey takes us now up the coast of England on our way to Edinburgh; we quickly left the seaside town of Whitley Bay only to replace it with non desrcript outer suburb after suburb along the coast, with even more non descript and often heavily polluted and industrial beaches. This is to be the backdrop for the first hours riding of the day.

Hour #2

I'm reminded that we are on the other side of the world and hence things are clearly upside down; in Melbourne, or any other town in Australia this would be Brighton, an affluent beach front suburb where the well-to-do live. We also rode along the river Tyne on our way into Newcastle as well and judging by the cranes, docks and light industry the affluent don't live there either, so perhaps there is another part to Newcastle we missed, or perhaps we would have been better off to give it a miss ?

Hour #3

After some 15 miles we broke free of the endless grey suburban streets and out into an open field with a windmill at its entrance, also a sign saying power station next to it. Jolly good show I though, we'll ride though a big wind farm on the coast, it was after all pushing a solid easterly all day. But no, instead the largest aluminum smelter and huge coal power-station all-in-one I've ever seen. So we wound our way through the middle of this aluminum making complex to hit the beach, long sand dunes.

Hour #4

Lunch - Eventually we did manage to get up enough momentum to break orbit and get out into the real countryside, after 4 hours. Everything was very nice after that, but I think I'll let Alex do the talking for that part.

The moral of the story is be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Alex says:

Frankly, the trip out of Whitley Bay was only good because it got us out of Whitley Bay. We had a little bit of nice coastal path, then got caught in the clutches of the suburbs of Blyth and the rest of the conurbation up that section of coast; not pretty and not interesting. Good only because it was mostly flat.

The highlight of the day was Warkworth Castle. You can see it from a fair distance away, and there's a fair amount of the keep that you can still get access to. There's also bits and pieces left in the outer ward, some of which is essentially underground, and combined with the maze-like qualities of the keep this made it an awesome venue for playing tag (not by us, by the kids visiting at the same time).

Our destination, Alnmouth, is a too-cute little village on a promontory - we got to it over a lovely little stone bridge. Our accommodation... deserves a separate post...

Today I was so sad

2009-06-05T20:17:00.004+01:00

So I wake up in this big carved wooden bed in this fantastic manor house B&B, bikes resting easily in the stable. I can smell breakfast wafting up the stairs. The problem ? It was soundly raining and it's 6 degrees outside.

So we get up, have the breakfast which has been wafting up the stairs, and then go back to our room, where I proceed to spend about an hour (perhaps hour and a half) finding reasons not to leave, email, phoning home etc. Some time about 20 min past our allotted checkout time we leave.

So this is where the sadness begins, out to the horse stables to get the bikes and then riding down to the river Tyne in the rain, that's pretty bad, considering I've already procrastinated and looked at the rain radar which paints a bleak pictures of increasing precipitation. But then we meet english bike tourists going to Holland wearing this:

That almost made me laugh, but it was still raining and they had hats.

After that we rode through a beautiful green forest (still in the rain), which ought to have been very nice, really it was, except for one detail. At the 7.8 mile mark for the day I declared I was cold. Alex declared she was toasty. I was dismayed, perhaps one could even say on the verge of being sad. Then I noticed a fatal flaw in my dress for the day, my 'pit zips' were fully open from the last time I wore my jacket (sometime last century (last week)).

So now I was cold, and that's when I became sad.

Another 7.8 miles in to Newcastle central and I was wet and sad, my hands were so wet and cold that they hurt, and I needed to Pee.

Greggs (the baker) to the rescue, cowering in a dirty lane way we hid from the rain and I bought us food and hot Chocolate. It didn't really make a difference.

Then there was the super loo incident, no public toilets in all of Britain as far as I can tell, certainly nothing civilized like the PUBLIC TOILET MAP. So I paid my 20p at the super loo to go inside, only to be given a short lecture on how the door was closing, how to go to the toilet and how if I didn't leave quickly something unpleasant would happen to me during the self cleaning cycle.

Then there was another 10 miles of riding in the rain unable to feel my hands at all, cold and miserable... Priory ... more riding. Finally we got to our place of rest, as best I can tell a stag night paradise, about 30 bars on one street mostly proudly announcing their love of a good stag night. Some with plastic palm trees, some with 'Real Live Strippers'. Sad.

Finally Alex annouced to me over dinner that my beard is going grey.

Today I am so sad.

And so our heroes set forth again

2009-06-05T07:26:00.004+01:00

34 miles (54.5km)

Leaving Haltwhistle after four nights was hard; we'd started to settle in! It didn't help that England has started to show her true face again - the overcast, colder one, that is. With just a hint of rain.

Our trip from Haltwhistle to Ovington followed Hadrian's Cycleway - blue signs with a bike and a Roman helmet - but for most of it, we weren't anywhere near the Wall. For the first time, we managed to see interesting things along the route as well as riding a decent distance.

First off, we went to Chester's Fort (having passed Vindolanda and seen the Real Live Archaeologists dumping dirt that didn't have anything interesting in it in a big pile).

The most interesting part about Chester's was the bath house: right by the river, and with enough of the floor and walls intact (or restored? - I've really got James worried about this possibility it's not all 'real') that you can see quite clearly the layout of the rooms, etc, which they've helpfully labeled with probably uses. The picture above shows niches near the entrance which was either for clothes or statues (which to me sounds like a future archaeologist saying "these holes you find in every house may either be rubbish bins or toilets").

Continuing just a little way, we hit the lovely little town of Hexham.

Their abbey, still in use as the parish C of E church, was built in the twelfth century - on the ruins of the one constructed in the 670s. The photo was taken from a mezzanine-type landing they've got above the entrance.

Our last sticky beak for the day was at Corbridge. There was apparently Roman settlement here from soon after Claudius' successful invasion of the island (mid first century), and there's both a military fort and a substantial civilian settlement. Making matters interesting for the archaeologists, lots of sections were built over and re-modeled, so it's not always clear which bit is from which era.

We ended our day in Ovington, a very small village (actually, I'm not sure it is a village; apparently it has to have a church for it to be a village, otherwise it's a hamlet); our B&B is lovely and the bikes are in the stable with some inquisitive horses.

Carlisle

2009-06-03T18:26:00.009+01:00

Today was planned to be a bit of a rest day before we start a relentless week riding right around the coast to Edinburgh. We decided on the spur of the moment to jump on a train and go and see Carlisle again. The British really know how to do trains, they go everywhere and they go often. £10 return for the two of us seemed very reasonable as well.

