Pedalling About

Welwyn Garden City – London, November 2010, 45 miles

Sunday was a great day for being out on the bikes, clear blue skies and crispy cold. Wrapped up warm, we took the train to Welwyn Garden City and cycled back along national cycle routes 61 and 1. A gentle 45 miles.

I’m always surprised how green it is so close to London. We cycled along frosty country trails and railway lines and bounced over cobbles in Hertford and Ware. (more…)

London – Dunwich, UK, June 2010, 120 miles

Cycling over Tower Bridge with the city lights reflecting off the Thames I’m enjoying being back riding in the dark. London takes on a different feel in winter, when the darkness falls as people start their commute home, and being on a bike is a perfect way to experience this.

The cool air and stunning views of the city lit up remind me of an overnight ride we did earlier this year from London to Dunwich. The Dunwich Dynamo is unorganised and we simply turned up along with hundreds of other cyclists of all different shapes and sizes – courier types, Brompton riders, tandems, mountain bikes and hybrids like ourselves. (more…)

The final stretch and our priorities were to get to Tynemouth by 3:30 to give us time to return to Newcastle for the train, and most importantly to arrive before the boys.

We started with an off-road climb out of Rookhope. The road was too muddy and stony to ride so we pushed the bikes up. Once at the top we had a fabulous long stretch over the tops of the hills with the sun slowly beginning to show through the clouds. We felt very lucky to have it all to ourselves. (more…)

Today we were being chased by Steve, Will and James – friends from London who had decided to do the route in two days. We had 35 miles to cover to Rookhope on our heavy bikes, whilst they travelling light had 95. The thought they might catch us on route drove us on throughout the day.

We left at 9.00 after bacon and egg rolls and chatting with three guys also cycling the route. They’d found it tough going too and looked a bit worried at the day ahead. The weather wasn’t so good and we were in Gortex from head to toe, which we both agreed was the greatest thing ever.

The morning started with an eight mile climb from 180 to 580m (1903ft) above sea level to the top of Hartside Fell. It was steep, cold, wet and hailing but pedalling along slowly was doable. The killer was the headwind that reduced us to a walking pace. (more…)