Blogging on the move

Having promised that I would blog as we go on this wretched ride (why, oh why am I doing this??), I had been wondering about the practicalities of writing whilst on the move.  Not literally I hasten to add – I have come to grief more than once when I have been looking at the map on the barbag rather than at the road - A laptop on the handlebars would be going too far!!  Typing will be done when we are not actually on the move.

We are planning to camp at least some of the time, and although a few hostels have wifi, a lot of the YHA’s don’t seem to have quite caught up with this technology yet.  As laptops get smaller and smaller I think more and more people will be carrying their machines and using wifi, but for the time being I am not expecting to be able to get on-line at overnight stops very often.

So what I had planned was, that in the evenings I would write the blog in Word and upload the photos from my camera, and then when we see a cafe or pub with wifi, to upload it all onto Blogger

But using Blogger is quite time consuming and fiddly, especially getting the layout and the photos in the right place.  I don’t want to be wasting an hour in the cafe  messing about with it.  

I have now discovered Microsoft Live Writer.  This is supposed to interface with Blogger so that it is possible to blog, add photos and maps and sort out all the layout whilst off-line.  Then one only needs to be connected to the internet to upload the blog.

I am not very computer literate, in fact just setting up the Live Writer (which involved inputting an email address, a user name and a password) caused me untold amounts of stress, but it seems to me this could be just the thing.  I am also pleased with the map feature, although the functions on it are quite limited as far as I can tell.  It is possible to mark with a pin the start and finish points, but not to trace a route.  I did look at doing this but it seems fiendishly complicated.  If anyone knows how to upload routes quickly and painlessly please let me know, otherwise I will be content to simply mark the point we have reached each day.

Lets see know how I get on with it….. 

Yes!!!!! One click and it was up there.   Tomorrow I will experiment with photos and maps. By the way, if you are interested, the machine I am taking is an HP2133 Mini-Note which I really like, it's dinky and easy to carry around. However it still weighs in at 2.8lbs so is something of an indulgence. Whether I regret it and end up mailing it home remains to be seen..

A Village at War

On Saturday morning we set off on the return ride from Street to Bristol, heading towards Frome. In an attempt to avoid the traffic I had plotted a convoluted route through winding lanes and small villages. Although pretty, progress was slow. In two and a half hours we had covered less than twenty miles. It was also very hilly. Mick at one stage decided he had had enough and tried to hitch a lift.

Unable to get a ride, we carried on to the A37. Stopping for a refuelling of calories at a garage, we felt somewhat downhearted. At this rate it would take us months to do the end-to-end ride. We realised that whilst we would try and avoid main trunk roads on the Ride Proper, we could not waste too much time on very minor roads either.

We detoured into Nunney on our way into Frome. Nunney castle was never intended as a defensive structure. It was built in the 1370's by a local knight, Sir John de la Mere. He obviously had quite a high opinion of himself, and after returning from France he decided that he would build himself a home in the style of a French castle. It may come in handy however, as apparently war has broken out in the village.

We discovered that all was not well in this most pretty of places whilst innocently sitting on a bench eating our sandwiches. We were admiring the village which, in our naeivity we thought must be a splendid place in which to live out one's days in peace and tranquility. Not so. The controversy is over a green planter which has been placed next to the castle wall and which has metaphorically divided the village. Organised by the local committee, some residents do not think it is in keeping with its surroundings. A man was filling the offending article with soil and in the half-hour that we were there, three people took the trouble to tell him that they thoroughly disapproved of the scheme. Despite his assurances that it would look lovely when it was finished they evidently were not swayed. After being berated by a woman who was about ninety, he sighed.
"I've known that lady for twenty years", he said ruefully. "I doubt she'll ever speak to me again. I was only getting rid of some spare top soil."

It just goes to show that even in Paradise we humans would find something to moan about. Someone would complain that the golden tree was blocking their light or that the bird song was waking them up too early.

We made our exit from Nunney and high-tailed it into Frome. Mindful of time, we took the main roads to Bradford-on-Avon which certainly did improve our time if not our nerves.