We had a lazy visit with only three real objectives - to see the Castle:

To see the Cathedral - a smaller and more delicate affair than many, which also has this really cool roof:

And to buy a few more books, not sure how many big bookshops we'll pass through and we both seem to be devouring them at the moment. Now we bring you this interruption to your regular viewing:

Recommended reading from my pile:

'The Lonely Planet story' - Tony and Maureen Wheeler - This book will cure you of any desire to become a travel guide book author and gives a pretty amazing insight into the development of Lonely Planet as well as the guidebook publishing industry as a whole. For all the criticism leveled at the Wheelers over the years it's hard not to like them both by the end of the book.

Man on the Moon - Andrew Chaiken - While the book is clearly written by someone in love with the Apollo space program and the idea of going to the moon, it also gives a great sense of just how difficult the task was to put 12 men on the surface of the moon and the scientific value of the final missions. I'm still not sure where I stand on the cost / benefit argument about sending humans (super expensive) and sending machines (sort of cheap) but it's hard not to be inspired by images like the earth rise; would a robot know to take that image ? (MG will I ever get my earth rise print?). For moon / space fans the film 'In the shadow of the moon' is about the most amazing space thing I've ever seen, well worth a watch as well.

Tomorrow we hit the road again to continue down Hadrians wall towards the east coast.

Just Roman around

2009-06-02T20:15:00.005+01:00

25 miles (40km)

No panniers again - what a treat! And another sunny day, too! (Sadly this is meant to change tomorrow - and the clouds have already started coming in, this afternoon.)

Today we headed west from Haltwhistle. Not quite as hilly as yesterday, which was nice, and we got to ride along the Wall - or the line of the Wall - for a significant chunk of it.

Top of the world?

Our first stop was Lanercost Priory.

There's not a whole of Wall left near this priory, established in the 1160s, but the buildings of the priory have some awfully nice dressed stone - some of which have Latin inscriptions on them.... After the Dissolution, the Priory was turned into a manor by the Dacre family, nicely fortified against the Reivers. The community still uses part of the priory as their community hall, which they think makes it the oldest still in use in the country.

The undercroft

From Lanercost we headed back along the Wall to Birdoswald (beerdOZwld, I discovered, not BEERDozwld, as I had been pronouncing it).

Defenders of the empire

Another Roman fort - this one housed up to 1000 men at one stage, and is a lot less excavated than either of the places we visited yesterday. It too looks a lot more interesting in the sun, rather than in the rain (and, ahem, having gone in through the gates rather than over the fence... it was closed last time we were here). Once again we were trying to figure out which bits have been reconstructed/conserved; it's hard to figure out, in some areas. I'm still trying to figure out how much I care.

As well as the ancient and modern, we also had a dose of the very modern: as we were riding, two jets seemed to be trying out their banking maneuvers directly overhead and in the general vicinity. It was very, very cool watching them.

Finally, we finished the day having a pint at one of the many local pubs in Haltwhistle, at which we discovered that not only are there inter-pub (and inter-town and county) pool and darts competitions, but you can also compete in quoits and dominoes. And leek-growing.

What did the Romans ever do for us?

2009-06-01T19:02:00.003+01:00

We're being rather extravagant and staying in Haltwhistle for FOUR days - outrageous! Chare Close is a delightful b&b as a base for exploring Hadrian's Wall country.

Today we rode a 20 mile loop that took in two Roman forts, bits of the Wall, and a lot of stunning scenery. The ride itself was nice enough - quite hilly, but it's amazing what a difference not having 15kg (Alex) and 25kg (James) on the back makes when you're climbing a steep ascent.

Housestead's was a Roman fort whose northern wall formed part of Hadrian's Wall proper. There's obviously still bits to be excavated, because there are lumps and bumps under the hill with cleared ruins; but the bits that you can see include the commander's house, barracks, a granary and bits of the civilian settlement that grew up around it.

Part of the system enabling underfloor heating

Hadrian's Wall, next to Housestead's

From Housestead's we went to Vindolanda, perhaps the most famous of the sites up here. It was occupied by Roman forces for at least 300 years - there are sections labeled "pre-Hadrianic [blah blah]". Perhaps its most important contribution is that its peculiar soil conditions have allowed enormous amounts of thin wooden sheets that acted as paper to survive - complete with writing: inventories, party invitations, and other mostly mundane ephemera that the British Museum named 'Britain's Top Treasure'. Today, it's an exceptionally well-maintained site (and a lot more interesting in the blazing sun - today - than in the drizzling rain - last time we were here). There's a museum stocked with artifacts from the site (leather shoes, horse armour, glass, and ever so much pottery), and of course the ruins themselves, which cover maybe an acre or more at the moment. Barracks, the commander's house, baths, ovens... lots and lots of buildings that are basically foundations with a bit of wall, giving a tantalising look at the size (small) and shape of this fairly important bit of Roman state security (Hadrian himself is thought to have visited).

Take a bath

Also on site, and exciting me more than James thought entirely reasonable, were Real Live Archaeologists (with volunteers), doing Real Live Archaeology. Which we got to watch for a while. (They must also have a patent on Squeaky Wheelbarrow Wheels.) This got me thinking, however, about exactly what it was we were looking at, at Vindolanda. The archaeologists were excavating a barracks; a little way over there were others who were 'consolidating' a section so it could be opened to the public. How much of Vindolanda (and Housesteads, and the other sites) is actually 'real'? Actually Roman? We take on trust that they're using the 'actual' stones that the Romans used, but it's not clear on site just how much of the walls were found amazingly intact, and how much has been reconstructed to give the public (and historians, I guess) an idea of what life was like in the third or fourth centuries AD for your average Roman soldier on the scary frontier of Britania. Somehow there's a difference between seeing reconstructed pottery in a museum case - which you can see has been reconstructed, because there's cracks - and looking at a wall and assuming or wondering whether the concrete is ancient or very modern. Is it deceitful not to add to their information panels that 'this section has been reconstructed to its present height...'? There's one section of Vindolanda that does have this - it's a re-created mile castle, that you can clamber in and over, to show what it would really have been like...

Speaking of clambering, the other interesting issue I got to thinking about today is the difference in approach towards material stuff. In Aus, people are getting a bit thingy about tourists clambering all over Uluru and eroding it (the issue of whether it should be regarded as sacred is a different issue). Here: please, feel free to climb over our Roman ruins and medieval castles! Interesting.

