# lellow bike, 'nover lellow bike exclaimed the little girl...



## SatNavSaysStraightOn (14 Sep 2014)

OK - so for the title to make any sense you are going have to stay with me for at least the first 5 days.... and I will apologise to you all now, we were on the road for 13 days of cycling, so if you get bored I will understand .

The plan for our summer holiday was to cycle out of home, head up to follow the Trans Pennine Trail west to Southport, freelance up the west coast to the start of the Hadrian's cycle way and follow that to its end on the east coast, freelance down the east coast to the other end of the TPT and then follow that home again - roughly 650-700 miles... little were we to know how seriously lucky we were to be compared to this time last year when we were baling out of Glencoe with snow on the tops... 

*Day 1 Saturday 30th August*
88.7km from home to Hesketh Bank, Southport

It rained and rained and then rained a touch more overnight and when the alarm went off at 6am, neither of us was really ready to get up, but neither of us said anything to each other, so we both got up. Getting up and out was harder than it should have been and it takes so much longer to get 2 of us out of the house than when there is only 1 to get out of the house!






Still looking clean and fresh - shouldn't last too long...

Then for a while at least, familiar roads before we picked up the National Cycle Route (NCR) 5 and onto our first off-road section… We managed a stunning 30 mins into the ride before Stuart wanted to scent mark the first bush having covered less than 10km. At least it was twice the distance of last time we were out together! Then some mud, with the rear tyre slipping and a silent pray, more a hope that the shower that was passing over us was not going to get any heavier. I really didn’t want to start a cycle touring holiday with wet cycling kit or needing my waterproofs from the word go. It passed quickly by, as did the 2nd one without us needing to get our waterproofs out (whilst we were crossing the Runcorn bridge). The rain gods were silently thanked for their cooperation in this matter.





Ahh - the delights of off-road touring with sustrans routes! 

Soon afterwards we came across the first of the hurdles for the day. This one was literally a hurdle – I should have really photo’ed it but it was a gate across the track, padlocked so you could not open it, with a dropped middle section to allow a horse to step over it… only the dropped section was higher than the BB on the bike which meant the bike had to be lifted over the barrier. Stuart got to do some weightlifting exercise early on… I can’t lift my bike… Before long we were onto unfamiliar roads and cycle paths and onto the Runcorn bridge. I had read on cyclechat somewhere about the directions to use the bridge (one side only have a pavement and it not really being that safe to cycle the road – it wasn’t and we didn’t… we cycled the pavement – whoever it was that gave the advice – thank you, it was very useful). Then it was time to pick up the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) and follow it west to Southport.

What I had not done was read up on the TPT around the next bend… I don’t know if it would have helped knowing what was in store. Let’s just say that my handlebars being slightly wider and higher than Stuart’s (and most mountain bikes) caused some agro. The problem was a flight of steps – or more accurately several flights – all downhill, but each one having a hurdle part way down them to stop you cycling down them – fair enough, I can see that would be an issue – the problem was that the hurdles were too close together to get a laden touring bike through and the barrier too low for my handlebars to go under – Stuart was able to feed his bike under the barrier… mine was more interesting and required us to lift the rear wheel around as I inched the front wheel forward… Had we have encountered them in the opposite direction we would not have stood a chance…





The rain shower has passed and a touch of sunshine made the Runcorn Bridge almost look good...





Errr - cycle routes - steps... what?





Have you spotted the no cycling sign!

2nd breakfast was taken serenaded by Canada geese as they flocked onto the mud flats just before we left the River Mersey. Before long we were onto roads and following the TPT signs. I got a “WOOOOooooooowwwww” off a young lad after saying hello to him on his bike as I overtook him. He was with his father & younger brother. We couldn’t quite decide if it was a “female on a bike”, “female in lycra” or “female on a touring bike with panniers” wow, but he was definitely impressed and it made us both smile. 

Further on and we were soon to find ourselves on one of many converted disused railways which ran almost all the way to Aintree and I have to say you would have had no idea you were cycling through Liverpool because I saw none of it (thankfully – I hate cities).





Liverpool, honest!




Still Liverpool, honest.... (and sunshine!)

Somewhere just before Aintree we spotted a Sainsbury’s supermarket and in true holiday touring style called in for a coffee. After Aintree we dropped onto a canal for a short period and it was most definitely a drop – more steps and rather steep, thankfully there was a tyre rut down one side for the bikes, but it was so steep that the tyres had no grip and were skidding down it… I was grateful that it was only a short section and that there was no-one at the bottom when my bike and I arrived there rather more quickly than I had planned. Just as we were trying to decide which canal it was, we came across a mile marker saying “Leeds 119 ½ miles”, so with that question answered we carried on a touch until we met a couple of other cyclists – I wanted to know if there were any benches further up the trail or if we were best using the grass at the side of the canal – there were none, so after a quick chat, we found a suitable grassy spot for lunch and had lunch in the sun.






Then it was out on to the flat lands of north Cheshire and south Lancashire and both of us had forgotten exactly how flat that way (we met at uni in Preston many years ago…) We were also very grateful for a certain hedgerow which whilst it blocked our view, also shielded us from the wind because each and everytime the hedge disappeared or our route swung round into the wind, our speed dropped drastically….
After a blackberry picking session (for breakfast tomorrow) Southport soon arrived and we quickly found the start/end of the Trans Pennine Trail and got chatting to another cyclist (Nick Walkley) who was cycling the TPT trail raising money for the James Watson Fund For Brass Players.





Not quite the end of the trail for us, but it isn't really the start of the TPT for us either... Still we may as well get the photo at both ends because we will be cycling all of it... won't we?

From there we could see the rain heading in but amazingly it missed us completely. We were north of it and heading away from it thankfully – reading Nick’s blog entry he got rather wet in it! Heading out of Southport I spotted a sign I should have stopped to photo at a RSPB reserve, it was on the gate and said “Wildlife only”! From there it was onto the campsite and time to get the tent up before the rain arrived on us, which we were fortunate to manage to do. The campsite was £10 for the night for the 2 of us, has a single toilet & wash basin (hot shower going in for next season) in a summer house and a kettle in the unmanned reception area (along with tea, coffee, sugar, milk powder etc) and a book swap/50p donation area. They also have picnic benches, so Stuart is happy!

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296306/overview


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## potsy (14 Sep 2014)

Will follow this write up with interest, done the Southport TPT leg twice now, certainly some interesting obstacles to stop it being boring aren't there?
Some people manage them better than others though, don't they @I like Skol? (yes that is him cycling UP those steps)


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (14 Sep 2014)

*Day 2 - Sunday 31st August 2014*
Bolton Le Sands - 82.94km
(part 1 of 3, too many photos!)

