Ride all the OS mapsI awoke to a misty start to the day, but after a filling breakfast and a leisurely start to the ride, the skies brightened and the sun made its customary appearance. Rugby was dispensed with in short order. The part of town I saw seemed to consist almost exclusively of large and stylish detached red […]
We don’t have very many family traditions in our small family, but there are a few games that have been passed down through the generations on my mum’s side, some of which are played whenever there is an extended family gathering at Christmas. One such game involves standing in a circle with everyone holding a […]
The magic spinner was not required for this last journey out of Hathersage. I already knew which direction I had to go – SSE was the only one left out of all sixteen options on the compass. This last straight line would take me all the way to the south coast, passing slightly to the […]
I was excited that one of my straight lines out of Hathersage reached the coast at Tenby. I spent my third birthday there on holiday with my parents and younger brother, and I believe it is my earliest memory. I’ve been back since but not for a really long time, so I was very keen […]
Returning by train to Newtown in fine weather, I set out for the final two days of this leg of my adventure. I had missed only rain and instead attended a Crowded House concert in Manchester and a band rehearsal at home. By lunchtime on Thursday I was back in Wales and cycling along quiet […]
It must have rained an awful lot overnight, because the roads were covered in big puddles; but the morning brought with it warm sunshine. Really warm, in fact, so you wanted sun cream on. I was quickly down to shorts and shirt sleeves and enjoyed the bonus summer weather. I had a relatively easy day ahead […]
While the rain fell in the north west of Scotland, things further south were much brighter. Indeed, the weather in Hathersage the morning after my grey and grim push through bleak Lanarkshire was positively cheerful, if a tad brisk early in the morning. Nevertheless, an early start was in order to make the most of […]
Thanks to the delay in my rail journey north to Scotland, I now had a piece missing from my NW Cardinal Spin. I have experienced a couple of minor breaks before, one in Scotland and one in Cornwall, that I have gone back and fixed when I had the chance. Now, today, was my opportunity […]
The sun was glittering off the surface of Loch Fyne as I left my lovely BnB in Inveraray this morning. I had eaten a fine breakfast (a photo of which had partly influenced my booking decision!) and I was ready for a ride of approaching 40 miles to Oban, the main town and ferry port […]
The long distance cardinally challenged adventure cyclist has to be ready to react in the face of the unexpected and the inconvenient. I took a train from Hathersage at 7.32am on Tuesday believing I would be cycling in Scotland before noon, but fate had other ideas. I was well on the way, a few miles […]