Bradford-on-Avon is one of my favourite places. It was a prosperous textile town until the nineteenth century when the wollen industry moved north to Yorkshire and the Other Bradford. It still seems to do pretty well though. It is also home to the famous Alex Moulton Bicycle Company, designers of the classic small wheeled bicycle. Alex Moulton also designed the suspension for the original Mini.

We stopped for a cup of tea at the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust cafe and then, as the sun was shining we thought we would gongoozle for a bit at the canalside. A long held dream of living on a narrowboat was resurrecting itself....

Being a lovely day the towpath was thronged with people and we carefully pushed and picked our way along to Avoncliffe. I have mentioned before that our cycling style is ambling with plenty of stops, and we did indeed stop once again at the Cross Guns for a pint of Tunnel Vision from The Box Steam Brewery. Sitting at the bottom of the garden is a lovely spot to admire John Rennie's aqueduct.



The ride from here to Bath was gorgeous, crossing the other aqueduct at Dundas and under the two hundred year old bridges at Sydney Gardens.



Travelling from Bath to Bristol was straightforward and familiar along the Bristol And Bath Railway Path; the first Sustrans project. Another example of the Beeching Axe, the line, part of the Midland Railway was closed in the late sixties as it was "un-economic". At the time the government argued that many services could be provided more cheaply by buses, and promised that all abandoned rail services would have their places taken by bus services. Since then, of course, we have had the further public transport disaster of bus deregulation. This morning I read that First, who have no effective competition, are withdrawing even more rural bus services across the West, from a service which is already woefully inadequate and ridiculously expensive. Grrr.

We coasted into Fishponds, off the path and home. Today's ride, sixty four miles. We thought we had done rather well and treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway and a carry out from Humpers, which has been listed in Camra's Good Beer Guide for many years, and is the only off-licence I know which serves real ales on draught. This week it was Hidden Quest from the excellent Hidden Brewery in Wiltshire which we enjoyed very much. Cheers!

Street the Reprise

The original plan for this ride was to head farther south, but Minehead Youth Hostel was not yet open for the season and Exford Youth Hostel was fully booked. So it was back to Street YHA for the second time in two weeks. We decided to spice things up a little though by going via a different route this time. Live life on the edge!

For this trip we headed out towards Clevedon, turning left just after Clevedon Court and heading south. We cycled a couple of miles on the Sustrans route; the Strawberry Line, so called as it is on the line of the railway which used to bring strawberries up from Cheddar until it suffered the axe of Richard Beeching's Programme, finally closing in 1965.

Then on to Weston-Super-Mare. We had a minor disagreement as we came into Weston, which we subsequently referred to as the Toilet Row. Mick wanted to go into the shopping centre, I wanted to head straight for the front. I lost him briefly as he cycled off in a huff, and I was forced to text him to tell him that I had found a lovely toilet, which had won several awards. In fact, I told him smugly, it was probably the best toilet I have ever had the pleasure of using.

The toilet issue resolved, we stopped for a cuppa and bowl of chips before cycling along the sea front road.

It was a shame to see Weston's 100 year old Grand Pier, decimated as it was by fire last year. The owners, having spent a million pounds trying to make the venture a success, were said to be "devastated". They had owned the pier for less than six months when a blaze broke out during one night last July, completely destroying the historic buildings at the end of the Pier. Apparently no sprinklers were fitted and a fire alert contract with a private security firm had been cancelled a month before the blaze. No offical cause has been found for the fire and plans have now been submitted for a £10m rebuild. One can only speculate as to the true cause of the fire...

Wheeling along the winding roads to Brean felt deliciously remote. Along the beach road at Brean were rows of caravan parks, waiting to greet the many visitors that come here from the MIdlands. In 1861 the Brean Down Harbour Company planned to establish a trans-Atlantic port here to rival Liverpool. An agreement was reached with the Bristol-Exeter Railway and in 1864 the foundation stone was laid amidst great celebration. Unfortunately storms destroyed much of the early construction and disagreements broke out amongst the backers of the project. Eventually the scheme was abandoned. As we cycled along the quiet road, I mused about how different this place would have been if the port had been a success.

