30th November 2022. I knew it’d be a chilly ride. Yesterday, the mercury never bothered to rise above 5°C, and it was foggy too, so I saw today’s forecast of 5 degrees and cloud as an improvement. Ever the optimist, I set off well-wrapped up to face the chill on a route generally South to […]
This wasn’t a cycle tour, but I include it since I was cycling in interesting areas and (generally) going out whatever the weather. Friday 11th November 2022. For the final time before Emily moves to Sheffield, I was enrolled on cat-sitting duties in Hazel Grove. To make the best use of the shorter days, I […]
10th October 2022 At the end of last month I was invited to attend a day at the Outward Bound centre in Aberdovey. This was a place that holds a special place in my heart after I went on a three week training course there, aged just 19. As an apprentice I was selected to […]
Monday 29th August 2022. It’s strange how things work out. In July, Jim asked several of us (in a WhatsApp group) whether we fancied going on a cycling trip to Mallorca. It was around the time that airports were experiencing severe delays and Covid cases were on the rise again, so I declined, as did […]
Wednesday 13th July 2022. I received a great book for Christmas which detailed a number of bike rides throughout the North of England. There are three routes in the North Lakes, so I thought it would be a good idea to link them together for a two day adventure. So that’s why I’m here. The […]
Monday 13th June 2022. After a very smooth drive down to Shirley*, West Midlands, I went for an un-panniered ride out to Shropshire to link up with a ride I did back in April from Shrewsbury. It’s all about linking up these red lines on a map for me! Except that this week, it’s a […]
Thursday 2nd June 2022. Whenever I travel over the Grane Road down into Helmshore, I always look across to a pretty little hill on the right. I first became aware of it in my early teens when one Saturday I decided to visit my friend in Blackburn (about 10 miles distant). I cycled over to […]
Thursday 12th May 2022. Less than a year ago, I was lucky enough to take a trip to Durham on a cycling holiday. The accommodation then was very good, but we found that we were cycling some 10 or 15 miles just to get to where the serious climbs began. This week I’m back, but […]
Tuesday 26th April 2022. I’m in Shrewsbury. I do like this town, having spent a couple of days here in 2017. I briefly passed through last year on a bike ride from near Stoke, but now I’m here for three days. The lady at the Airbnb I had originally booked was lovely, but she did […]
Friday 8th April 2022. It’s not often that I get the chance to go on a cycling trip organised entirely by someone else, but this is my good fortune this weekend. I think the trip was originally a training weekend for a charity ride, but when it was initially scheduled in 2019, we had no […]