I think we are probably the first cyclists in history to have their tent attacked by a bird of prey during the night! Let me start at the beginning…

I was woken in the night by a thud. Something/someone had either hit the tent, tripped over a guy rope or an elastic had broken. A quick check by torch between the inner and outer confirmed it was not the latter and that the tent appeared from the inside at least, to be OK. It was still standing and there were no obvious problems, so given there was no swearing and I could hear no movement, I went back to sleep…In the morning, I had forgotten about the ‘incident’ and whilst I went to the bathroom, I asked Stuart to give the tent a quick once over with the tent towel to make the most of the dry weather with the hope of taking down a dry tent (It had rained heavily overnight). When I got back to the tent, Stuart greeted me with the words “you are not going to like this” and my heart sank. What he showed me was 4 holes on 1 side of the seam and another on the other side. He had found them highlighted by soft downy feathers when he had been wiping down the tent. The down stuck to the tent by the water droplets. From what we can guess, either a bird of prey missed its prey and hit the tent with talons extended or mistook something on the tent for prey… either way, it hit the tent with talons extended and that is what I had heard. The problem is that that area is over my feet (and sometimes my head) and is no longer waterproof and this is the first night of our holiday. Now strangely whilst I have a sewing kit handy, and could sacrifice either the tent bag or the footprint bag (both are of the same type of material as the tent outer) I would then need to seal the stitches and unsurprisingly the seam sealant is at home! So some innovation is needed. 





Early morning light...





Some wandering peacocks and peahens...

Now over the years I have used self-adhesive inner tube patches to patch all sorts of things from the tent footprint (where they are still going strong – 3 of them in fact) to my waterproof cycling top after a discussion with some barbed wire to quite recently my sleeping bag – trying to stitch something full of down is exceedingly difficult. All are still well adhered, so having made sure the tent outer was thoroughly dry, we now have 4 of them covering the 5 holes on the tent outer… Tonight will be the test, it is due to rain heavily again. Worst case scenario we go through Kendal, Windermere and Ambleside tomorrow where I should be able to get what I need to repair the tent if the inner tube patches don’t hold up!





4 of the 5 holes...





My DIY cyclist repair kit came out again.

Hopefully that is all 3 incidents for the tent now – it has been gnawed by a mountain lemming (far north of Norway, Grense Jakobselv), tripped over by a reindeer (just don’t ask) and now attacked by a bird of prey. If it wishes to feel picked on, I will understand!

Getting into Preston was easier and less stressful than anticipated. My memories of the A59 from x many years ago had come back to haunt me in the planning stage, but I had finally come to my senses and realised that if we set out from the campsite at 8am we would be doing it early on a Sunday morning and it should be OK… And indeed it was – in fact it was a doddle and we were in Preston before long and promptly missed it all when we picked up the “Guild Wheel” cycleway and bypassed yet another town… There was one hurdle through the marina though – and if you are even there cycling it, ignore the signs for the cycle way when you get to the bridge across the railway line almost at the marina – just cycle across the railway – the barriers are a nightmare to negotiate with a laden touring bike. 





The River Ribble looking quite nice from the Guild Wheel cycle path opened 2012.

We also came out of ‘Preston’ much further down than either of us expected and before long were at Clifton and turning off another road that should have been a nightmare to ride (Preston to Lytham) and wasn’t because it was still early on a Sunday morning…. Then came a toll bridge – 20p per cyclist.





A first glimpse of something less than flat!

Before long a veg booth at the side of the road with an honesty box scheme – we just wished some of the ‘portions’ were a touch smaller, but we did pick up the veg for our evening meals for the next 2 nights for a total of 80p… I know who to splash out don’t I? Next we also came across a shop, to buy the tinned tomatoes to go with the pasta – the veg booth only had 1kg size bags of fresh toms and we didn’t really want either that many or fresh toms this early in the day. That had our evening meal sorted, just breakfast left to pick…

Lunch was delayed slightly by us spotting a picnic sign on the map and sure enough there was a picnic site with new picnic benches around a lake. A leisurely lunch was thus taken, and then it was onto Glasson Dock for a 2nd lunch. 





The lunch stop.





Lunchtime entertainment was put on by some swans.

Stuart got coffee and cake, so for him a dessert rather than 2nd lunch, but my allergy to dairy meant no cake for me, so a plate of chips was the order of the day!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (14 Sep 2014)

*Day 2 *Part 2 of 3

From there we followed the NCR 6 off road to Lancaster where we were able to stop off and pick the blackberries required for breakfast tomorrow. NCR6 also did a good job of almost bypassing Lancaster – this being as close as we got to it other than when we used a new pedestrian/cyclist bridge to cross the river.






Before long we were on the Lancaster canal, which although the surface is tarmac it is in very poor condition which made slow progress, but we were in no rush and were well ahead of schedule and it was getting warm in the sunshine.





A bridge on the Lancaster Canal





A little glimpse of the Lake District from the Lancaster Canal

We managed to arrive at the planned campsite for 3pm – we could have pushed on, but we already have a short day tomorrow (60km if that). We had debated pushing on, but with UK campsites it can be quite hard to know if they actually take tents, so we stayed with our plans and called it a day early on. The site we are on overlooks Morecambe Bay and cost us £12 for the night. We are on a hill, with a good breeze, sitting in sunshine looking at the Lake District.





Just prior to arrival at the campsite - taken from my bike.





The view from the tent looking towards Morecambe Bay.





The view from the tent looking north east (ish)





The tent (still feeling picked on!)...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (14 Sep 2014)

*Day 2* (Part 3 of 3)

With time on our hands, we also went for a couple of walks watching the sun go down. Sadly there was no spectacular sunset because the next weather front is on the horizon and fast coming in but the evening light was excellent.









































http://www.strava.com/activities/194296208


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## Pat "5mph" (14 Sep 2014)

What great pictures, SatNav, keep going


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## welsh dragon (14 Sep 2014)

As pat says. Great photos..


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## Mo1959 (15 Sep 2014)

Not long in from visiting my Dad and Step Mum so this has made lovely bedtime reading. Look forward to it being continued.


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## Rickshaw Phil (15 Sep 2014)

Keep the write-up and photos coming.


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## ScotiaLass (15 Sep 2014)

Looks fantastic! I enjoy reading your reports and of course, the photos!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

*Day 3 - Monday 1st September 2014*
Low Wray, Windermere, 60.7km

The sun did disappear behind the cloud bank last night, and it rained overnight. When the alarm went off at 6am it was still raining, so given that we knew we had a short day today, in the age old fashion of cycle touring we cancelled the alarm and had an hour’s lie in. Life looked so much better at 7am without rain! Thankfully the inner tube patches have held and stuck well and the tent has remained waterproof, so we will risk not picking up any seam sealant and keep our fingers crossed.

We headed off back towards the canal to follow that for a short period, before locating a supermarket, doing a touch of shopping and then leaving the ‘flat lands’ and heading off into ‘climbing country’. It didn’t take long to find 1st gear, but sadly there were not much in the way of views to be had because it was country lanes, high hedges, woodland and sometimes grass up the middle of the road. It was also quite dull, so when we did get a view, it wasn’t great, so to speak.