We cycled on through Berrow and on to Burnham-On-Sea. At the hardware shop I bought some lights, having foolishly left mine at home, Apparently there used to be two cycle shops in Burnham but now there are none. At the end of the town we headed onto the Brue cycle path. A local man told us how this area has changed over the years. Once a busy port, bringing in all sorts of goods from South Wales coal to Scandanavian timber, it is quiet now. Whilst the estuary is a haven for wildlife, the wharf itself is now a modern housing estate.

We were making good progress as we finally turned east at Hunstpill, crossing the busy A38 and even busier M5 as we went. At Gold Corner we stopped for another break. Here a pumping station is built on the River Hunstpill, which is not a river at all, but a surprisingly wide canal. It forms part of the drainage system for the Somerset Levels, and is an engineering project which had been envisaged since 1853. However it was only implemented during World War Two, apparently as a reliable water supply was vital for the munitions factory near Bridgwater. Mick says that it was built by Italian prisoners of war. I cannot find any evidence to support this but it seems plausible as Italian pows were undoubtedly set to work in the area, some willingly, some not.

Cycling this area is wonderfully easy as it is so completely flat. The lanes or droves follow straight lines, following the route of ancient walkways across the marshes and the corners are all at right angles. Luckly the traffic is practically non-existent. Too soon however the Polden Hills appeared in front of us and the last few miles were hilly. We rolled into Street hot and rather thirsty, having cycled 53 miles, and felt we had certainly earned a pint or two of Ruddles before tacking the final hill up to the youth hostel.

Bike maintenance

Today I got a puncture in my back tyre. Or rather, if I was going to be pedantic, I got a puncture the last time I rode the bike. However I only discovered it this morning. I am ashamed to admit I don't have the faintest idea how to mend a puncture.

It is, I think, imperative that I get some bike maintenance expertise under my belt before the Big Trip. It is not an entirely remote possibility that we could have a row and I find myself on the road alone. To get a puncture in the middle of nowhere would be a pain if I could not fix it.

Life Cycle is a charity which runs Bike Maintenance Workshops which are very good, I hear. However a day workshop costs sixty quid, which in my present condition of impecunity is an amount I would find it difficult to justify spending. It is also short notice to get on a course before we go, as they tend to fill up quite quickly.

I could ask Mick to show me but I fear this may well be a re-run of my experience as a seventeen-year-old, when my dad decided that he would, in an heroic effort to save me some money in driving lessons, Teach Me To Drive. He would patiently show me how to do something - change gear, mirror-signal-manouvre or whatever. I would nod impatiently - yes, yes, I can do it, don't go on, don't patronise me, in a typically seventeen-year-old-know-it-all manner and then promptly go on to completely mess it up. When he tried to point out where I had gone wrong I would resort to shouting and finally storm off, yelling "who wants to drive ANYWAY!" leaving him to take the car home, sighing all the while.

No, I won't ask Mick. Maybe I can get a friend to show me. And maybe I should invest in some puncture resistant tyres...

Training ride to Street

We have just completed a two day ride from Bristol to Street and back, a distance of around 95 miles. We decided we should practice hills when laden, so we piled things into our panniers. Mick took his laptop and SLR camera (neither of which he used once), I carried my sleeping bag and thermarest, camera, random carabiners, a spare pair of shoes, complete change of clothes, pyjamas, shampoo and conditioner etc. I did at least use the pyjamas and the shampoo. The widsom of this loaded up policy escaped me somewhat when we climbed up the Mendip ridge from Chew Valley Lake though.

We were cheered however by the rather wonderful clock at East Harptree

I especially liked the message "Time Flies Don't Delay", which was, at the time, probably an exhortation to get back to the fields and get working, but from which I took the meaning that our time here is short and we should do the things we want to do in life......but it was half past eleven and time to get on. .









After a hearty bowl of chilli and a couple of pints of Potholer at The Hunter's Inn at Priddy (known to cavers as the Centre of the Universe), we took a detour onto Priddy Green to look at the new plaque depicting a map of Swildon's Hole cave superimposed on a map of the village, taken from Alison Moody's map in the recently published book by members of Wessex Cave Club. Swildons is one of my favourite caves. I am sure that many visitors to Priddy will be surprised to learn how extensive the system extends under the village.





Me on the "Twenty" in Swildons and going through the Mud Sump (not on this ride obviously, we did not get that lost!)

