Category: Bicycle Touring

Expeditions on the pushbike.

Day 55 – Tavistock to Newquay

A whole day with the the wind in my face. A full 16-30 kph of it.
Pedalling down the hills kind of style.

In addition, Google decided I was a CAR and sent my down the A30.

So

THANKS GOOGLE

Pain in the ass…..

Anyway. I’m here now.

Holed up in the Griffin Inn, right in the very heart of Newquay. Party capital of the south coast.

I’m having a shower and feeling absolutely shattered.

Newquay

Fancied fish & chips, seeing as it was a Friday.

By the time I had all washed up and had a little nap, it was getting on for 9.

Some of the places had stopped serving food.

After a walk down to Fistral Beach and taking a look in the Atlantic Hotel and the Red Lion, I settled on this place, The Dolphin, which had seasonable prices and was still serving.

River Lyd
River Lyd, Conwall

Nansledan

Happened across this village.

Nanslesdan.

They have invested a lot in paint and breeze-blocks to put the place up in the middle of no-where.

It’s  another one of those ‘Poundbury’, self styled ‘good ideas’, from the same people that bought you ‘Poundbury’, (surprise surprise).

10 out of 10 for choice of colours. Bohemian, sort of reminiscent of central European housing of a certain era, with all the funny colours and what not.

It seems that central Europe has come to Newquay, or that’s the impression I got. Airlifted, and dropped in from a height, like and alien invasion.

Nanseldan, Newquay
Nanseldan, Newquay
Nanseldan, Newquay
Nanseldan, Newquay

Today, I’m taking the final leg of my trip, to Sennen, the closest village to Lands End.

Day 54 – Exeter to Tavistock

Through the National Park, which turned out to be extremely hilly.

Climbed the same height as Ben Nevis during the course of the day.
I must admit, I did some of it walking.

Clifford Bridge - Teign Valley
Clifford Bridge – Teign Valley, Devon

This particular road took me up a steep embankment from the River Teign.
It was never ending.

Google Maps

Google kept trying to turn me back from this route, (through the national park), and send me round the A30, (around the edge of the park). Continue reading “Day 54 – Exeter to Tavistock”

Day 25 – Morecambe to Rufford – 1,000th post eva!

******#1,00o post!******

“Piece of cake…” as my host said to me this morning. Turned out to be true. And thanks to Trevelyan House for the breakfast, and the service, all very good.

Didn’t do much around Morecambe.

When I was thinking walking around town, “what is it that Morecambe really needs”, and the answer is a timewarp machine. The good times have passed. It’s as simple as that.

People still pose beside the statue of Eric Morecambe on the seafront, but when that is gone. What have they got?

Trevelyan Guest House

Got woken up by the fire alarm at 11pm. Thought about going down the pub….

It went off. Being a Tuesday, most people would have called it a night anyhow, so I went back to sleep.

Hauled ass at around 8am, which is the time they start breakfast, which turned out to be a high quality affair for the £33 all in that I paid for the accommodation, breakfast, et al.

Seems that Morecambe itself was the only downfall of the stay. Continue reading “Day 25 – Morecambe to Rufford – 1,000th post eva!”

Day 25 – Hawes to Morecambe

My penultimate day on the bike.

Strava tells me it’s 90% or more downhill.

TBH, I can’t be arsed with another day of climbing after yesterday.

In knowledge of this, I had a large breakfast…

Full breakfast vs Continental

Having experienced both full breakfast and continental, I’d say continental is better in terms of absorption and uptake.

If you eat 4 croissants with jam, a bit of muesli and a muffin a cup of coffee and a cup of orange, you’ll feel that kick in straight away.

With the full breakfast, the energy is there, it just has a longer and slower release into the body.

If you’ve got a long day cycling, I’d recommend the continental. Plenty of jam. Some yoghurt. Some cereal. As much sugar as you can manage. Then keep on topping up throughout the day. Less energy will be wasted on digestion.

Full breakfast is good in terms of protein and carbs, but these things take time and energy for the body to process, before being absorbed. And tbh, if you’re working at full stretch or cardio all the time and you’re an adult, your body’s only going to be asking for sugar.

Anyway, I made it. Continue reading “Day 25 – Hawes to Morecambe”

Day 24 – Durham to Hawes

Strava tells me it’s 4,000 ft plus climb day, and at the end of it, I can believe it. My muscles are full of lactic acid and I can hardly stand up by the time I reach my accommodation.

It’s taken me into the heart of the Pennines.

Rather than take the shorter Googlemaps route over the A66, which is a busy main road, I went down the ‘Pennine Way’, which is a designated cycle route through the valleys and dales.

I don’t regret it.

There are a million things to recommend taking a cycle route over a main road as a cyclist.

Tan Hill

On my way, I pass the highest Inn in the England. Tan Inn is at 1,725 ft. I stop for a drink, then continue down into the valley.

The highest pub in England
The highest pub in England

It really is alone. I’ve reached it by coming up a gravel track off the main road, which I runs parallel to the trail for a short period.

I can see all the trucks and artics passing and feel glad that I took the longer route.

If you look at the Strava, this is one of the steepest climbs today.

But it pales in insignificance compared to the Oxnop…

Continue reading “Day 24 – Durham to Hawes”