Posts by Jon Reed

Time for a rest!

Posted by on 4, Feb 2024 in 2024 - An Indian Winter, Asia, India, Tilly the Tandem | 2 comments

Time for a rest!

And we’re off…. Having had the chance to experience the traffic in Chennai first hand in multiple tuk tuks, we decided the best time to set off on our cycle seemed to be sometime before the invention of the tuk tuk! As this wasn’t an option we opted for getting up at 5.30 and leaving at sunrise, which turned out to be a good plan. The traffic was light and we managed to get out without any difficulty. But it’s hot work, even at that time in the morning and we’d drunk 2 x 750ml bottles of water by the end of the first 20km. The journey itself showed the huge gap...

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What have we done!

Posted by on 1, Feb 2024 in 2024 - An Indian Winter, India, Tilly the Tandem | 1 comment

What have we done!

Reassembling Tilly Suresh, owner of the best bike shop in the world! Lost its former glory… Kamwaadeswaa Temple Amateurs..!!  We saw one with 5 on! Market day Sugar cane juicing Our flight was almost empty, not even enough people for one per row, but pleasant and quiet and as we disembarked we asked each other “What have we done!”. Too late now though as we passed through another high security check on entering the airport – they obviously take security seriously here – the X ray guy was fast asleep! After we collected Tilly, Customs immediately pulled us...

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Out of our comfort zone…

Posted by on 27, Jan 2024 in 2024 - An Indian Winter, Middle East, Tilly the Tandem, UAE | 4 comments

Out of our comfort zone…

Abu Dhabi I’ve said before that we talk frequently about where to go to escape the lovely English winter, then book it and then I spend the time between booking and departure really not wanting to go. I’ve no idea why, but that feeling gets worse as I get older and this time, we’ve been really adventurous / stupid and are heading well outside our comfort zone. Oh well, we’ve told people that this trip will be 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months…. That should just about cover it! Linda has a routine that must be adhered to which is not something to be trifled with I can...

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The final countdown

Posted by on 1, Nov 2023 in 2023 - Cathedrals, Europe, Tilly the Tandem, UK, Western Europe | 4 comments

The final countdown

The famed Southwell leaves.. Autumn on its way…. Lincoln The Stump.. Not much else in the fens !!! Bury St. Edmunds Wymondham Market Cross And finally…our arrival at Norwich Cathedral Ready for this ..????????????????????… And that’s a wrap….. Awaking to fog is always disheartening in the tent as you just can’t dry it before putting it away, but it looked quite beautiful lying low across the fields around us. We managed to get away early and head into Southwell to visit the minster, which is also a Cathedral and a Parish church.  Most Cathedrals...

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You can’t leave that there son…

Posted by on 22, Oct 2023 in 2023 - Sicily and Italy, Europe, Tilly the Tandem, UK, Western Europe | 3 comments

You can’t leave that there son…

Tilly the terrorist Our saviour… The cycle path crosses York racecourse…wouldn’t want to do that on race day ! Back in the northern canals Bradford town hall Impossible to get through without removing our rear handlebars ☹️ Sheffield town square York Minster, probably the busiest Cathedral we’ve arrived at. York is permanently heaving with tourists and the queues to get in wound across the road. We parked Tilly up outside the disabled slope and I went and asked the ticket girl controlling the queue where we could leave Tilly. She was completely thrown by this, but to...

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