Down on the levels the cycling was pleasant not least of course because it was very flat. The rain, which had been coming down all day was easing off as we pulled into Glastonbury for a cuppa before heading onto Street. We passed Clarks shoe factory. Cyrus Clark, a local Quaker, set up his factory in Street in 1825. Sadly the shoe production is now entirely in China, and the building now houses only the company offices and a museum. Employment in Street now is either in retail at the famous Clarks Village retail park, or at the huge and ugly distribution centre on the edge of the town, for goods coming in from.....China.

The hostel was originally built in 1914 for Clarks employees who needed recuperation after illness. As such it was thought a good idea to place it out of town at the top of the hill, a fact which now generated much complaining at the end of a long days slog. It became a youth hostel in 1931, the first in the South West. Once we had recovered from the climb up the hill, we decided we liked it very much. One small mis-hap though - I popped the bacon and milk we had bought for breakfast into the smallest fridge ready for the morning - the next day I realised the "fridge" was in fact a table top freezer and both milk and bacon were frozen solid.

On the way home we cycled around the levels, passing the Peat Moors Centre which was not yet open for the season. Being wetland, the area around Wedmore is a major centre for peat supplies, although Somerset has nothing on Finland which apparently is over 25% peat. North of Shapwick, we stopped at Sweet's Peat and Science Museum which unfortunately was also closed. The cafe, although it looked unprepossessing from the outside, was excellent and I heartily recommend it if you are down that way. Ray Sweet, a local peat worker, discovered the "Sweet Track", one of the oldest engineered roads known in the world, dating from 3807/3806 BC, and a site of world renown.

We cycled to Cheddar and after refuelling with a fine cheddar ploughmans we cycled up the gorge, managing to get to the top without getting off. From there the going was easier, back around Chew Valley lake. A fairly typical discussion ensued, ie. I suggest a route, Mick refuses to follow it. The debate was whether to go straight up over Dundry which was more direct or the longer route round the left of the hill. Mick won and I later conceded he was right to insist on the flatter option of left through Winford and joining the A38 to coast back into Bristol.

A bit weary but taking into account the Mendip hills I was fairly pleased with our performance. Not sure whether I could do it again tomorrow though, and the next day, and the next day....

Continuing preparations

I have been on something of a spending spree. After compiling such a horrendous list of stuff we could not possibly do without, we need to make sure that the kit we do have is as light as possible. So a trip to various camping shops to get some gear.

Sleeping bag – some debate about this i but went for a higher range Vango three seasons bag which should be warm down to -5, and which weighs in at 800g. Also bought a self inflating mat.

Also bought a paid of Sealskinz socks in Nomad. At £25 per pair these are the most expensive socks I have ever worn, they had better be good. They come recommended though and are supposed to do a good job of not letting water get to your feet. The last thing I want on this trip is trenchfoot to add to my other (expected) woes!
Mick says he is made of sterner stuff and would rather have wet feet than fork out £25 for a pair of socks.....

Taunton Leisure had some nice tops so I have also bought some quick-dry tops as regular t-shirts take forever to dry. Not that it is going to rain of course..
Hopefully by the end of this week all the kit will be sorted and we can then try some rides fully loaded.

Only four weeks and three days to go and I am beside myself with excitement already. Mick says I am getting to be a complete bore. He says if I ask him once more, just once more, which route does he think would be good to get through Cornwall then he will deck me. Hurrumph. Anyway I don’t need his opinion as I have just blown another six quid on the Sustrans Cornish route map so I will simply stare at this for a few hours and say nothing..

We joined the YHA today. We will stay in youth hostels rather than camp if the weather and/or Mick’s arthritis is bad. I also discovered that some youth hostels allow you to camp in the grounds which is cheaper and you can still use all the facilities.

We are not too keen on booking accommodation in advance as we have no real idea how far we will get each day. Whether this will prove to be a mistake we will find out in a few weeks time.

Routes again

Route planning exemplifies the different approaches Mick and I have to cycle rides. I like to have the route planned in minute detail before we go – to reduce roadside debates and make sure we choose the best route. And as I said, its a great excuse to spend hours looking at maps...On the bike I will have the map in a holder on the handlebars,(the map turned to face the way I am going of course), the route highlighted and ideally a print out of route directions as well.