The best of the views today - it was very cloudy early on.





Lumpy country now...


Lunch found us in Kendal, back on the ‘not much distance covered before lunch’ routine, but today it really did not matter. We knew we didn’t have far to go and this was deliberate because of what we have planned for tomorrow… (gulp)… So when we found a bench next to the river in Kendal, and the sun was almost out, and it was almost midday, we stopped and had lunch…





Smile - you're in the photo again!

Leaving Kendal, I spotted a bike shop and Stuart was sent in to purchase some cycling shorts – he has managed to leave his ¾ length shorts at home and literally only has the ones he is wearing – which are winter weight cycling longs. I also asked him to purchase some more inner tube patches just in case we actually need some for the bikes – this is mostly to cover ourselves more than anything else because we are carrying a spare inner tube each as well, but at the rate we are going, we may need more patches for other bits of equipment!

Leaving Kendal was and up/down event, but progress was hampered by hysterics when we came across a field of cows with a bull in it. We were doing fine right up until the bull literally said “moo” rather than actually mooing. Unfortunately, he repeatedly said “moo” and appeared to have missed the point that bulls should not try being a soprano! Cycling uphill whilst laughing hysterically at a bull is not something either of us succeeded at, so we had to stop…. This is the bull in question…





A touch of sunshine and the soprano bull who says "moo". 

Before too long we were on the main Kendal – Windermere road, or more accurately the cycle route that is alongside it and is actually in very good condition – the tarmac being smoother and better than the road surface! We found a café in Stavley and had a chat with a guy with a lovely collie. He offered the use of his field overnight, but sadly we had to decline because we really did need to make a touch more progress than we had mad at that point! Then somehow we missed Windermere completely. It is entirely possible we were enjoying the downhill too much at this point, having baled to the road because we were rather faster than was safe for a pavement cycle path with pedestrians on it. You always know when you are having fun going downhill because cars stop overtaking you and start holding back, a long way back… But missing Windermere was a pain because it now meant we had to divert into Ambleside for bread and we also need to purchase another gas cylinder which turned out to be easier than expected when I spotted a Cotswold Outdoors in a garden centre on the outskirts.... cue SNSSO disappearing left in front of OH who had not seen the same...

Going through Ambleside was the chaos expected, with the added bonus of a suicidal pedestrian walking off the pavement in front of me whilst I was going downhill following the last car in a queue quite closely and not that slowly … even other pedestrians yelled at him to stop – he had never looked after the last car went through and it was that close that I couldn’t even get to my brakes let alone apply them in time.  Thankfully I was able to swerve in front of him and recover. I was too pissed off to bother stopping which was probably a good thing in hindsight.

3pm found us at the campsite, minus the blackberries required for breakfast, so we just had to go for a walk… Campsite fees £11.50 for the night.





Not many campers now, but it has been a very busy year apparently - and the grass or lack of it, shows the wear and tear.





A view from the blackberry hunt...





Another view of Lake Windermere





Blackberries were successfully hunted around this boat house.

Now for an early night, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow - the Wrynose and Hardknott Passes! 

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296249


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

*Day 4 (Part 1 of 3* because I stop to take too many pictures...) - *Tuesday 2nd September 2014*
St Bee’s, 72.33km

We slept well last night, which was good news given what was lined up for today. We woke to clear skies and calm weather, but 100% humidity with the mist rising off the land and water.





6:20am and Lake Windermere looks rather pretty...

We managed to be on the road for 8am and it wasn’t long before the climbing started. And it wasn’t easy from the word go and that was before we had even reached the bottom of what in our minds was the start of the climb for today. To make matters worse, the sky was blue, the sun was out and it was hot! The battle paint (sun block factor 50) had to be applied early on.





Yep - that is today' plan.  

It didn’t take long for Stuart to disappear into the distance – not helped by me wanting to take photos... The usual approach is that he cycles to the top of the climb and waits for me, but this was never going to work on a day like today… We had both the Wrynose and the Hardknott passes to do and we were doing them east to west, that’s the harder direction… It was also not helped by the passage of cars which can’t pass bikes on this narrow road at the best of times and by tourists who just don’t think… top that off with an uneven road surface…















Look - I even got my bike into this picture!






I know that I cycled up more of the Wrynose than the Hardknott pass, but there were long section where I had to concede defeat and push the bike up, mostly because once you have stopped you can’t get started again on a +20% gradient… We met one road cyclist who looked terrified – he was going down the Wrynose pass heading towards Ambleside slower than I was going uphill! 





Sorry about the quality issues - I was not feeling my best... almost at the summit and the last of the view back the way we had come up.





Another attempt, this time without the bikes and after a few minutes breather...

We had an early break at the summit of the Wrynose pass for a much needed coffee & sandwich before heading off down the Wrynose pass on the way to the Hardknott pass. I did try to get a photo of Stuart but he sped off into the distance and ignored by requests to return and try again… 





The "I really don't care what I look like" pose at the summit of the Wrynose Pass...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

*Day 4 - Part 2 of 3*





Downhill for a short period...





Err - can you come back please, I didn't get you in the photo....

At the bottom of the Hardknott pass we met 2 more tourers on Thorn Sherpa’s and stopped to have a chat in the middle of the road as you do… eventually both parties conceded that we needed to return to climbing and we said goodbye and headed off up the Hardknott pass. Even Stuart had to concede defeat on this pass and push his bike up the hairpin bends. It seems that 30% is too much even for him! We stopped for another breather and photo at the top of the Hardknott pass and set up an action shot of Stuart cycling down it…





Somewhere on the way up the Hardknott pass.





Looking back at the Wrynose Pass - which is now in shade and I'm not... typical...

We were both much faster down the passes than the motor cars were which was causing us a problem – we couldn’t overtake the cars so had to sit behind them…. timing was essential but the great thing about being fast down the passes, is that oncoming vehicles do stop for you!

So whilst we have cycled over both passes, I can’t honestly claim to have cycled up either of them. I will happily claim to have cycled down both of them though! I was also filmed cycling over both of the passes by passing motorcyclists… now if only I could track down that evidence…





The 2 bikes one cyclist photo at the top of the Hardknott Pass...





The 2 bikes, 2 cyclists and a couple of blades of grass at the top of the Hardknott Pass photo.... 





Ready, steady....





Crap, can you come back please - I missed the shot!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

*Day 4 (Part 3 of 3)*

Lunch (I hope you noticed that I did manage to get up and over both passes before lunch!) was taken somewhere down in Eskdale where we spotted several steam trains on the Ravenglass – Eskdale railway and blackberries were abound, they were collected for breakfast tomorrow. Then it was onto Ravenglass to find the start of the Hadrian’s Cycle Way which we were going to be following for the next few days across the Pennines and into Tyneside.





Found in Ravensglass...





Also found in Ravensglass...





A rather inauspicious start to the Hadrian's Cycle Way.





That 72 is the only indication that this Roman Bath house is the start of the Hadrian's Cycle Way at this end of the route!

