Category: Cardinal Spins

The trouble with going to a place like Harris – even in the winter – is that you have to leave again. On a Sunday in winter the only ferry leaves at 9am and travels via Lochmaddy in North Uist, turning a two hour trip into a four hour Hebridean cruise. Still, it was a […]

I had hoped to complete all of this adventure by the end of October at the latest. I failed. I could see it coming, what with a family holiday to Montenegro in September, various other commitments, and some unhelpful weather in the north west of Scotland. I did pretty well to ride almost every part […]

Today was the last day of my sixteenth Cardinal Spin from home out of sixteen, and so you might think it would be cause for celebration. That, however, would be premature. I have set off from home sixteen times, but have yet to reach the end of one other ride, heading NE, due to the […]

I had made a tactical decision not to cycle all the way to the coast today. My reasons were good. I was staying overnight this evening with good friends Sandra and Gary, close to Horsham and just east of my straight line. It would have been rude to miss them in an unwarranted dash for […]

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 […]