Since my OS Maps cycling adventure in 2022, I have become happily reconnected to a number of long lost relatives and friends. It has been a most rewarding development and a source of genuine pleasure that I would otherwise never have experienced. It also means I now have people I can stay with in a […]
Category: Going to Extremes
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Maldon to Harwich
It was another oppressively hot day and I was being careful to manage how far I was attempting to cycle in these conditions, with regular rests. It certainly helped being nearer the coast, although nowhere here really felt quite like the seaside. The land was low and gently bumpy and nothing to write home about, […]
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Hackney to Maldon
Aside from iconic sights and family visits, I had made my way through the middle of London on a bicycle because, realistically, there is very little alternative if you are joining together Britain’s most southerly and easterly points. You have to cross the River Thames somehow, and the further west you do that, the less […]
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Day 9 – Reigate Hill to Hackney
Having struggled up Reigate Hill last night, it was a matter of seconds to relocate myself this morning to the country park at its summit to enjoy breakfast al fresco from the small cafe there. It was a hot, hot day already, and there were plenty of people out to occupy the deck chairs arranged […]
Hovercraft and ferries wait for no man; but sometimes the adventure cyclist has to wait for them. Today was always going to be a long day; but when I saw a hovercraft leaving Ryde beach for Portsmouth a few minutes before I arrived at the check-in building, I knew there would be consequences. But, like […]
It is a long way by train from Hathersage to Poole at the best of times, but it was a journey I needed to make after repeatedly putting it off due to wet weather. Now, however, there were no excuses. It was time to pick up where I left off in May after the first […]
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Day 6 – Colyton to (near) Poole
I had to be at home by tomorrow evening; but there was still time for another glorious day of cycling before then, and I was keen to get as far as possible along the south coast. I had an offer of accommodation near Poole, and that made sense as a next step. For one thing […]
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Day Five – Plymouth to Colyton
I wasn’t doing things by halves on this leg of my journey: yesterday I dealt with most of Cornwall, and today I would be crossing a great deal of Devon. Both of these large counties are known among cyclists for their relentless hills. It’s not simply height, it is the fact that you rarely get […]
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Day 4 – Falmouth to Plymouth
I had a big day ahead of me, during which I would be traversing most of the south coast of Cornwall. That meant more hills – lots of them. There was also a frisson of excitement because – to get across the natural barriers of wide river estuaries – my day would include no fewer […]
My second extremity of this journey was Lizard Point, the most southerly tip of the British mainland, and it featured half way through my first day of cycling. If you thought Land’s End was the most southerly point, then think again. I won’t be needing to visit John O’Groats either, for the record. Lizard Point […]