We stopped for a drink at the railway station in Drigg for a coffee where there is a nice café and then headed off to continue northwards… 





We've just come from over there...

Well that was the theory and it was working fine right up until Sellafield where there was a single diversion sign for the NCR 72 (which is the Hadrian’s Cycle Way HCW) and then all trace vanished…





Back to the delights of Sustrans routes and off-roading on touring bikes. Actually it was not that bad.

We also managed to pass Sellafield at shift change, so the road was rather busy, but given the number of staff there that cycle, the drivers were pretty used to cyclists so it wasn’t a problem. When we knew we had lost all trace of the NCR 72 diversion, we headed off towards Beckermet where we refound the NCR 72 and promptly headed off in the wrong direction… in the end we quit with it for a short period because our campsite was not on the route anyway and headed off down some back lanes towards St Bee’s where I was told off by another cyclist for giving way to a car!

The campsite is the most expensive we have had so far, but we need a shower and the alternatives were a single toilet and cold water tap, so let’s just hope the showers are worth it. £18 for the night.
OK – back from the shower, and they were definitely worth it despite their initial appearance! Hot and plenty of water.





The view from the tent as the sun went down...

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296216


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## Spinney (15 Sep 2014)

Excellent stuff - keep it up!
Used to live in Carnforth - those shots of Morecambe Bay on day 2 made me quite nostaligic!


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## Smurfy (15 Sep 2014)

This thread is awesome! Your pictures and accompanying blurb are fantastic!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

Spinney said:


> Excellent stuff - keep it up!
> Used to live in Carnforth - those shots of Morecambe Bay on day 2 made me quite nostaligic!


It was weird cycling in the Preston area for us because we spent 3 years there at poly/uni where we met!


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## Rickshaw Phil (15 Sep 2014)

Well done getting over Wrynose and Hardknott.(Who cares if you pushed a bit - you still made it under your own power. )

I spy the boathouse at Wray Castle in the day 3 pics - I presume it was the Low Wray campsite you stayed at.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (15 Sep 2014)

Rickshaw Phil said:


> Well done getting over Wrynose and Hardknott.(Who cares if you pushed a bit - you still made it under your own power. )
> 
> I spy the boathouse at Wray Castle in the day 3 pics - I presume it was the Low Wray campsite you stayed at.



yep it was - seemed the best option. We had considered the campsite at Rydal water which has just had a new toilet block but the traffic on the road was a touch busier than we would have slept through so went for the NT campsite instead...


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## MikeW-71 (15 Sep 2014)

Wray Castle boathouse.... The College kept their canoes in there and we all had to learn how to handle them. Capsize drill in autumn without a wetsuit was... cold 

Good memories


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## Fubar (15 Sep 2014)

Brilliant thread SatNav, looking forward to the rest of it!


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## nickyboy (15 Sep 2014)

Having gone to school in Lancaster, born in Carnforth near Bolton-le-Sands where you stayed and lived in Kendal the photos bring back a lot of memories. Looks like a lovely holiday


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## gavgav (15 Sep 2014)

Fair play to you even attempting Wrynose and Hardknott @SatNavSaysStraightOn !! @Rickshaw Phil is determined to get me cycling over it one day.........hmmm, we'll see!


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## Pat "5mph" (15 Sep 2014)

Somebody posted a link on here recently, I think it was about the 10 hardest climbs or such, the video showed a peloton cycling over the Hardknott.
Only a handful did not walk some. Well done, Emma!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

*Day 5 (Part 1 of 2) - Wednesday 3rd September 2014*
Boustead Hill - 104.15km

It’s proving hard to remember everything that happened today. It was a long day. I know we both slept well, and I know that we took down a totally dry tent (inside and out) and were off the campsite for 8am. I also know it was uphill from the word go and it was a steep uphill to start the day on.






Sometimes, I 'find' photos on my camera that I know I didn't take.... this is one of them . They are hit and miss if they work because my OH knows little about photography and that means whatever setting I had the camera on when the last picture was taken, is what is used... this one has worked. "Sunrise" from the tent this morning...

But, I’ll start with the name of the journal. Just as we were leaving St Bee’s, we passed a little girl in her pushchair waiting at a bus stop with her mother. The little girl spotted me, or more accurately my bike and announced to the world in general and with great delight “lellow bike”. Then she spotted Stuart and his bike and got very excited in the way only a young child can “nover lellow bike”. We both smiled and turned to wave at her, getting a wave back in response and an apologetic smile from a rather embarrassed mother… A little bit further up the road and Stuart told me we now had the name for our journal…

So, back to the cycling – well that first uphill was a good climb which was one of those steeper at the bottom easier at the top climbs, but the view when we got to the top made stopping very worthwhile. It was looking back at the mountains of the Lakes and they were in layers of soft apricot that only mountains do so well…











Before long we dropped over the top and down into Whitehaven, found the HCW and found the start of the C2C route… well we are doing a coast to coast of sorts, so that start was also photo’ed. In fact, really we are doing 2C2C if you think about it . We also met another tourer just starting his C2C and had an interesting chat with his about the Power Extreme solar panel charger we have (useless) and an alternative which we have seen several tourers using now (Voltaic Systems).





Well we are doing 2 Coast 2 Coasts, just not one of the 'official' ones...

From there, we followed the railway and the promenade out of Whitehaven which meant we had a nice flat section and before long we soon found ourselves in Parton where we picked up one of very many disused and converted railways which took us into and out of Workington without really seeing any of it…





The easy way out - along the sea front.





A route 72 marker...

In Maryport we found a very nice café in the climbing centre where we were able to bring the bikes inside and for the first time this holiday actually found some dairy free cake – I have been absolutely starving today, so did not resist the temptation to try both dairy free cake options… Chocolate Pecan Brownie (very nice) and Apple Crumble Slice (OK)…. This was in addition to breakfast (porridge with blackberries and (separately) a hard-boiled egg), 2 Nakd bars & 3 choc chip Hobnobs… all before 10am and I can tell you dehydration was not a factor! After some food shopping we left Maryport by another sea level promenade before ‘joining’ the coast road. I say ‘joining’ because this is a sustrans route and the road has a very good new cycle path alongside it (well – very good for the most part that is)… It did remind us of an area of the North Sea Cycle Route in Denmark we have cycled that was until the notice for cyclists to watch of for flying golf balls… How I am meant to dodge one I have no idea…. Now if they meant stationary ones on the cycle path…. But that is not what the sign indicates… 






At Allonby we raided a chippy – the Codfather, for some thoroughly excellent chips in large portions… My body seems to have one thing on its mind/stomach today and that is a need for food and peanut butter sandwiches were just not going to do today…





They didn't last long. I honestly think I could have eaten them all by myself! 





Lunch view at Allonby - the weather hasn't been great for photos today, but excellent for riding...





