A bad, testing, but ultimately not unrewarding, day. I had my brake blocks replaced at Rhayader’s local bike shop and, to the ripping-off sound of velcro the size of a tablecloth, was rushed £22. I set off back into the rain……and it rained and rained and rained all day, non stop, a wall of water,…
Category: End to Ends
Wales 2: Merthyr Tydfil to Rhayader
I was off by 7.45am into a miserable, nagging, repetitive drizzle. It was like a failing marriage. A convoluted series of paths, roads; a few good runs on cinder railtrails; grimy backdrops of misted hills; more drab housing… a world of grey and drained green. Eventually I came out at Ponsticill, the reservoir, ringed by…
Wales 1: Cardiff to Merthyr Tydfil
Not great weather. The air was softly textured with drizzle, so fine it enveloped me like a hangover. Though I also had a hangover, the product of a convivial stay in Bath last night, which enveloped me like drizzle. It wasn’t cold, or warm, or dry, or humid. But it was grey. Cardiff looked grim;…
Britain 22: John o’Groats to Thurso
With my End to End completed I enjoyed a smug breakfast, and a morning of leisure writing smug postcards, followed by a smug lunch, in the John o’Groats House Hotel. I amused myself watching the trickle of arrivals at the fingerpost from the comfort of my warm dry table – it was cold, drizzly and…
Britain 21: Helmsdale to John o’Groats
Today was the day I finished the End to End. Yesterday’s sunshine was too good to last, and today was another long slog into a chilly headwind with grey, blank, Tupperware skies. Riding up and down the Ord of Caithness (pic) felt like tracing a sine wave. I stopped at a farm, run by a…
Britain 20: Invergordon to Helmsdale
A frustrating morning of cooling my heels, twiddling my thumbs, tapping my toes and drumming my fingers. I’d given my bike to a monosyllabic mechanic who took all morning to fix my noisy bearings. He certainly made a difference. I set off impatient at noon and found to my fury that the cracking noise they’d…
Britain 19: Aviemore to Invergordon
A dreary morning haul through yet more freezing cold rain and gusty winds. I was getting fed up of this. At Carrbridge I didn’t cycle over Carr Bridge (pic). I did however cycle up and over Slochd Summit, not that I could tell in the thick cloud and mist. At Tomatin (you say Tomartin, I…
Britain 18: Pitlochry to Aviemore
Another dull, wet day of hard going into headwinds and rain. Just out of Pitlochry I dropped in on Blair Castle (pic), whose grounds were free to cyclists. They must be quite proud of young Tony. For the rest of the day, the A9 was my companion. The sort of companion you don’t really want….
Britain 17: Dunfermline to Pitlochry
Another day of horrible weather: driving rain, headwinds, and no scenery to speak of, or see. So bad, in fact, that I took no photos all day, as my camera wasn’t rated for underwater use. I felt angry, cold, and very wet. Breakfast was a Selkirk Bannock, a ‘rich and buttery leavened tea bread’, ie…
Britain 16: Coldstream to Dunfermline
There are few better things in life than to wake refreshed after a fine night’s sleep in comfy bed. As I now knew to my cost, having dozed fitfully on a lumpy sofa for three hours after a skinful of cheap red wine. I was elevated a little by yesterday’s Craster kippers for breakfast, tangy,…