County Durham
The hills had been performing a pincer movement ever since we left York trying to hem us in and force us to cycle over them but we had managed to avoid the worst of them until they snuck in a 17% hill just outside Stockton. We can just about peddle up a hill that steep, it’s just that we can’t stay upright as Tilly becomes a bit unstable when going less than about 3kph and we tend to wobble so much we look drunk, so we got nearly to the top and hopped off to push the last 25m before falling off. Since being ‘Up North’ our accommodation seems to have done a bit of a...
Read MoreYork
York Minster Someone’s done the decent thing and put the Town out of their misery Entering Yorkshire from Lincolnshire for us seemed a little odd. We always think of Yorkshire as being way up north, but in fact it joins Lincolnshire just south of Goole. We cycled into Goole through “Britain’s Premier Inland Port” with all of one ship in the Dock and onto the pedestrianised High Street for a coffee stop. The weather has been great for the last day or so and the sunshine and cold had people wrapped up to the nines but happily filling the street cafes but the thing that...
Read MoreHeading North…
On our rest day we decided to cycle into Peterborough, sans Panniers which felt really strange as Tilly handles so much better when fully loaded than empty. It’s quite the opposite of what you’d expect, but obviously she loves touring too. Peterborough really shocked us for its cycle infrastructure. Loads of dedicated cycle paths, with adjacent pavement, flyovers and flyunders across the big roads, cycle traffic lights all very European. The city itself though was surreal with the post lockdown queues for Primark being so long we actually couldn’t see Primark anywhere, it...
Read MoreThe Cambridgeshire Alps
Day two started bright and sunny and we hurtled along BMW alley to get off the stretch as soon as possible and on to some quieter back roads. Mission accomplished but the worrying thing was despite us alledgely heading to Scotland the signs for London kept getting nearer… Eventually we turned North and headed over the Cambridge Castle Camps ‘Pass’. I say ‘pass’ as we are, as many will know, Hill Averse and our route somehow managed to pick the highest point in Cambridgeshire for us to traverss, all 128m of it! OK, we’re officially wimps and God knows how...
Read MoreAnd we are off again…
With lockdown relaxed and travel allowed we packed Tilly up and headed off southwards to Scotland. I know, Scotland North, but our meandering route had to be planned in great detail rather than our normal, get to lunch and start thinking about where we will stay tonight attitude. And when I say headed off, we did that twice as we had to turn around within 500m as I’d forgotten my wallet! We can’t camp, we’ll we can if we can do without using the loo or having a shower until May 18th, so we’ve had to go for self contained Airbnb’s. You can’t book hotels or...
Read MoreParting is such sweet sorrow
Those of you who know me well will know I think of Shakespeare in the same light as Enid Blighton, Farage and Trump. I know people like them but I just don’t understand why. Bet you never thought you’d see a sentence with those four people in it did you? Anyway, his quote is appropriate for our departure day. It’s always sad to leave home, especially when you leave someone elderly – my Dad, Bob, is 91, though he seems to have moved the decimal point and is thoroughly enjoying his second childhood. He’s great fun to be with and is such a real character in his...
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