Our lunch view...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

*Day 5 (Part 2 of 2)*

Somewhere between Allonby and Silloth we were tormented by the smell of a brewery which left me hungry yet again… The daily blackberry picking also happened along this section. About the only interesting thing in Silloth (other than the fact we were missing the beer festival which will be at the weekend) was the church which had a Viking boat for a weather vane/lightning conductor. Oh and the high street is cobbled and long and I am sorry to say that I baled to the pavement at this point… it was, wide, quiet, tarmac and smooth: the road was hell…






Then we entered the area around the Solway Firth – well it may well be an area of “outstanding natural beauty” but the sad truth is that there was very little to see or be seen because it is so flat and the hedgerows to high and we may as well have been cycling on the moon…. We saw nothing of it sadly…

Not long after leaving Silloth, we both noticed that our Cateye Micro Wireless cycle computers were intermittently playing up. First Stuart’s which has always been more temperamental than mine, and then mine, before they both packed up completely. We have seen this effect before when cycling through wind turbine farms, but this time the only thing that was obvious was a radar antenna array… Stuart informs me that it is a VLF (very low frequence) array for submarine communications and the power being put out was (once again) blocking our wireless cycle computer communications…. We lost around 20km off our trip meters from this ‘device’. In the same place, we did finally get a little bit of a view (at Anthorn) where I was able to take some OK shots of the area to give an indication of what the estuary looks like…










The light today has made photography on a small compact camera interesting - that and the totally flat land around here...

Further on down the road we entered the RSPB nature reserve by a gated road. I mention this because the gate is just around a corner and whilst there is a sign saying gate, it has been knocked over and a certain husband of mine didn’t see the flatter than usual sign and…. Well I had to yell at him to stop before he collided with said gate…. We didn’t see much other than cows and sheep in the RSPB nature reserve but it was a marginal improvement on the Solway Firth and the numerous hedgerows we had seen….
















Just before Port Carlisle we came across a sign with took me at least a while to work out…






Now I know I am a simple person, but I was left wondering exactly where on the sign the water had to come up to to be 2 foot deep… yeh – I know…. Too obvious, too literal – even the bottom of the sign is more than 2 foot off the ground…. Stuart eventually confessed to the same thoughts before tactfully pointing out to me that the water across the road would be level with the sign…. OK I think we are probably a little tired at this time….





What does my OH get up to when I am off taking photos?

We are now at a small farm campsite, (£15) but we have the place to ourselves. It’s basic but has a surprisingly well equipped kitchen (shared with the stables) which has a fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle & toaster as well as free coffee and tea and there is a shower…

Our evening entertainment was laid on by a Sparrow hawk that repeatedly tried raiding the hedgerow less than 15m from us.





The last of the light...





The camping area - no vehicles can get here... (except for the ride on mower...)

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296243


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## summerdays (17 Sep 2014)

Just before my middle child went to school she told me that cat starts with "ker" (as in phoneticically but I don't know how to write the sounds), dog starts with "deh", and that Lellow starts with "le"!  I decided that she was correct for what she was actually saying!


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## Mo1959 (17 Sep 2014)

I love the way kids mis-pronounce some things. It always sticks in my mind what my wee brother called onions........yun yuns


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## w00hoo_kent (17 Sep 2014)

When little ours used to pronounce 'knife' as 'life' particularly fine when coming out as the sentence, "can you get a life please mummy?" Also pencils were monals, we have no idea why.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

*Day 6 - (Part 1 of 2) Thursday 4th September 2014*
Greenhead - 54.34km

Unsurprisingly we both slept well. The Sparrowhawk laid on some breakfast entertainment for us and it looked like we were in for an early start until Stuart failed to bring his bike up to the kitchen area. Going back to find him, I found his bike upside down and him in the process of removing the rear wheel. Neither of us could find the cause of the flat tyre and neither of us could get the inner tube to deflate either! It was exactly the same situation I had back in Brecon in July and it was exactly the same type of inner tube from the same batch (we know this because of the length of the valve – abnormally long, but it was all we that was available when we set off on our big tour). Neither of us was keen to trust the inner tube again, so assuming a valve fault, we switched out the tubes and no longer needed to worry if the supermarket in Carlisle would actually be open when we got there!

After a coffee and catch up on the smartphone whilst waiting for Stuart to do the shopping (when I do it he complains I take too long in the shop, so I have resolved this issue by ‘allowing’ him to do the shopping, double checking he has purchased everything we need and then sending him back for a 2nd attempt… this policy works best if you have raided the café first!).
As we were leaving Carlisle, Stuart announced that Carlisle can be pretty…. We were cycling through a park at the time and had missed most of the centre out!





It wasn't quite as dull as the photo suggests but...





it wasn't the brightest of days either.

And before we knew it we were leaving Carlisle and crossing the M6 for the first time this holiday and on our way to the Pennines. Little really happened until we reached a hamlet called “How” where we found a hill, decided enough was enough and stopped for lunch at the top of it because I was really struggling for some reason. However, we never planned for today to be a long day because we had rigged the route across the Pennies and where a lot of the sights are along Hadrian’s Wall to take 2 days so that we could actually see some of the wall and sights. Stuart has never been and I only have vague memories of being driven passed it as a child, watching the scenery go by… the wall didn’t really feature in my childhood memories – more I wanted to be out in the scenery not in a car…





The sun came out briefly... (looking back towards Carlisle.)

So not long after lunch, we arrived at Lanercost Priory and having spoken with the nice lady in the ticket office, our bikes were ‘watched’ and we abandoned them to their fate whilst we wandered around the priory and church. Parts off the priory reminded us of Waverly Abbey where we used to live in the south of England in the way that the roof had been done.





The priory was actually quite interesting to walk around.













Though the B&B left a lot to be desired… 





Some general scenery along Hadrian's Wall.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

*Day 6 (Part 2 of 2)*

After tea and cake (dairy free!), there was a long steep climb out of Lanercost which whilst one of the steepest ones today was actually much easier on me due to having had a good rest. We stopped a couple more times at various turrets & mileforts before stopping again at Birdoswald where having sorted the bikes & their storage out we were able to have a good walk around, but to be honest it was a touch disappointing.






Nope - a cycling together photo in that direction is not going to work...





So where were you Stuart? This was an attempt at both of us cycling along Hadrian's Wall... but it failed....





Some general scenery - don't jump. For some strange reason this is to the south of Birdoswald - I guess it meant that they soliders really did have to fight to defend the fought because they would not easily have retreated down that hill!





A bit of Birdoswald...





The last we will see of the actual wall... It carries on, the road swings round and down (then very sharply up!). Just down the down was the car park with some bicycle parking - we didn't use it but took the bikes in through the ticket office and left them in the courtyard in front of a security camera - reception also kept an eye on them, but there was no issue again.

A few miles further on and we were at a small private campsite (also has a camping barn) in a walled garden overlooked by Thirlwall Castle. Camping tonight £10.





Tonight's spot.





And the toilet - have you spotted the shower? 





