Category: England

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 23 – Newcastle to Durham

Or thereabouts….

Just slightly south of Durham in a village called Croxham. I’m staying at the Croxham Inn which saved me a bit on staying in Durham, plus was five miles in the right direction for the next day which promised to be mighty more taxing than today.

Accommodation was basic, comfortable. No problems.

Durham

Durham castle, catherdral
Durham castle, cathedral

What an impressive place…

Continue reading “Day 23 – Newcastle to Durham”

Day 22 – Norham to Newcastle

What I thought would be a hard journey turned out to be an easy one and I was finished and lying on my bed in Jury’s Hotel, Gateshead for 3:30.

The roads are much busier out of Scotland.

Berwick is quite a popular spot for the weekend. Also, I passed through Morpeth. Very pretty.

Morpeth Castle
Morpeth Castle

Cycle paths/routes

Couldn’t avoid the main roads today. Cycle paths always beat main roads, just for the level of enjoyment they bring to the cycling experience. Continue reading “Day 22 – Norham to Newcastle”

Day 11 – Tarleton to St. Mary’s Marina, Rufford

Only a very short journey today.

Due to time constraints on travel over the Ribble, I’ve decided not to wait 10 days for the next crossing, and make my way to Scotland tomorrow.

From there I will be Bonnyless.

St. Mary’s Marina, Rufford

I’m parked at St. Mary’s Marina with Mark Ball who seems like an affable fellow.

It’s got a few mod-cons like electric, which means I can watch more telly and use the microwave.

The trip is only a very simple one. From Tarleton, you have to negotiate the 3 swing bridges, follow the river. That’s about it.

The marina is directly before the lock, opposite to another, competing marina.

I did get a look in both. I know my locking partner on the way up planned to leave her boat here. Also, it was the first one I visited. I know the other is slightly more upmarket, if that’s what you’re after.

Trip to Scotland

Today has been busy booking accommodation for my first few days in Scotland.

The weather up there is over 15 for the duration of my stay, even rising to around 20.

I’m quite looking forward to it, because I’ve got no idea what to expect.

The road to Inverness

I know the first few days will be fairly easy.

From now on, I’m going to be using Strava to track my progress and making timelapse video.

From now on, my maps will look like this.

It’s roughly a 500 mile journey back down to the boat.