Category: Cardinal Spins

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 amazing weather of the last two days was not done yet. Today – my final cycling day before I headed off to Montenegro on holiday – was another day of perfect weather, and I once again enjoyed some exceptional riding to go with it. I had Lockerbie in southern Scotland as my destination today, […]

The Yorkshire Dales is one of my favourite parts of England, and today I would have the chance to cycle through it in perfect weather, and along the tiniest of traffic-free roads. And then, to add to the fun, I would ride all the way along the flanks of the beautiful Howgills range of hills […]

My straight line NW is a long one and it crosses two stretches of water in the Hebrides to end at Huisnis on Harris, a long way from home in every sense. There is a real chance it will be difficult to get there in half decent weather this late in the summer, so the […]

After three months I was finally a day away from reaching the end of the Lizard Peninsula, Britain’s most south westerly point, and – coincidentally – lying at the end of a straight line south west from my home. What are the chances? To get there, I planned to follow my line along the indented […]

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 […]