Sunset from the castle.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296198


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## Spoked Wheels (17 Sep 2014)

It was actually the word "lellow" that brought me to this thread  as my 3 year old grandson also says "lellow", so cute .

I have to say I really enjoy your writing style.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

RRSODL said:


> It was actually the word "lellow" the brought me to this thread  as my 3 year old grandson also says "lellow", so cute .
> 
> I have to say I really enjoy your writing style.


wait til you read what we threw at the wheel you rebuilt on the last day (should you wish to stay that long that is )... all is well (except the hub has an oil leak and needs to go back to Rohloff, but that is nothing related to the wheel rebuild)...._ no broken spokes_ despite the best part of 100km off road and some of it very technical & laden... tested out mtb skills to the limit, I can tell you! drop offs, steps, loose large rocks, steep descents and lots of going downhill at 8kph or slower! not to mention no grip on the surface we were riding on, long sections of rocks laid down as 'cobbles' to reinforce the track and badly rutted tracks.... sadly mine is now slightly out of true but it has covered over 11,000 miles....


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## Spoked Wheels (17 Sep 2014)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> wait til you read what we threw at the wheel you rebuilt on the last day (should you wish to stay that long that is )... all is well (except the hub has an oil leak and needs to go back to Rohloff, but that is nothing related to the wheel rebuild)...._ no broken spokes_ despite the best part of 100km off road and some of it very technical & laden... tested out mtb skills to the limit, I can tell you! drop offs, steps, loose large rocks, steep descents and lots of going downhill at 8kph or slower! not to mention no grip on the surface we were riding on, long sections of rocks laid down as 'cobbles' to reinforce the track and badly rutted tracks.... sadly mine is now slightly out of true but it has covered over 11,000 miles....


Interesting but I have to say, the wheel does have one strong rim and there is no dishing, so no wonder it's a tough wheel. For me, the real challenge is your husband's riding style, specially the way he likes to chase up other cyclist up the hills  if the wheel can cope well with that then I think I did a good job with the rebuild


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (17 Sep 2014)

RRSODL said:


> Interesting but I have to say, the wheel does have one strong rim and there is no dishing, so no wonder it's a tough wheel. For me, the real challenge is your husband's riding style, specially the way he likes to chase up other cyclist up the hills  if the wheel can cope well with that then* I think I did a good job with the rebuild *



He went up the Wrynose, Hardknott and Woodhead passes as well as some tough and unnamed ones in the north Pennines and he chased a few other cyclists as well.... He had covered much less distance on it on our world tour when the first spoke broke in Ireland. so I agree, you did a good job and should be pleased with yourself! thank you.


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## Archeress (17 Sep 2014)

Thank you for the thread. I'm enjoying reading it.

Hugs
Archeress x


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## Spoked Wheels (18 Sep 2014)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> He went up the Wrynose, Hardknott and Woodhead passes as well as some tough and unnamed ones in the north Pennines and he chased a few other cyclists as well.... He had covered much less distance on it on our world tour when the first spoke broke in Ireland. so I agree, you did a good job and should be pleased with yourself! thank you.


Emma, that's very kind of you, thank you. 
It's very rewarding to read that the wheel coped with the demands of a powerful rider and probably a few kilos of camping gear. 
It was also rewarding to work on a very different wheel too. Thank you.

Keep posting.... I'm enjoying it.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (18 Sep 2014)

*Day 7 (Part 1 of 3 - too many photos again! ) - Friday 5th September 2014*
Ovingham - 61.37km

Apparently the skies cleared quite early last night, so Stuart tells me which explains 2 things. 1) why I was curled up in a ball actually using the sleeping bag (OK as a quilt still but…) and 2) why the tent was so wet on the inside - heavy condensation. It was actually a cold & misty start to the day and both leg warmers and the sleeves to our ‘transformer’ cycling tops were worn this morning, but we both knew they would not last long because once that mist burnt off, or we climbed up out of it, it was going to be a very hot day.

It was also going to be a very difficult day for me. This had nothing whatsoever to do with cycling, more to do with photography clashing with cycling. OK cycling was the reason I was there, but it was a day when if I had had by big camera with me (and I am known to cycle with it), we probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere this morning!





Thirlwall Castle this morning.





It is going to be one of those photography days...

As hill starts went today’s pretty much out did anything we have done previously. It was chronic! I only just made it without stopping, and that had more to do with the rest overnight than my fitness. My lungs need time to warm up and 100% humidity that is also very cold is not a good way to start the day for a severe asthmatic trying to cycle up a very steep hill (+15%) on a touring bike. At the top of that climb, both the leg warmers and the arms came off and I then cooled down taking a few photos…





The top of the first climb told me everything I needed to know about today... hot, cold, wet, dry, sun cream and I want to be taking photos...





Oh the fun I could have had with the big camera this morning... 

I then played chicken on the next downhill which was a long fast downhill, riding the brakes, not wanting to go too fast because I would get too cold…

At Haltwhistle I convinced Stuart to purchase bread and supplies as we passed a co-op… It was a move that was to prove exceptionally useful later on in the day. Somewhere between me, photos and the scenery (plus needing to send in search and rescue to get Stuart out of the co-op in Haltwhistle) we managed to arrive at Vindolanda just as it was opening at 10am.





Somewhere east of Haltwhistle





Somewhere east of Haltwhistle





Looking back towards Haltwhistle





Looking back towards Haltwhistle





Marginally further down the road from Haltwhistle...





Nearly there for today's sightseeing...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (18 Sep 2014)

*Day 7 (part 2 of 3 - still taking too many photos )*

(We have arrived at Vindolanda - definitely well worth a visit btw, unless you don't like the romans and archaeology... in which case please skip this section because there is a lot of square and oblong rocks in the ground and only the last photo really has a scenery on it... )

There were, thankfully, no issues with them looking after the bikes and panniers, so we were able to have a good look around. Chatting with them, it turned out that they were happy to see cyclists, but sadly get few because most cyclists just put their head down and don’t stop. I did point out that we are so used to not being able to leave our bikes (and kit) anywhere that often we don’t even bother trying to stop to see if someone will watch thousands of pounds of unlocked kit for us!










Not many visitors yet... it has only just opened for the day.

Sadly the café at Vindolanda didn’t have any dairy free options (except for black coffee) but kindly pointed me in the direction of the gluten free cake (having watched me check the ingredients of it before I asked – it was gluten free and only gluten free…). I don’t quite understand why when I ask about dairy free, people reply no, but we have gluten free – great, but still useless to me - I'm allergic (as in 999 and anaphylactic shock) to dairy products not intolerant to gluten...















Replica wooden and brick towers built back in the '70's to see how the Roman's built them and also to see how they weathered in the environment.















Roman bath house.

