Month: September 2024

And so began the second part of a an action-packed day. It seems a long time – and a lot of cycling – ago that I set off on my first Cardinal Spin, heading south west from Hathersage towards the South Wales coast at Porthcawl to take the world’s last remaining paddle steamer across the […]

I had a busy day ahead of me. Not only was I intent on finishing off this SSW line (a hangover from yesterday’s spontaneous replanning exercise); but I then wanted to visit the location of some childhood memories, before cycling a fair distance to find the nearest train station to relocate to Cornwall. Why? To […]

Sometimes you have to be prepared to change your plans on the fly. I don’t mind doing this where it make sense. I’m usually very relaxed about doing things in the moment and I tend not to be too planned ahead. In the game of long distance adventure cycling, a detailed plan generally acts only […]

I arose to sunshine in the Malvern Hills and everything looked a picture. There was also a distinct chill in the air, however, and the persistent breeze from yesterday was still there. It was a gilet and sleeves morning. After a very enjoyable breakfast I was ready to leave. While I ate, I overheard a […]

I was predictably slow to depart from my spaceship hotel this morning, but to be fair I was still an hour ahead of the last checkout time, which for me is good going. I was also two hours ahead of yesterday’s departure time, so I was confident I would get there in daylight. There, since […]

The weather for the past few days has been weird. For much of the time it has been low, thick, damp cloud, with frequent rain. But warm, with the odd period of sunshine with strong, warm winds. None of it has made it easy to segue from one Cardinal spin to another. For a couple […]

We had a lovely time in Durham. It wasn’t difficult: the weather was superb and the cathedral alone kept us busy for several hours, with an ascent onto the roof of the central tower, and then lunch from the undercroft refectory. We discovered tables outside in the sun right underneath the two Norman towers of […]

I awoke in my fancy Otley apartment to a soupy sort of day. It was dry, and largely remained so, but hard to see the hills very distinctly. That didn’t make them any easier to climb, of course, and there was plenty of that today, especially in the morning. Most of the rivers of Yorkshire […]

It was time, the spinner said, for me to cycle north in a straight line until I reached the sea in Northumberland. From an OS maps point of view, this was an easier route to plot, because – just like my route south – it was already printed on the map by the OS as […]

I almost reached the coast in two big days; but family comes first, so I had a little bit left to do today before I could begin my personal tour of the English rail network to get back home. It was another cracking day of warm sunshine and I was in no hurry. I retraced […]