Mick’s approach on the other hand is to have a vague idea of where he would like to end up and head off in that general direction, and with any luck he will end up roughly where intended.

I have spent a week looking at maps and still have not decided on the best route to cross Cornwall. North coast (scenic but hilly) or inland (flat but can’t see the sea)? On the roads or follow the Camel Trail on the old railway line? Also, I am not sure how much time to allow per day on our itinerary. Cornwall is hilly and on the first few days its best not to overstretch. Just go to St Ives? No that’s silly it’s only 19 miles out of Land’s End) or go full out for Lerryn/Golant where we have friends we could visit (70 miles on the first day - hideous!!)

And I haven’t even started on route planning across the rest of England yet!

Even worse is the dilemma when we cross the border into Scotland. East coast or West coast? Edinburgh or Glasgow? Inverness or Ullapool? Aaargh. Mick very sensibly points out that we can decide this when we get to the Border and assess a) how long we have taken and b) how energetic we feel. (Cue hollow laugh.) I know he is right,
it would be better to just see how it goes.

Note to self – I will try to relax and go with the flow a bit more.

But first I’ll just have one more look at that map of Cornwall........

How much training?

The training schedule has stalled a little. Mick has disappeared into the depths of Wales to visit his brother. And the weather has turned cold again - snow on the mendips yesterday.....

I have been reading various websites and blogs by cyclists who have completed the End to End and the training schedules and advice given varies enormously. Some people seem to have set themselves a punishing schedule of two or three seventy mile rides per week. Other sites say that as long as you are reasonably fit and a competent cyclist then there is no need to worry about punishing training schedules. I am hoping that as we are going at a relatively leisurely pace it should not be too much for us. Or is that wishful thinking? I was enormously inspired by reading on the CTC forum about one cyclist who managed to complete the trip in sixteen cycling days despite weighing in at 32 stone at the start. He was a few stone lighter at the finish. What determination that must have taken.

A friend who is a much better cyclist than I am advises that in any event you do get fitter as the days go by. So even if the first few days are a struggle, it should get easier. We should, I reckon aim to get out on at least one, possibly two long rides per week, maybe stepping it up to three nearer the start date. It would also be a good idea to start riding with full loads sometimes to see how we get on.

Diet is another dilemma. On the one hand I am thinking I should try and eat as healthily as I can, in preparation. Better also to be carrying less body weight. On the other hand, if the chap I mentioned earlier lost five stones, maybe I should just stuff myself with chocolate and other goodies, secure in the knowledge that I will be burning it all off in a few weeks time anyway?

Mick is also making changes. He has exchanged bacon and eggs for yoghurt and fruit, and he has given up drinking alcohol, which I think is taking this all MUCH too seriously,

Not to be able to stop at a pub after riding all day in the spring sunshine! No Eden Ale! No Cuillin Black! No Wye Valley best bitter! No local brews whose delights I have yet to discover!

I will have to make Mick see sense or the whole trip may be in jeopardy....

Equipment

When we cycled from Bowness to Whitley Bay last year, we were absolutely clueless about what to carry. Or more accurately – what not to carry. We now realise it is crucial to keep the weight carried as low as possible. For this trip we are therefore putting a lot more thought into the equipment we are carrying.
We debated staying in hostels and B&B’s which would save us having to carry the tent and sleeping gear. However we decided that the benefit in costs saved over a month was worth the extra weight we would have to carry. It would also hopefully mean we could be a bit more flexible about where we stopped for the night.

Here is our provisional equipment list – no doubt it will be subject to some fine tuning later on.

Two man tent (as I mentioned before the smallest bivvy bag was much too small to be comfortable).
One lightweight compact sleeping bag each.
One self-inflating bed mat each
Three bed rolls (one for me, two for Mick to try and ameliorate the worst of his arthritis)
An inflatable pillow each
One compass
One small book of routes
Pages from atlas
Marker pen
Biros
plastic bags/stuff sacks
Two spare inner tubes
Bicycle pump
Two pieces of tyre
Bike tools - one multi-tool, tyre levers, chain thingy
Minibottles/sachets of soap, shampoo, conditioner, handcream, shaving foam, suncream (optimism), vaseline.
Razors plus spare blades
Comb and hairbrush
One travel towel each
Travel pack of wetwipes and tissues
Travel pegs
Length of twine
One lightweight digital camera, charger and lead (my semi-luxury item)
One lightweight computer notebook, powerlead and charger (my luxury item)
One SLR camera (Mick’s luxury item)
One dictaphone for notetaking on the move
One Swiss army knife (cos every camper has to have one of these)