By now it was lunchtime and time to cover some ground, so after finding a spot in the car park that was in shade, applying the battle paint (factor 50 suncream) and having lunch, we headed off to start with another lethal climb. The only blessing was that the tarmac was newly laid, so silky smooth and we met nothing because the road was 6 foot wide and the only thing that could have passed us at this point would have been another cyclist/motorcyclist. Even meeting a car would have meant us having to move off the road and I was having a hard enough time staying moving up that hill as it was… At the top of the climb, or part way up depending on your definition I found time to stop and look back at where we had come… always a good excuse for a photo… sorry that should read a photo is always a good excuse for a rest…





Looking back at Vindolanda.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (18 Sep 2014)

*Day 7 (Part 3 of 3)* - Roman/archaeology haters are now safe again...  well safe-ish....

Some general views of the area...





First stop, sorry photo stop on the way up the hill...





2nd stop... getting easier now but I still rather like that view and it is behind me, so I just have to stop....











Further up the climb as it eased off, Stuart spotted a NCR 72 marker which turned out to mark the highest point on the HCW we are following, 255m above sea level along with the distances to each end.




The marker - highest point on the Hadrian's Cycle Way.





In detail....





This bit of Roman is a touch beyond me... but it is a nice touch and I thought it worth getting the detail...

Photo taken we then enjoyed, and this is no understatement, 11km (≈7 miles) of downhill. I would have stopped to take a photo or two more, but I have been married long enough to pick up on the warning signs and we had had both the best of the scenery and the best of the light by this point. It had started to cloud over and we were now on the east sign of the Pennines. It didn’t take long for Sustrans to decide we had not done enough climbing for the day, taking us back up and over a ridge only to bring us back over it again a little further on – no cyclist in their right mind would plan a route like that…. But we had decided to follow the route faithfully (baring diversions for campsites) and also didn’t know what the route had in store for us.

Coming in to Hexham we did the train whistle under a blind railway bridge (cycle track only at this point) only to meet a cyclist coming towards us with a huge grin on his face – well it worked, he knew we were there but I’m not sure what our response would have been if he had also train whistled… Pausing at a road junction further on, to let a pedestrian across the road in queueing traffic, said pedestrian decided to have a chat with us… after a few mins he wished us well and we headed off to hold up all the traffic over a narrow bridge – such is life. To make matters even more fun, we then turned right immediately off the bridge, some drivers just don’t seem to be able to cope with people wanting a slower pace of life! The road we turned onto was meant to have been a small single track, quiet back lane. It was all that except QUIET… there was a constant stream of vehicles of all sizes – way too big for the lane, using it. Eventually we found out why – a major bridge crossing the river was closed for 12 months for repairs and all the traffic was diverted down this narrow country lane!

Somewhere in amongst all of this, and I don’t quite know where or the correct order anymore, we passed through Corbridge. Here we found a shop – it would have been a café if the place had not been so very busy with other tourists, and had a breather (embarrassing 2 mtb’er who had tried hard to overtake us earlier in the ride (along a flat section) and not really made that much progress – we both think they thought they were fitter than they were, lol). Drinks and snacks followed and it actually looked for a while like it might rain – though it held off. Rain is forecast for this afternoon, evening, tonight and even tomorrow morning (Ahhhh we might actually have to get the waterproofs out!)… but so far it hasn’t.

Then it was on to the campsite, so a slight diversion off the HCW. Paying for this campsite proved rather difficult/impossible. Reception was unmanned, there was no price list, no letter box, no honest box and despite ringing the number provided on the door and leaving a message, by the time we came to go to sleep, no-one had arrived or called me (in fact they never rang me back…). The only other thing to note about this campsite were the 4 chickens… nothing major there, but they inspected us thoroughly clucking away as they do. Even pecking at my boot whilst I sat writing my journal up. What was interesting about them was the clucking noise… it was musical… that is all I can describe it as. Think of a bugle playing the first notes of “The Last Post” now change that to a hen clucking and you have Stuart’s musical chickens… (honest)






http://www.strava.com/activities/194296214


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## Archeress (18 Sep 2014)

Looking forward to the next installment x


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (18 Sep 2014)

Archeress said:


> Looking forward to the next installment x


that may take a few days sadly - hospital appointment this afternoon, and back on the 22 mile each way commute tomorrow... but I will see what I can fit in


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## Archeress (18 Sep 2014)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> that may take a few days sadly - hospital appointment this afternoon, and back on the 22 mile each way commute tomorrow... but I will see what I can fit in


Good luck for this afternoon x


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## Spinney (18 Sep 2014)

Great write-up. Liked your 'pac-man' sun a few posts back! 

Went on a bike ride from Cockermouth out the the NW Cumbrian coast once. A bit cold and breeze, but weather not to bad. But the verdict when we got back was 'OK, we've ticked that bit, we don't need to come here again!.


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## Hyslop (18 Sep 2014)

What a wonderful read,super pictures and narrative,.Im really enjoying your ride with you.An added bonus is the fact that you passed me just as you left Drumburgh,I was sitting on a seat watching the world go by,when you appeared(I remember the bikes) heading for Burgh,one of you waved,and I wondered where you were headed.Well,now I know! hope you enjoy the rest of the ride,Im certainly enjoying following your progress and I look forward to the next bit!


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## Ern1e (18 Sep 2014)

Thankyou for such a riviting read and the pictures are superb ! I must confess this is something I would love to do and reading this well I think it's got to go on the "to do" list.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (19 Sep 2014)

*Day 8 (part 1 of 2) - Saturday 6th September 2014*
Dalton Piercy - 96.56km

Well no-one came around for the camp fees and with nothing displayed, no honesty box and not even anywhere to leave some money (I had even left a voicemail message saying we were trying to pay…), last night became our cheapest night so far! Free. And the musical chickens were up and out this morning and entertaining Stuart no end – he is so easily entertained! It rained last night, but luckily by 6am this morning was easing off and starting to stop – breakfast was taken under the sheltered kitchen area of the campsite and whilst I took down a wet tent, it was dry all day bar one brief shower whilst cycling up a long, hot, sweaty hill and to be honest, the shower was a relief! It is also the first rain we have had during the day since leaving home 8 days ago!

The morning was pretty much spent cycling old disused, converted railways, dodging pedestrians and dog walkers and finding our route. We also spotted several curlews and herons on the Tyne estuary, but sadly with the light (grey and flat) against a grey mudflats on grey water, with grey (ish) birds, they would not have really been anything to see on a photo, so they were not photo’ed but the curlews in particular were very close to the cycleway; if only the light had been better….






The Wylam Waggonway was one of many paths today.

It was also spent with a realisation of what a lucky escape we had had and this was to become more and more apparent as the day went on. We were meant to have had a rest day by now, and should have been here tomorrow… Here being cycling through Newcastle Upon Tyne which is hosting the Great North Run tomorrow… lucky escape or what? As it was there were some events on and Newcastle was exceptionally busy and a part of the HCW was diverted (somewhere around the Millennium bridge). We stopped off at a cycling café just passed the bridge for a coffee and toast and whilst I was sitting at a bench watching over the bikes a cycling instructor (bikeability) came up to me to ask me if I was there for lessons – all I could do was smile, point to the 2 touring bikes (next to the table I was at) and comment that I thought I may be a bit passed that stage! Thankfully he saw the funny side of his mistake and after a quick chat about what we were doing went off to find his ‘pupils’ for the day!





