It had for so long seemed so far away; but all good things must eventually come to an end. Today was my very last day of cycling through all of the OS Landranger maps in numerical order. I had visited the first 202 already in my epic journey that started at the very top of […]
Category: England (south)
Four coast-to-coasts across southern England
After yesterday’s gorgeous ride in sunshine from the wild Atlantic coast in Newquay, across the rolling and at times steep hills of Cornwall and over the River Tamar into Devon, I was now faced with the relatively straightforward task of riding onwards and downwards to the opposite coast at Torquay. The weather was due to […]
I went home after I reached Hastings on Sunday, with every weather forecast emphatically predicting an end to the amazing window of summer-like conditions I had enjoyed for five straight November days. The south west of England was apparently in for many straight days of wet and windy weather that held no appeal for me, […]
It wasn’t supposed to be a particularly taxing day of cycling today, by design, and it was also the cricket T20 World Cup final, featuring England, in Melbourne, Australia. For both of these reasons, I was off to a fairly leisurely start today. I was further delayed by the discovery of a flat front tyre […]
The correct plural of hovercraft is hovercraft. I checked. And I must have seen more of them today than any other day in my life. Even better, they were not all slowly rusting away in a slightly odd but truly fascinating museum (some were). Throw in a Spitfire and another ferry journey and you can […]
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Ordnance Survey HQ
There are 204 OS Landranger 1:50,000 maps. I had now reached number 196 and that is where the Ordnance Survey itself is based, just on the northern edge of Southampton. I had hoped from the start of my adventure that it might be possible to pay them a visit. Today, that came true. The OS […]
Dorset on a fine day is a lovely place to be. Such was my good fortune today. The rolling hills shone bright green in the low sunshine and the views were seemingly endless. Everyone I met talked about how awful the weather has been in November, and there were big puddles everywhere. But this morning […]
My original idea, when I conceived this mad enterprise, was that I would ride until the clocks went back near the end of October. That was two days ago and in fact I have cycled on until the very end of the month, because the weather has obliged. So why not? Even with blue skies […]
For the fourth consecutive day I was treated to glorious weather and amazing cycling. What a coast to coast journey this has been. It went beyond all expectations on both fronts. Today was like a summer day, warm enough for shorts and, if anything, too warm for much else! You would never believe this was […]
Across the road from the Stonehenge Inn is a miniature replica of the real thing. I have visited the famous big version before, once back in the days when you were allowed to get right up to the stones (you can’t any more); but if you want a really personal experience of an ancient stone […]