After Vindolanda, we followed a meandering course over Hadrian's Wall to join the barbarian hordes (mostly sheep and cattle, plus one crazy Royal Mail driver) in Northumberland National Park, then back around and into Haltwhistle. To have a pleasant afternoon here.

A mile castle

Allenheads to Hadrians Wall (Haltwhistle)

2009-06-01T07:20:00.008+01:00

Henry on-top of the world - England's highest road (626m)

Stats achieved yesterday:
Distance - 31 miles (50km)
Land speed record for the trip - 38.5 mph (62km/hr)
Highest Road - 626m on the C2C route
Highest Village - Alston

The last couple of days we've cycled some of the best roads I've seen in my life. Riding across the moors on old railway trails and then single track for many miles across the highest point yesterday was just superb, riding down the rocky descent fully loaded was a touch harder than on a mountain bike though. It finishes with a 5 mile long ~6 % road climb and finally a fast 2 mile descent into Allenheads. Today was more of the same, grinding up twisting mountain climbs to the top of the moors only to fly back down the other-side again on equally twisty roads. Totally fantastic.

The surface up here is good, the views are spectacular. There's something quite nice about getting to somewhere 'bleak' like the moors in England, everywhere else there are walls, sheep, crops, people, farms, lots of roads etc. Up here in the Pennines it thins out a bit and you can loose yourself riding a little more.

After a quick scone for lunch in a cafe, chatting to roadies on their 6kg bikes we jumped back onto our heavy touring bikes and finished up the day to Haltwistle. Another excellent section of recovered railway line - today we get to explore Hadrians wall itself.

Durham, and on to Allenheads

2009-05-31T19:55:00.003+01:00

Well, I enjoyed Durham. We spent the morning walking along the inside loop of the river - which is very pretty, lots of birds - and then went back to the cathedral. As James noted, it doesn't allow photography inside; it's also one of the few big cathedrals that doesn't charge an entrance fee. Connected? It is a delightful church, and I enjoyed wandering around it (despite the WWI and II chapel with the "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" plaque - Wilfred Owen anyone?).

After that, I went to the little Durham archaeology museum, which is cute and focused, thankfully, on Durham; there's evidence of human habitation since at least 7000BC! That's cool. I spent the afternoon reading by the river, which was a delightful way to spend an afternoon off the bike.

After Durham, we hit the C2C (Coast to Coast) route - the most popular bike route in the UK, apparently. It's 140 miles, basically from the Lakes District to Tynemouth. We passed a school group doing it, and a bloke, at about 4pm, who had done it last weekend in three days and was planning on doing it on that one day... he had 60-odd miles to go, at that stage.

If you've read our Twitter, you'll see Henry and Argo (and consequently James and I) had rather different opinions on the day. The first half or so from Durham was fine - steadily uphill, but I can cope with that. Then there was a long-ish section that involved mountain biking skills, which I simply don't have. I walked a fair bit. The most interesting part was getting to a flat bit, with a carpark (because it's a popular walking and cycling area), and chatting to a bloke running a food van up there. He'd spent a number of years working in Algiers, as well as on an oil rig.

The last 1.5 miles or so into Allenheads is all downhill. We all know I'm a chicken-livered coward, so I rode the brakes down (hello deathgrip) - losing the height I gained in 30+ miles of climbing! I felt terribly guilty because I kept passing blokes (and a few women) slogging it up, while I was slowing myself down.

Allenheads is the most dead-end town we've been in so far. We stayed at the inn, and it was chockers with cyclists; people doing the C2C in three days stay in Allenheads on the second night, doing it west to east. It was... adequate. Just. We did chat to a bloke at the next table who had lived in Sunbury, once.

Anyway. 36 miles.

Sunscreen plus all day dirt roads = Alex's Legs

Durham

2009-05-29T20:32:00.002+01:00

Pretty quiet day today. Just wandering the river, cathedral and town. Must confess Durham left me a bit cold, it has its charming parts, old bridges and a few nice buildings but it's mostly generic shops and a castle you can't see (it's student accomidation).

The cathedral is beautiful, but doesn't allow photos which is a big bummer for me. Heaps of carving into the blocks of the columns themselves and so on. I think the thing is I was expecting it to be like York again, but it's really not. Onwards towards Hadrians wall tomorrow.

Finally some of James' photos

2009-05-28T21:54:00.008+01:00

I am a luddite, so my photos take longer to appear here, still good things come to those who ask their friends with access to high speed scanning hardware AND the internet.

I give you - The First Batch

and so to Durham

2009-05-28T20:17:00.008+01:00

Hurrah, Durham!

31 miles (50km)

A fairly average day today. The first few miles were a bit tough, but then eventually we turned out of the wind (HOORAH). We followed the moor, again, for a while...

and then got back to arable country. We also went through quite a nice forest!

We had something of a competition through the forest: James confessed he had a song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks in his head (no idea why). I met this with "Oh it's a lovely day when you're with Maaaaaaaaaaary...". James promptly saw that and raised with "Achey Breaky Heart." I daringly went with "Mmmm Bop" ... ultimately I think we were both losers.

And then, mid-afternoon, we arrived in Durham. We went to Evensong at the cathedral, which was just brilliant.

Had Mexican for dinner (I don't think it was a chain) and now just chilling in our room. Looking forward to seeing more of this delightful town tomorrow - especially if the weather stays as good as it was today, which was lovely.

Also, yesterday we passed the 500km mark.

Barnard Castle

2009-05-28T16:19:00.001+01:00

15 miles (24km)

A short little day today, still windy, oh and raining again. But only a few hours cycling after a lazy breakfast and that included a stop to look at an abby ruin along the way.

Barnard Castle itself is quiet big but really only the outer wall remains, a large part of the inside is taken up with a sensory garden, which is pretty but seems out of place. The town is a classic market town, which these days means a few interesting stores and one of each of the standard set of 30 odd chain stores. 'Thomas the Baker', 'Cooplands','Greggs','Slug and Lettuce', etc etc etc. It's probably ment to feel all authentic, but only the truly unobservant wouldn't notice the sameness which has descended onto these once interesting town centers.

Treat today ? (apart from too much Indian for dinner ...) our host insisted on doing our washing, hanging it out and then bringing it up to our room once it was done.

Head winds are Le Suck

2009-05-26T17:54:00.004+01:00

46 miles (74km, my friends)

Today we headed further inland, basically due west.