Clothing - Me
One pair lycra cycling shorts
One pair long cycling trousers
One pair lightweight casual trousers
Two short sleeved lightweight t-shirts
One long sleeved t-shirt
Cycling jersey
One sweatshirt
One pair cycling shoes (ones which look like trainers for evening use as well)
Two pairs socks
Three pairs pants
Two bras
One neckscarf
One warm hat
One pair sunglasses
One pair flipflops
One cycling jacket
One plastic cape
One pair gloves
Front and back panniers and barbag to spread weight

Clothing – Mick
One cycle shorts
Two Long trousers
Two lightweight T-shirts
One lightweight long sleeved shirt
One cycle jacket
One lightweight sweatshirt
Two pairs socks
Three boxer shorts
One poncho
Shimano shoes
One flip flops
One neckscarf
One sunglasses
One hat
One pair gloves

Hmmm - this still looks like an awful lot of stuff to carry.........

Which route?

I love maps. They are brilliant. A decent OS map will keep me quiet for hours.

I just adore looking at the maze of roads and obscure footpaths, the little details like picnic stops and post offices (although most of the latter have probably closed by now) and the little mug symbol denoting a pub or inn (hopefully also not closed down).

It's odd really because although I like looking at maps I am not very good at navigating with them. In fact I have to do that thing which seems to infuriate some chaps where I turn the map around so that it lies in the same direction I am going. Then I know that "left" on the page means "left" on the road and vice versa. To me this makes perfect sense, in fact I can't see why you would read a map any other way. But it seems that I am apparently lacking an "internal mapping facility" which allows one to do this inside ones head. This is a skill which, whilst impressive, is totally beyond me.

The End to End gives me a great excuse to spend inordinate amounts of time looking at maps. This is because there are a huge number of possible routes. And I don't mean silly one's like going via the Norfolk Broads or taking in Tenby on the way. Even going in a relatively direct route there are a large number of options to choose from.

I don't suppose Andy Wilkinson who completed the End to End in 41 hours, 4 minutes and 22 seconds took the scenic route. If on a tight schedule or if speed is your thing, then the quickest route is to follow mainly A roads. They are usually the most direct and good signposting means it is difficult to get lost. They will get you from A to B in probably the shortest time and mileage. The downside is that they are busy and are often heavy with goods traffic They usually bypass local towns and villages and local places of interest and the scenery is also often not great.

An alternative is to follow Sustrans National Cycle Network routes. There are a network of these across the country. Route Three for example will take you all the way from Lands End to Bristol. The drawback with these is that they are really designed for leisure cycling and often meander miles out of the way in an effort to keep off main roads and so forth. Some routes are on gravel footpaths or along towpaths which can make progress very slow indeed, especially when navigating around small children, dogs and other obstacles. Although they are great for a day out, we had doubts about following them if we were going to make any meaningful progress up country. If we had another month then maybe...

The other option is to stick to B roads. There are downsides with this option too. B roads are not necessarily safer for cyclists than main roads. Cars often travel too fast on narrow, winding roads. It is also easy to get lost in the patchwork of minor roads, necessitating frequent stops to check map and compass reading (especially with my navigational skills!). The upside is that you get to see more of the countryside, the pace is less frenetic, and the traffic less heavy than on the main roads.

As we have four weeks available (most End to Enders complete the trip in between 14 and 21 days), and as I would describe our cycling style as “ambling with plenty of rests”, we have decided to plot a route which combines the more direct parts of the NCN Routes and minor roads where possible. In some places we may have to ride on A Roads but we are going to try and avoid this where possible.
This narrows the choices down a bit. I have purchased Phil Horsley’s Land’s End to John O’Groats book which sets out some suggested routes along minor roads. Armed with this book, a road atlas and a marker pen it's time to get to the pub to settle down for a good map reading and beer drinking session.