I was here in the Isle of Man to cycle its End to End – a modest few dozen miles that, frankly, you could do without stopping – with my friend Nigel. We came from Belfast by ferry having just completed the Northern Ireland End to End, a comparative ultra-marathon at 193 miles. The Isle…
Author: Rob Ainsley
N Ireland 4: Ballycastle to Giant’s Causeway (to Derry)
A short hop into headwind and drizzle to the notional end of the End to End: Giant’s Causeway. The natural wonder consists of 40,000 hexagonal columns of basalt – the same sort of volcanic stuff the moon is made of – looking like a giant’s clumsily-laid garden patio. Visiting by bike isn’t all that convenient…
N Ireland 3: Straid to Ballycastle
Yet more tailwinds helping us on to Larne, where a shouty, belligerent local was furious that we didn’t follow his unsolicited directions. It was the last unpleasant thing of the day, though: from here is one of the loveliest stretches of coastal road in the United Kingdom that Mr Shouty was so keen on belonging…
N Ireland 2: Portaferry to Straid
We circumnavigated the bottom of scenic Ards peninsula, and north through shore towns with Union Flags and kerbstones painted red, white and blue. We took and coffee and light lunch in Newtownards, a friendly little loyalist town, with its pipe band braying away benignly in the market-stall square. A local chap admired my Raleigh. ‘Made…
N Ireland 1: (Dundalk to) Cranfield Point to Portaferry
Whatever your position on its relation to Great Britain or Ireland, and whether you call it a country or a region or a province, Northern Ireland has its own football team, which is enough to justify it for me as a standalone End to End country. I did it with my chum Nigel, on a…
Britain 21: Melvich to John o’Groats
From Melvich I passed Dounreay, site of the famous fast breeder (picture). Obviously, I wore a radiation suit for cycling. After all, can’t do any harm, and cycling is DANGEROUS, and the fact that the suit split after I passed the reactor PROVES IT SAVED MY LIFE. I think radiation suits for cyclists should be…
Britain 20: Lairg to Melvich
A wonderful day of cycling experiences, stories, and pleasant encounters – plus a panic with a happy ending. The A836 north from Lairg (picture) is a great cycling experience: narrow tarmac, gentle gradients if any, little traffic, and going 20 miles across scenic uninhabited landscape. It’s more like a Sustrans railtrail than an A road….
Britain 19: Drumnadrochit to Lairg
After the scenic overload of the previous two days, today was consolidation: drizzly and grey progress, over brooding moorlands and along plains. There were two spectacular sights to thrill the heart though. The first was the semi-panorama over Dornoch Firth before the final descent to Bonar Bridge (picture); the second, the line-up of marked-down sandwiches…
Britain 18: Glencoe to Drumnadrochit
A day of perfect weather and endlessly wonderful scenery along the Great Glen, starting with Loch Linnhe (picture). It was like cycling through a Highland Views Calendar stuck on early summer. All very well, but stopping every five minutes to take another photo plays havoc with your schedule. After a stop in Fort William Wetherspoons…
Britain 17: Loch Lomond to Glencoe
A day of sun and jaw-dropping scenery, which will be further concern to my NHS dentist back in York. It started with a beautiful cloudless dawn over my wildcamp on the shores of Loch Lomond (picture). The only sound was the mallards gang-mating, which made me think the jet-skiers weren’t so bad after all. There’s…