Category Archives: Rod’s Blog

Rod’s comments on the world at large

Day 13 – Rest Day

A very welcome rest day today.  Our one and only for the trip.  Peebles is a lovely town and it just so happens that our visit coincides with their annual Baldine Festival.

Here are a couple of photos from the parade through the High Street.

Day 14

An easier day today after our day off. But very exciting as we rode through Edinburgh and across the Firth of Forth (I hope I’ve got that in the right order) Just short of 1000m climbing too so not so high.  We didn’t get to dally to explore sadly.  I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture of the castle although we saw it in all its glory.  We started off in light rain from Peebles and had a real variety of temperatures throughout the day.

Rod’s knee is giving him curry unfortunately.

Day 12

Wow we are pretty happy that this day is over.  Nearly 130kms and over 1500m of climbing.  But that would have been alright if it hadn’t been for the 29km/h headwind we had to deal with as well. I’m sooooo saddle sore I couldn’t sit straight at dinner!!  Even the Papaw Ointment isn’t coping. (Too much information??) We had light rain on and off during the day too but not too concerning.

Well we’ve now “done” England.  We crossed into Scotland today.  I can’t believe it seems to have come so quickly.

Rest day in Peebles now – our one and only rest day.  Just in time for their annual Beltane festival which I believe celebrates the mid summer.  We caught a wonderful procession of children on their dressed ponies on the high street not long after we arrived yesterday and tonight we’ll have the fancy dress parade which goes for 3 hours (they go around the town twice)

Back on the track tomorrow heading further north to Kinross. Rain forecast but at least the wind is supposed to have dropped to around 13km/h.

We are having a great time.

Day 11

Phew big day!

We climbed just under 1500m and travelled 93kms.  Stunning countryside and plenty of things to see on the way like Druid standing stones (which will get a big work out in a couple of days time for the summer solstice), a town that has a documented vampire, chocolate factories and many gorgeous villages.  We had a second day of rain too but it cleared up in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is a massive day – 135kms and over 1500m of climbing.  Unfortunately we will have a strong 29km head wind.  But we’ll be crossing the Scottish boarder and we have our one rest day the day after.  I can hardly believe we’ve come this far.

Day 10

What a wonderful day!!

We headed out of the built up area of Gastang, Lancashire and up into the highlands close to the Yorkshire Dales. Tonight we are Casterton near Kirkby Londsdale having climbed slowly most of the day before a big decent into the Lune Valley in Cumbria.  I couldn’t take pictures that do any justice to the scenery today as it was wide open moorland and fields full of sheeps and lambs.

We must be about halfway now.  We are both complaining about sore spots (Rod’s knee and blackened big toe, and my bum and Archillies tendon) and we were so tired still this morning after our long ride yesterday, but we’ve really loved today.  Even though we only climbed about 1300m it was only over 70km so we were at it a lot of the time.

The group is still going well.  We’ve been really lucky and jagged a great bunch of people.  Our friend Colin Smyth from Noosa is a bit of a star and has really kept the mood light and fun. The guides are great too.

I have a lovely 81 year old fellow that Letitia and I met on our walk in the Swiss Alps last year joining us tonight for dinner.  He lives quite a way away but he has caught a bus over to Kirkby Londsdale, rented a room, and will walk out the 3kms to the village we are in to meet up with us.  How good is that!

I hope everyone is well.

Day 9

I know I’ve been slack with my blog. Rod hasn’t found any time and I’m struggling with really poor internet connection pretty much all the time so that it takes forever to download pictures etc.

Our usual routine for the day is up at 6ish, get ready and pack and down for breakfast at 7.30am, out to the support van by 8.30am ready with bikes and bags, then head off after instructions and the giving out of the freshly charged Garmins by 9am.

We ride for about 30kms and meet the van for a morning tea stop, then head off again until around 1pm where we either meet the van again for a picnic lunch or we head into a pub or cafe for lunch.  We ride the afternoon sometimes stopping again for a cuppa depending on how long the day is.

We’ve been arriving at the night’s accommodation about 5 – 5.30pm. Sometimes the whole group of 19 (including 3 leaders) is in the same place, some times we are in a couple of different B&Bs.  We shower, handwash our clothes and string them up around the room, then meet up with everyone for a drink about 6.30pm and then have dinner at about 7 or 7.30pm usually.  By the time we finish eating, the briefing for the next day etc it is about 9.30pm so we stagger up to our rooms and I try to connect to internet to keep up with what is going on in the world of emails etc.

The riding is slower over here due to rough road surfaces and many many hills.  We also had a strong headwind for the first 5 days. We are pretty tired but enjoying it immensely.  Really varied countryside and town and city scapes.

We are starting into the hills of the edge of the Lakes District and Yorkshire Dales today so a lot more climbing on the cards.  Great! NOT 🙂

Well must rush of to breakfast. We hope everyone is well.

Larmas or Alpacas (I never know which is which) in England??

Larmas or Alpacas (I never know which is which) in England??

Crossing a canal with a lock

Crossing a canal with a lock

Rod and Col from a viewpoint looking out to the Yorkshire Dales to come

Rod and Col from a viewpoint looking out to the Yorkshire Dales to come

Day 8

Coffee stop at a canal boat marina

Coffee stop at a canal boat marina

Day 7

First day of rain today. The new boot covers didn’t work and rain dribbled down the neck of my new rain coat. Rod stayed dry though as he used the hood (I thought it might be too hot) Visit some great places including the town of Ironbridge.

Day 6 Lands End to John OGroates

Day 5 in the saddle

We are currently in Tintern, Wales.  Home of the famous Abbey ruins.  A very pretty place.  Cycled through Cheddar this morning, but didn’t see any cheese as we had our head down into the wind as well as the huge climb out of the gorge.  Well worth a visit, but possibly best by car. Crossed over the famous bridge in Bristol and then headed into Wales by the Severn Bridge – massive!  A really gorgeous day.

Karyn is dealing with some tendonitis in her usual stoic form.  No complaints.  Just soldiers on.  She is a champion.

Tintern Abbey

Tintern Abbey