Today, the wind was heading basically due east.

Perhaps the only thing worse than a headwind when you are trying to climb a hill is a crosswind when you are trying to descend a hill, that seems determined to push you over into the traffic.

We managed to leave Castleton quite early; the first 8 or so miles were along the edge of the great nothingness that is the moors.

There was a lot of wind, blowing right into our faces.

Eventually, we got into more farming-type country; still with the undulating hills, still with the insane headwind. We had an occasion of Fail in Hutton Rudby; two people, at different places, misunderstanding or not complying with a request for cash out from their shop did not make James a happy man. And he was already rather peeved at the wind.

Luncheon was taken in some grass on the side of the road. We crossed the river Tees; we crossed the A1 (over a bridge); we got to our Farm Stay B&B - Lucy Cross Farm - about to expire. As well as having been built in 1763 (there's a sign on the stairs, "duck or grouse", because the ceilings are quite low), the hostess offers a three course meal for £15 a head - which is good, because there's nothing else around and I have absolutely no inclination to go out tonight anyway.

Thing is, after starting out with rather forbidding-looking clouds, the day turned delightful - blue sky, fluffy clouds, etc. But the wind! The wind made this perhaps the worst day for cycling yet. I would almost have preferred rain.

Also, we passed 300 miles today, for a fortnight's riding.

Two open letters

2009-05-26T16:44:00.004+01:00

Dear people in charge of UK roads

Today I rode along the edge of Kilburn Moor. In the space of a mile or so, I went down a 16% gradient - and then immediately went back up, also at 16%.

Take my advice: get out your nice earth-moving equipment, chop the top off some of the hills on the moor- trust me, no one will notice- and Fill In the Damn Valley.

Sincerely Alex and her aching quads

Dear walkers on the Whitby-Scarborough trail on the bank holiday weekend

Hiya! Wasn't it amazing weather on the weekend? And the trail is really quite awesome too, isn't it? It was great to see you out enjoying the sun and listening to the birds and even spending time with family.

One thing I would like to say, though. If I have politely called out to let you know I am coming- and which side I'm on, even- please do not a) continue to walk four abreast, completely blocking my path, or b) suddenly change the side of the path you are on.

I have more momentum, more determination, and more bloody-mindedness than you. I will win.

(Except perhaps for you, sirs, the morbidly obese gentlemen. You I may just bounce off.)

Best wishes,
Alex and 30+kg of bike

Whitby to Castleton

2009-05-26T16:28:00.002+01:00

19 miles (31km)

After leaving town and re-crossing the spectacular viaduct style railway bridge at the entrance to Whitby we turned onto a quiet country lane and headed inland again. The short trip to Castleton should have been easy, except for the UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN gradients the roads followed. It seemed like when we were not racing down 15 to 25% gradients we were crawling or pushing back up them. The sections across the top of the moors were quite special though, it's a bleak landscape mostly full of shaggy highland sheep and clumpy brown grass; there really isn't an equivalent in Australia.

We stopped in at the Moors National Park Center at Dalby where we had the most spectacular lunch (sandwiches and plowman's plate) in the sun before lying on the grass and watching the clouds float by, reading and listening to some music. Then the clouds started to threaten, reality beckoned and we moved on.

We pushed on the final few miles to Castleton and are settled in to our little B&B now for the night. It's an unusual place, shower in the basement through the conservatory, split level room (1st and 2nd floors) and perhaps 7ft ceilings through the whole place. A quiet lentil dinner in front of the world's tiniest TV.

No internet or phone here, so this post is coming to you via our delayed telecast service.

Cloughton to Whitby

2009-05-24T20:19:00.007+01:00

18 miles (29km)

James and Henry on the trail

Imagine you were a visitor to Australia and didn't know what January 26 was about. Now imagine Jan 26 was a Monday, and there had been crappy weather for a week or so, and Jan 25 happens to be an absolute ripper. Now decide, as that visitor, that you might visit Lorne. Or Bondi.

Welcome to our day.

Turns out tomorrow is a bank holiday here in the UK. Today was absolutely glorious: barely a cloud in the sky, temperatures probably in the high teens... and we're on the coast. Specifically, today we've ended up in Whitby, home of the (fairly) famous abbey - where the synod was held that reconciled Celtic with Roman tradition, and decided when Easter should be celebrated in Britain.

After visiting the Abbey (climbing 199 steps to get there, and 199 steps to get back down), we spent the rest of the day wandering around Whitby with the other bazillion tourists - up and down the harbour; past the Captain Cook memorial and the 40% original size Endeavour; past (and, to placate James, through) the various amusement parlours (which seemed to consist largely of pokies or equivalent); through shambly old streets; and having fish and chips and ice cream.

We have once again done well with accommodation; we're basically on the foreshore, and right up the top of the house.

This is the view from our window (with and without James attempting to dive out).

Rohloff Gear Hubs

2009-05-24T14:50:00.008+01:00

Anyone who isn't a bike head should just move quietly along to the next post...

Gears after some muddy Fun

One of the most interesting part of our touring bikes are the Rohloff gears we put on them. 14 Speed internal gearboxes, rather than a normal set of mountain bike chain ring, cassette and shifters.

There are a couple of really nice things about it:

- Except for a few ratios it's very quiet.
- It copes very well with mud, grit, sticks and other things; the only thing we do is stick a bit of chain lube on our chains every now and again. It doesn't make any grating and grinding noises when shifting like normal gears do with muck on them.
- The range of gears is very wide, as wide as the highest and lowest gears on a standard mountain bike setup, and ours are actually setup just slightly lower than normal.
- You can shift when the bike isn't moving, which is surpassingly nice once you get used to it especially with a touring load.

The only negative (apart from price) is it moves the center of gravity of the bike back a touch, on a mountain bike jumping over logs you might notice, but on a touring bike with 20kg of stuff on the rear rack, it's hardly an issue.

The gearbox starts out slightly rough and noisy when brand new, but now both of ours have done 1000km+ they have really quietened down. They only maintenance they get is an oil change every 10,000km and a new sprocket as they wear out, even that's reversible. Those crazy germans they think of everything.

