Today I crossed the Cairngorms. Big mountains. Few roads. It was a memorable 80 mile day of wind assisted cycling across some wild and challenging terrain. There were serious ups – and scary downs – before dropping to the upper reaches of the Don valley and a gentler, sunnier ride east across quiet, green pastures […]
Author: ridealltheosmaps
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Maps 34, 35, 36
Fort Augustus sits at the bottom of Loch Ness and is where the Caledonian Canal climbs a flight of locks on its way towards Fort William. The locks form a centre piece to the main activity of the village, each one large enough to contain at least six sizeable vessels together as they journey up […]
Today was a long day. It began painfully early in the drizzle of South Uist when my alarm went off at 4.20am. Ouch. It was already light; but already wet on the road, too, as I made my way the 4 miles or so to the ferry in Lochboisdale. I was first on and found […]
I don’t mind admitting that I rather enjoyed myself in OS Map 31. It was worth all the effort it took to get here and I am a little sad to be leaving already. The weather helped a bit. It was a dry, breezy sort of day and the visibility was good. And I got […]
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Back to the Outer Hebrides… again!
For the past 2 days I have not made any forward – that is to say eastward – progress at all. Ever since the long blast across Moray and Aberdeenshire to Peterhead on Tuesday, I have been making my way back across land and sea to start the next crossing of the country. Other than […]
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Maps 28, 29, 30
On Tuesday I completed a VERY long ride, from Elgin (where I left off a week ago) to Peterhead and then back to Aberdeen. I knew it would be long and I enjoyed it very much. I will admit that I am a little tired now! However, I certainly made the most of the available […]
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The trip north to Elgin
I thought a pre-ride blog post would be in order. Firstly, because I have time to kill on a train to Aberdeen. Next, because I have a new (to me) iPad mini to try out. And also, because I have had an entertaining journey and these elements of my adventure are all part of the […]
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My plan for maps 28 to 43
I just finished making all the complicated accommodation and train bookings – with the elusive bike spaces – for the next 2 weeks of my adventure. I leave home again in a couple of days. I have had requests to post my itinerary ahead of time, so here it is! Monday 27th June: Trains from […]
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Stages 1 & 2 (May/June) Stats
Please see below the updated stats for the May and early June sections of the RidealltheOSmaps adventure combined: Number of OS maps visited in sequence: 28 Number of “official” OS map miles cycled: 976 Number of “unofficial” (extra) miles cycled, not on maps 1-28, or in the wrong direction: 457 Total miles cycled in May […]
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Maps 26 & 27
The sun returned today! What a welcome change from all the grey clouds and showers. I was starting to lose faith in the Scottish weather altogether; but a day of bright sunshine works wonders. It also brings the cyclists out. In the first couple of hours today I found myself waving hello to more people […]