Posts by Jon Reed

Heading inland

Posted by on 23, Jun 2023 in 2023 - Cathedrals, Europe, Tilly the Tandem, UK | 1 comment

Heading inland

First night in our new home. Hastings net sheds Serenaded by the Salvation Army Paragliders getting a view Brighton Pier..Our 28th Wedding Anniversary ❤️ Victorian Brighton Shoreham beach Chichester cathedral Portsmouth Our passport stamp Portchester Roman Castle Winchester Cathedral Tilly still hanging in there…. One of the best bits of cycle touring is meeting other tourers and people along the way. We’ve not seen many tourers so far but met a Dutch couple heading to Ireland on their tandem which was towing a trailer. They must have had nearly twice the load we carry as the...

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A cracking time…

Posted by on 13, Jun 2023 in 2023 - Cathedrals, Europe, Tilly the Tandem, UK | 2 comments

A cracking time…

Oh dear… ???? Surgeon at work… Alloy weld fix. Back up and running.. ???? Soooooo tempting… ⛴️⛴️ And up another hill to get away… Before we change our minds.. Navigating the steps on the downhill cycle path hill into Dover Battle of Britain Memorial Yay… Sun is out and time for our first ice cream ???? Poor Tilly! 51,005km, 10 years 5 months 2 days old and the chain stay snapped completely through. We think it’s been cracked for a while though as we’ve had an irritating creaking occasionally and despite removing almost every component from the bike,...

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Pilgrims Progress

Posted by on 7, Jun 2023 in 2023 - Cathedrals, Europe, Tilly the Tandem, UK, Western Europe | 1 comment

Pilgrims Progress

Chelmsford Cathedral Try getting a loaded tandem over that! Rochester Cathedral More hurdles…. Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral Passport stamps Windy Whitstable.. Trauma for Tilly…. A couple of years ago the English Cathedral Association and Cycle UK put together a UK English Cathedral Pilgrimage route.   They give you (£5) a passport to collect stamps at each of the 42 English cathedrals so this is our summer route.  Why? Well, you may think after our short trip to neo Nazi Bible thumping, book banning, anti trans, gun loving Florida we came back all...

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A short cycle free trip…

Posted by on 25, May 2023 in 2023 - Sicily and Italy, USA | 0 comments

A short cycle free trip…

There’s a perfectly good reason that American Airlines intials are AA and that’s because they break down so much they need the AA to recover them and by the end of your journey you’ll need the other AA to cope with the booze problem you picked up in the 22 lounges you had to wait in whilst they found someone who actually knew how to fix a plane. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We have, for once left Tilly at home and come to the states to see our elderly secret cousins in Florida for a few days. We hadn’t decided to do this until the last minute but had been...

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No pain no gain

Posted by on 1, May 2023 in 2023 - Sicily and Italy, Europe, Portugal, Tilly the Tandem, Western Europe | 2 comments

No pain no gain

In Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy Slartibartfast wins awards for designing the Norwegian coastline. He obviously did the Portugal one too, presumably after Norway as it’s even more spectacular than his original work. We spend most of the days either moaning about some silly incline or wowing some fabulous view, which actually makes the hill pushing worthwhile. We headed further southwards through the lovely island village of Baleal which you can only access via the causeway and on to Peniche, another lovely walled town built on a promentory with an Indian restaurant ! Always...

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