A nerds eye view

Pickering to Cloughton

2009-05-24T08:30:00.002+01:00

34 miles (55km)

Scarborough Castle

James says:

After skipping yet another 'full english' breakfast (is it any wonder half the people here are enormous ?) we bid our jolly hosts farewell and rolled out. Through Pickering and then out onto country lanes quickly joining a beautiful bridle way, up along a river most of the way up to a mountain bike park on the edge of the moor. From there I watched somewhat forlornly as hundreds of mountain bikers bounced down purpose built and graded single track all across the hillside. We however do not have mountain bikes, even if sometimes it seems like it, so up fire road the hill we span past huffing and puffing english folks who did not have a full touring kit on their bike.

The climb up to the top of the moors was long but even and eventually we were floating our way back down the other side. A bit of a cross country slog along a muddy track lead to a very steep bitumen descent down a narrow lane cheated us out of most of the fun of enjoying our descent, then we rode through the most beautiful wet forest before coming into Scabrough itself (Henry says it was the 100 acre wood). A quick trip to the castle which was in the middle of World War II, a fly over from an original WWII paradrop plane and then the final leg up to Cloughtown where we're staying tonight.

After riding mostly off road today, tomorrow should be an easy spin up to Whitby along the coast before we tackle the north side of the moors on Monday.

Today it didn't rain.

Scarborough Foreshore (complete with bathing boxes)

Alex says:

After skipping yet another 'full english' breakfast (is it any wonder half the people here are enormous?) we bid our jolly hosts farewell and rolled out, through Pickering and then out onto country lanes. These quickly joined a gate-infested bridle way full of puddles, up along a river most of the way up to a mountain bike park on the edge of the moor. We watched dozens of mountain bikers do their thing, occasionally passing us - I got immense satisfaction in passing them on the longer ascents. It did involve a lot of huffing and puffing.

The climb up to the top of the moors was long but even and eventually we were death-gripping our way back down the other side. A nasty cross country slog along a boggy track led to a very steep bitumen descent down a narrow lane: losing all my precious, hard-won altitude in one long descent that was too steep for me to properly enjoy the free-wheeling. Then we rode through a wet forest along a track that was, for reasons completely opaque to me, largely paved with bricks at all bizarre angles (which was not, to James' disappointment, a Roman road). Finally we came into Scarborough itself; it was nice to see the sea again, and they have a spectacular coastline. We took a quick trip to the castle (not much left of it), which was in the middle of World War II; the most exciting bit was a fly over from an original WWII Dakota. The final leg was to Cloughton, to a pub where we're staying tonight.

After riding mostly off road today, tomorrow should be an easier spin up to Whitby along the coast before we tackle the north side of the moors on Monday.

Today it didn't rain.

Dirty Argo

Pickering and the NYMR

2009-05-22T16:56:00.005+01:00

Today we only rode a few miles (6 miles - 10 km) into town, but from there we caught a TRAIN across the moors.

Specifically the North York Moors Railway which is an incredible working museum railway running from Pickering to Whitby. They also welcome bikes, which is kind of annoying because we could have planned to do this little stretch on stream train, oh well. I think the highlight was the little station at Goathland (in the photo above, with our train coming in), lets ignore the fact that the town was used for Heartbeat and focus on the fact it was also in Harry Potter at the station for Hogsmeade, it was apparently used essentially as is, which isn't hard to imagine. The whole experience, staff, trains, stations and the scenery were all very enjoyable and very impressive. Imagine if we'd gone on a day when they run the A4 engines (Mallard's Class), I might have just ridden up and down all day.

Byland Abbey to Pickering

2009-05-21T17:00:00.000+01:00

24 Miles (39km)

Perhaps one of the quietest and more uneventful days we've had yet; apart from the constant sun, rain, sun, rain and then sun cycle we rode through. The roads were easy, fairly quiet and easy to navigate. That was mostly thanks to having a real Ordinance Survey maps (1:25,000), rather than the sometimes vague 1:100,000 Sustrans National Cycle Network maps. If it was even vaguely feasible it would be much nicer to navigate with the ordinance maps, I wonder how many we would need? At 1:25,000 it takes about 450 maps to cover the whole country, 1:50,000 would be ok for touring as long as it showed every road. I might have to check out more maps next time we are in a big town. I have a bit of a thing for maps.

We've arrived early to our farmhouse accom today, there is a massive telly on the wall and a good collection of DVDs, I think we might just hide out here for the rest of the day and then go exploring on the moors tomorrow.

PUSH-biking around the UK

2009-05-20T18:30:00.000+01:00

27 miles (43.5km)

We thought the Beech House in York was awesome - and it was - but the Abbey Inn is something else. Such breakfast! We're staying here two nights because there are a few places in the vicinity we want to visit; it will be hard indeed to leave.

Today consisted of 'adventures'. After visiting Ampleforth to divest ourselves of some... extraneous... items (including the sneakers!), sending them back to Sheffield because Liz was, of course, correct about us having too much stuff, we headed to the moors. The first aim was Sutton Bank, home of the North York Moors National Park Centre. Getting there involved going up a 16% gradient; this, I could not manage - and even James pushed his bike up some of it. The Centre was somewhat anticlimactic, but the view was quite impressive. It's at 981 feet above sea level; we had climbed most of that getting there...

From Sutton Bank, on to Rievaulx Abbey, and very impressive it is too. Dissolved of course in the 1530s by Henry VIII, there are still some impressive sections left standing. And the setting is beautiful. As it started to rain, we headed off to Helmseley, to see their castle.

It really doesn't look like much from below, but there are some interesting walls and chambers left to see.

This is where the day got interesting. Rather than following an A road home, we went back to Rievaulx and then picked up a bridleway, to go over the North York Moor - basically to see what was there, and take a shortcut. Armed with an Ordnance Survey map and James' indomitable sense of direction, we headed off... We took just two wrong turns, neither for very long. It looks like this particular track hasn't been used in many months, because in some sections there *is* no track: we had to line ourselves up between the gates. Particularly through several fields full of sheep. In the rain.

It stopped raining as we went through the next section, a forest north of Wass; which was good, because the last section of road involved a descent including a 14% gradient and a 1:6 gradient. It also had little streams of water running across it, and some sections of gravel. Earlier in the day I had nearly broken my hands gripping the brakes going down a very steep section between Rievaulx and Helmseley; it hadn't helped that a jet flew over at the same time, creating a sonic boom (first time I've heard one). Unbelievably, I also managed this descent, although with thumping heart and a deathgrip on the brakes again.

We got back to Byland in time to see the Abbey - and it too is way more impressive than it looks from the outside.

They have, apparently, the most significant collection of floor tiles still in situ of any abbey (in Britain? Europe? can't remember).

Ending the day in the restaurant here at the Inn seemed an appropriate complement to a 28 mile 'rest day'.

Coda: having seen many, been stalked by one amongst the sheep, and got close enough to take one's picture, unfortunately I have to admit that I will not be achieving one of my stated aims for this trip: I do not believe I will be eating pheasant at any time in the near future.

York to Byland Abbey

2009-05-19T17:00:00.000+01:00

28.5 miles (46km)

Leaving York behind was slightly sad but we'd really seen all we wanted to see and we were due up the road today. We rolled out of town into the sun, and then stopped again. Time to oil our chains and pump up the tires a bit. After a that little false start we rolled on again, out along the river and onto a series of country lanes. There's not much to say really: 20 miles of pleasant rolling lanes and villages and we ended up in Easingwold. Lunch - 2 min noodles and some 'stolen' B&B biscuits. Then it started to rain a bit, we huffed and puffed up 'hills' for the next 6 or 7 miles into Coxwold. Then it rained a lot. We faffed about looking for a post office which didn't exist and then rolled out to the Abbey Inn where we're staying for a few days.

This place is plush! The Abbey ruins are across the road; we can see part of them out the window. If the sun comes out later we might even get some decent photos of them.

Update: The sun came out but photos on this internet connection would be dreaming. We've also had spectacular thunderstorms so we had to time our walk to the Wass pub quite carefully tonight. Pasta and sauce cooked on the stairs seems a little at odds with our very nice room here but ya gotta save money somewhere !

Yorkshire Museum

2009-05-19T07:52:00.004+01:00

The Yorkshire Museum is, coincidentally, in the Museum Gardens. The Gardens are a wonderful place just inside the walls of York: there's a possibly Tudor house that's now available for wedding receptions etc; the ruins of St Mary's Abbey; a bit of an old Roman tower; and lots of lovely gardens, beautifully landscaped, complete with squirrels (and nasty fat pigeons).

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the Museum itself. Having paid my five quid, I wandered around an exhibit on how to date stuff; then through rooms of Roman, Saxon, Viking and medieval artifacts. I think my main problem is that I expect or hope to learn something new in places like this; but they're not designed with historians in mind, they're designed for the general public (which is probably how it should be). I have to change my attitude and expectations, I think! Aside from the info panels, there were some pretty cool objects, most of them found in and around York itself (although why they also included replicas of stuff from Pompeii and elsewhere is beyond me). My main issue here was that the displays were quite poor: it was frequently impossible to figure out which description went with which object, and some objects had no information at all. Anyway - whinge whinge - I still walked around for 45 minutes or so; possibly the most interesting bit overall was the little snippet of video they played explaining that the museum had got in local tradies etc to look at Roman artifacts to figure out how they would have worked: butchers, builders, hairdressers - all helping archaeologists and historians understand the objects better.

New shoes: old shoes
Waterproof: not so much

The other thing I've done in York is buy new shoes. After riding with mobile puddles (aka sneakers), it dawned on me that my choice of footwear - which occasioned serious angst before leaving - had been flawed. So now I have to decide whether to keep the sneakers - will we go running on days we're not riding? - or send them home. Stay tuned to discover the resolution of this captivating dilemma...

York Minster and the Trains

2009-05-19T07:18:00.004+01:00

200ft to the top.

Almost 600ft long.

The first thing that strikes you walking into the Minster is just how big it is, the size of the stone columns which hold the roof up, the arches upon arches upon arches down the length of the main axis of the cross. Then you start to notice the little things, each block is hard carved, most of them have details; and that's just the physical structure. Around the stone pillars are endless plaques, chapels and graves. All this is wrapped around a busy working city church, it really is quite something to see.

After we'd had our fill at the Minster, I took Alex to the Museum (and left her there) while I snuck off for another look at the trains. I'll have lots of photos to show from there in a few weeks when they get processed and then wing their way back to Australia and finally make it to the internet so I'll post all about that later.

The rest of the day was taken up with chores, staring at maps, planning the next little leg of our trip (there seems to be alot of looking at maps). We walked around the best section of the wall again and then ducked into a slightly strange little pub for dinner. Coal fire, gas lamps for lighting and a view straight out the window up to the western towers of the minster. I'm sad to report that pubs here sell 'beef casserole with a bit of pastry floating on top in a mini pot' as a 'pie'. The Tim Taylor made up for it.

I like the old York better than the new York

2009-05-17T15:18:00.006+01:00

Ah, York. Once a Roman settlement; taken over by Saxons; made more famous as a Viking settlement called Jorvik (for a long time England, particularly in the north, was much more Scandinavia-oriented than Continent-oriented): it was one of our favourite places to be last time, and we're enjoying it again this time.

Yesterday we visited the National Rail Museum; James was happy to see the Mallard (officially the holder of the speed record for steam traction - perhaps because to break the record, American engines would have to break the speed limit, and they wouldn't do that.... He was, however, devastated that the Flying Scotsman was undergoing repairs, and so was all in pieces! For the afternoon, we walked the Shambles, an endlessly entertaining area of shops and windy cobble-stoned streets.

Today, we walked the walls: York has some of the best preserved medieval walls in the entirety of Great Britain. You can walk on top of a huge chunk, and there are a couple of little museums in some of the original towers (including the Richard III museum, where you can vote for who you think done in the Princes in the Tower! Today, Richard was leading was 34%).

We also walked through the Museum gardens; we'll visit the Yorkshire Museum tomorrow, but for today we visited the ruins of a monastery, closed by Henry VIII in the Dissolution of the 1530s, in his bid to get money and land from the church - er, in his bid to reform corrupt and outmoded aspects of the church....

As a slight detour, we went to Clifford's Tower, and used our English Heritage cards for the first time to get in for free - hurrah! It's not that impressive any more, compared to other castles; there used to be a lot more of it but it's all gone and buried, largely under a carpark. It's perhaps most well known for being the site where, in the 1150s, a group of 150 or so Jews took refuge and then took their own lives rather than be killed by the Christian rabble outside. Grim times.

Sometimes I wish my feet were smaller...

Other than that, today we have walked the Shambles again; we're about to go to York Minster for Evensong.

Selby to York

2009-05-16T12:55:00.007+01:00

20 miles (32km) and it was almost sunny some of the time.

Today marks some what a milestone for us, as we rode along the river and through the gates of the walls around York we'd arrived back somewhere we've both been itching to be again since last time a few years ago in winter. It's also been something to look forward to during the last 10 or so hours we rode in the rain and now we're here having ridden off the end of our first map (~15 odd to go). The sun also came out for about 2min while Alex took this photo in a little village along the way.

We left the hotel in Selby pretty early, skipping their not included breakfast to go into the town center of Selby itself. It was cold, and then it started raining, at least we were still following the pretty canal into town. A quick trip to the bakery and then we popped into Selby Abbey, amazingly big and ornate for such a small town church and also inspiring to look at a building 800+ years old. We hit the trail again and after going through a little satellite village we were onto the main reclaimed railway route to York. 15 miles, almost perfectly straight and all bitumen.

We were also traveling in through the solar system. Pluto is about 15 miles out from York and an 2m diameter sun hangs above the end of the trail. There are also quite a few cool artifacts like this Cassini Probe.

The last 3 miles into York itself follows the river through parks and the walls of the old city. A quick right, left, left and then another right and we're at the one of the nicest places I think we've ever stayed in our lives. (Score one for Alex and one for www.tripadvisor.com) The bikes safely tucked away around the back in a shed, locked to each other, locked behind a door and locked behind a gate, so they should be a bit happier about that than last night.

Next stop, the Railway Museum and 2 days of wandering the walls, abbey and the shambles... Toot Toot.

Day two

2009-05-15T17:28:00.003+01:00

I started the day with something of an anxiety attack: nausea, and generally feeling rather icky. I know that's what it was, because it's happened to me once before, on the second day of our trial trip to Daylesford. It was odd, happening today; I knew the trip to Selby was going to be basically flat, and what worried me last time was the hills. Anyway; I could barely choke down cornflakes and toast, which was an utter tragedy since I could have had French toast with berry compote! Talking to my mum briefly helped a little; then, as soon as we were outside on the bikes, I felt just fine. Being out of our sauna-like room probably also contributed.

A long day, but overall quite good; saw a nuclear power station and a squirrel, and heard a cuckoo! (It's the small things...) Also, Maggi noodles have never tasted as good as they did in that bus shelter.

Generic motel room in Selby tonight; very much looking forward to seeing York tomorrow. And Pluto along the way, as long as some bugger hasn't knocked it over.

Doncaster to Selby

2009-05-15T17:01:00.004+01:00

Today we moved for 4 hours and 43 min at a flying average speed of 9.1 mph (14.6 km/hr) to rack up a startling 44 miles (71km). At least the average is 2 miles better than yesterday.

After a few miles winding our way back through the streets of Doncaster in heavy rain we rejoined NCN62 towards York, mercifully skipping the 2 flights of stairs I carried everything up in the rain last night. It turns out my father is right and it really does just rain in this country all the time. It didn't let up all day from when we left to when we arrived in Selby. Apart from wet feet we survived it just fine in our trend setting jackets. Not too many pictures today though, mostly it was just too damn wet.

The first main section of train follows disused railway lines which are flat, well graveled and completely flooded when it rains; so our shoe covers did a great job for about 5 miles and then after that it was pretty much a squish-a-thon. Next we took a little 'detour' down the Greenland way, which is very pretty, very smooth, very fast, and also about 6 or 7 miles out of our way ... oops back we go. Once we picked up the trail again we rode through the center of Barnsley and then back out into farm land. I think the next section was the highlight of today for me, we wove our way through farmers lanes, bridle ways and dirt tracks through classic middle english farms full of cows, sheep, lambs and quite a bit of canola. Following these National Cycling Network routes might not be direct, or even very fast sometimes - but it's very pretty and also quite safe. The driving of the British off the motor-ways and A roads can only be described as incredibly polite.

Lunch in a bus stop (Yes dad, still raining), and then back onto the farmyard trails.

Apart from a few mile section along side a canal, the rest of the trip followed quiet country roads with the odd small town to break up the monotony. In Australia we think mudguards are kinda dorky, over here it's hard to imagine riding without them. For the bike nerds, it's also kinda hard to imagine riding a road bike here at all, the road quality is terrible, the only vaguely well kept roads have masses of traffic and no shoulder. Anyway on our tractor bikes, with their full length mudguards, there are worse things to do than spend a day splashing about in the rain.

Henry can jump puddles

Tomorrow: A shorter day with the trip to York, apparently there is a whole solar system on the trail.

That's what tiredness gets you

2009-05-15T06:54:00.001+01:00

... an incomplete blog post.

Do you like my red jacket, in the last post? I don't mind it. It's a bit long in the arms, though. And it's not as good as *my* red jacket, which fits quite well and is hanging nice and dry in my wardrobe in Melbourne. Turns out I packed James' red jacket.

James pointed out yesterday that if it was easy, what would we blog about? That was after the discovery about the jacket, and as we realised that we'd managed to pack two panniers meant for the same side, so we had to adjust two of them.

Oh yes, a barrel of laughs.

Our room here was so hot last night we barely needed the sheet. In fact, we opened the window.

It's been raining for an hour or so already, the rain radar looks bleak and it's 6.50am.

Sheffield to Doncaster

2009-05-14T21:24:00.006+01:00

38.2 miles - 62 km along NCN 6, 67 and 62. About eight hours, including lunch, stopping for gates, getting a little lost, reading maps, and the occasional trailmix break.

Leaving Sheffield was fiddly; the route wasn't especially well signed and it also started raining at one point. It took us a good hour or so to get out of the town itself and onto the National Cycling Network (NCN) to head north and then east to Doncaster.

Eventually, we got on the Trans Pennine Trail. Much of it was offroad, and most of that was along a series of canals - which was nice, because it was largely flat. However, the surface was quite mixed; there was a lot of gravel, and some sections were quite bumpy.

Lunch - tomato soup and pitta breads, courtesy of our fabulous MSR Reactor - was on the trail.

The last hour and a half was raining pretty hard. We were quite a sight when we arrived at our hotel: shorts soaked, shins and calves damaged from pedals, and mud up our legs too. They've let us leave the bikes in a corridor downstairs, which was unexpected but good - hopefully the handlebars will dry out!

Our cheap and cheerful room is full of soggy clothes and the smell of the dinner James made on the window sill; we're a bit exhausted now.

The best things in life are free

2009-05-12T18:32:00.005+01:00

Today's outing was to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, paid parking £4, but free entry and someone else passed us their parking ticket as they drove out so free. Anyway it's a huge manor with gardens and fields full of all manor of sculptures, works range from a 15 year old refugees first works through to a few Andy Goldsworthys.

Perhaps the most spectacular was this 'deer shelter' - A room with a light lock, and a simple hole in the roof, sloping walls and the feeling of having been transformed to another world where time, space and perception were all slowed down somehow ? From the outside there is no suggestion of a chamber even, and yet once you get inside it's rather like being in the tardis.

We only saw a fraction of the place and hope to go back later in the year.

Henry and the Argo go Forth (Almost)

2009-05-12T09:28:00.003+01:00

Well, they got out of town anyway. It did seem a bit folly to head off around the country without at-least one local ride to make sure everything was back together straight so we rode out the back gate and followed the signs to the Peaks District.

Tried to follow would be more like it, I think we rode along more trails that were marked "No Cycling" than not on the way out. But once we got the hang of their systems of foot paths, bridal ways and signs for everything (the british have LOTS of signs, I can see why James May likes it here) we were on our way. The trip home was a bit more fun, a nice rough descent (not Alex's favorite) and downhill all the way.

... on the other hand, maybe we'll just stay here

2009-05-11T08:48:00.013+01:00

For four nights, we're staying with James' relatives in Sheffield. This is their house.

Their cellar is half the size of our house. Ground floor is kitchen, dining and living rooms; the first floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom (our room has an en-suite as well); and the attic has two more bedrooms. And another bathroom.

This is the view from the kitchen window...

... and this is the garden itself.

See the greenhouse? Lovely and warm in there; tomatoes growing. Also the summerhouse, which is lovely too. Martin spends a lot of time on his garden, as you can see. And that green stuff? That, my Aussie friends, is real lush grass.

I like it here. Maybe we'll just hide in the attic for a few months.

Also, I saw a squirrel.

Getting Online

2009-05-10T03:55:00.002+01:00

Land in Manchester, jump on a train, jump in a car and jump into a shower. What's the next priority for these some what weary travelers ?

1) Getting online.
2) Getting a cask beer.

A quick bus ride in to the center of sheffield and I'm struck immediately by a couple of things (it's about 8 or 9 degrees and sunny). Firstly, everyone here walks SO slowly, getting around the center of town is like sliding through molasses, perhaps I just walk fast ? The second thing is, why oh why girls do you think that tiny denim hot pants are a good idea ? It's not like they are flattering on your white, slightly fat and dimpled british legs and it's bloody cold out ! I'm sure all the blokes in their 'trainers' and baggy tracksuits (the young male uniform here) were impressed though.

Mission 1 - Get Online: A quick trip to the O2 store, 2 local mobile sims, one local mobile broadband card and we're done. Their rates over here wipe the floor with what we get in AU. 3GB per month for £15 on the 3G stick and £10 per month for unlimited internet on our phones. The only annoyance I've discovered so far is their online top up site doesn't take VISA cards with foreign addresses. Have to try the call up service.

Mission 2 - Get 'real' Beer: Abbots Ale, only in a chain Green King pub but it really is the way beer is ment to be. A stella later in the day with Pizza really didn't compare.

Eating and viewing my way to Manchester

2009-05-09T08:37:00.002+01:00

Singapore Airlines has the greatest food in the air business, in my vast experience, and I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed every single meal on this trip. (That bit of chilli I accidentally ate and burnt my mouth so badly I downed a water and two things of milk in 30 secs notwithstanding.) Went the Asian option each time; probably the highlight was the pork dumplings and noodles for breakfast. The chocolate Cornetto was also a treat..

Don't know what people did before on-demand entertainment on long haul flights. Madagascar 1&2 and Top Gear saved my sanity. Defiance was also excellent.

At any rate, it's now early in the morning (not late afternoon, stupid body!) and we're waiting to catch the train the Sheffield, where family will pick us up. Hello, UK.

2 Bikes - 85.6 KG and a Smile

2009-05-08T05:43:00.001+01:00

Apart from waiting to see what state our bikes arrive in, one of the more stressful parts of this little journey to get to the UK is done. We're kicking back now in the departure lounge watching planes take off (which never gets old) waiting the two hours before our flight leaves.

The luggage allowance for our tickets is 54kg between us including bulging carry on, the luggage we arrived at the desk with was 85.6kg ... There was always going to be a problem with that equation. Add a confident smile and a gentle reminder to the helpful gal behind the desk that there were special rules for bikes with SQ, plus her some what clumsy understanding of mathematics and we're checked right through to Manchester for a mere 6kg of excess. Her boss was also super helpful supporting my assertion and yet hastily wandering off without really explaining the rules at all. Eventually our bikes were taken off as specific fragile items with a promise they should arrive some what less smashed than if they went down the main chute. I guess we'll find out in about 24 hours.

As she was tagging our bags, I made some joke about baggage handlers, using the feet and the fragile stickers (which peeled off the nylon almost immediately)... Our 6kg gal cheerfully informed me that handlers are basically a thing of the past and the automatic machines don't take any notice of the fragile tags. Or anything else much I guess.

I'll post later about the essential list of items that sees us traveling with quite so much weight, but suffice to say for now we're on our way to Singapore and then through to Manchester to see what state our babies (@henryandtheargo) arrive in.

Twitter

2009-05-08T05:41:00.003+01:00

Beyond the blog, for the truly obsessed, we have 3 twitter accounts.

Me - @jamespierce
Alex - @random_alex
Henry and the Argo - @henryandtheargo

Five sleeps to go. Some changes.

2009-05-03T05:24:00.005+01:00

The changes? We are no longer going to be camping. Which is why, in this picture, you see just four panniers (plus handle bar bags and a rack suitcase), rather than eight panniers - the other four would have had sleeping bags and lots of cooking stuff. And the tent would have gone on the back of one of our bikes, in its own nice little bag. Now James is feeling as if we are not taking *enough* stuff... but I'm sure he'll get over it. Especially once we add some food to the fourth, currently empty, pannier.

We've got 1.6kg of maps; 40 rolls of film (should last oh, half the trip?); and I have yet to decide which books to take. (With a bit of extra space, I now get to think more seriously about how *many* to take for the first part of the trip.)

We will stay in Sheffield with wonderful relatives for five nights, to start off - get over jetlag, shop for food, etc - and then we head towards York. We have accommodation booked up to May 20 at this stage.

Apparently this is real.