Spotted - hard to miss really, somewhere between Newcastle Upon Tyne (sorry but I grew up in that other Newcastle so just have to use its correct name... ) and Tyneside.

Then we set out to find the end of the HCW on the north side of the River Tyne & also hunt down some gas for the trangia… I managed to get a good picture of Stuart with the end/start sign and then the sun came out, so the picture with both of us in it, isn’t quite so good…





View from the north side's East End/Start of Hadrian's Cycle Way. For some peculiar reason the end point is part way up a little steep climb... not at the top of it, or the bottom, but part way up! 





Testing the lights OK... yep - now need to find somewhere to balance the camera or a person... no people around...





Err - not so good... oh well - I never look good on photos anyhow!

Cycling back towards the ferry, I spotted the old marker buoys that have the relevant NCR numbers painted on them – photo opportunity if ever there was one…











What to do with retired buoys! I know paint them and mark them up as cyclists signs! 





A touch of light....

And then it was to the ferry for the end point on the south side of the river… The wait for the ferry was longer than hoped for but I did spot this marker sign for NCR 1 & 72. I saw it last time we were here but didn't photo it... this time I intended to...





Now where else can we randomly put NCN signs? inside of a doorway on a ferry that is only visible when the door is open? Yeh - that will be fine ...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (19 Sep 2014)

*Day 8 (Part 2 of 2)
*
The late ferry also meant we were not able to spend as much time at the south end of HCW as we had hoped. I needed food because I was getting the shakes (one of my medical conditions (Addison's disease) requires careful food management if I am not to get the shakes and need hospital attention) and unfortunately we had not managed to purchase any bread for lunch yet. At Fort Arbeia one of the men working there volunteered to take our photo at the Fort, which was really kind of him, but I did managed to have a quick look around the indoor museum. Whilst it is great to have finally completely a UK ‘long’ distance cycle path, it is quite an odd feeling as well…





Spotted whilst cycling towards the South End point of HCW...
















The other end/start point of HCW - confusing isn't it. There are 2 of them on the East side of HCW... one on the north side of the river and one on the south. So which one do you set out from/end at? Both naturally!





Arbeia Fort





Arbeia Fort

Lunch ended up being a chip butty, but the chips were nowhere near as good as the ones at Allonby… Then we needed to escape the setup chaos that was the Great North Run… Oh I am glad we were not doing this the day of the run… talk about a lucky escape!

I had planned the route to follow NCR 1 this time, rather than freelancing out of Tyneside/South Shields as we had done when we were here 3 years ago, but I don’t think I had really taken into account the variation of surfaces we would encounter… Both of us liked the route, but we were both very grateful that we had not done it 3 years ago! I’m not entirely sure where we came across a massive flock of starlings, but they lined the roofs of a block of terraces, a village hall and all the surrounding trees but it was a great sight to see. I only wish we had been there around dusk…

Somewhere around here (on the NCR 1) on that long uphill where we over took quite a few mtb’ers it also tried raining on us…. I say try because it was one of those, where is that coming from – don’t care it is quite refreshing rains which lasted for about a minute of fine cool rain and then disappeared again…

Further on and the range of surfaces on NCR 1 was, well interesting. It went from broken tarmac, to shingle/shale, to large chunks of rock that our tyres rebounded off, back to tarmac, earth, mud, muddy single track and bizarrely, at one point board walks! I say bizarrely because I thought we were cycling along a converted disused railway, we were at the top of a long hill (where we had had great fun overtaking many mountain bikers…) and suddenly it resembled an abandoned canal with boardwalks for the only option…. Stuart nearly got to rescue a female cyclist who almost came off in front of him – we were at a passing point on the boardwalks when a long line of cyclists came through, she was the last cyclist and well, panicked for some reason, hit the brakes that hard that the rear wheel came off the ground by well over a foot and how she didn’t end up in the water was beyond all of us!





Why do hills never look as steep or the surface as bad in photos?





This bit ended up being a 1st gear grind simply from lack of grip... my rear wheel was spinning all over the place.





This was a disused railway, honest!  It was also at the top of a hill... Luckily boards don't phase either of us and these were more than wide enough and then there were even passing places!

We finally arrived at the campsite too knackered to really care that we were less than 3.5km off a metric century. We have stayed at this campsite before, but sadly it appears that they are trying to stop taking tents now, however with us having stayed before, they took us. The plan is to stay here for 2 nights, they have good facilities including washing machines and dryers… Sadly there are no musical chickens for entertainment, but it does seem that the local children (schools have not yet gone back here) think we are the entertainment! £10 per night for the 2 of us.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296272


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## Fubar (19 Sep 2014)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> *Day 8 (Part 2 of 2)
> *
> We finally arrived at the campsite _*too knackered to really care that we were less than 3.5km off a metric century.*_


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## Dave 123 (19 Sep 2014)

Excellent, as ever!


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## Sara_H (19 Sep 2014)

SatNav, I LOVE your travelogues.Your routes always look so fabulous. If I win the lottery or marry a rich man with a weak heart, I'm going to offer you a post as my travel route organiser.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

*Day 09 - Sunday 7th September*
Today was a rest day, spent washing, eating, cleaning & drying clothes and cycling kit and moving the tent away from some very noisy neighbours in a caravan the otherside of the hedge! It was also spent eating and doing our best to eat our way through the Tesco Extra which was just (OK 13km bike ride) down the road... Their supply of vegan/dairy free veggie food was severely depleted...  

*Day 10 - Monday 8th September 2014*
Fylingdales Moor - 85.9km

Last night Stuart asked a seemingly simple question regarding the Middlesbrough Transporter bridge – namely what time did it start running in the morning? Last time we had arrived on a Bank Holiday to use it and it had not long started running that day… So simply humouring him (this was after all a Monday morning, and not a bank holiday or a Sunday…) I looked it up. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it has been closed since January for repairs and a repaint! An alternative was needed and rather quickly and there are not many alternatives to the transporter bridge as it turns out! In fact for cyclists, there is only 1 alternative – the A1048 and it is a not a great alternative – but better than the A19 on a Monday morning. So with that sorted we settled down for the night – it was already starting to get chilly; in fact it is finally cool enough (not cold enough, just cool enough) to start using the sleeping bag as a bag rather than a quilt!

The morning dawned bright and sunny and before long we had a dry tent to take down despite a very heavy dew and internal condensation. It still never ceases to amaze me at how quickly this Hilleberg tent dries out after a quick wipe down! Not much really happened other than it clouding over by 8am. We got to the alternative bridge we had planned only to find it too was closed and the traffic was diverted onto the A19... We looked at the A19 – it was stationary so would not have actually been too bad, but decided to take the standard cyclist approach and ignore the road closed signs and were ‘rewarded’ with a small ‘access for cyclists and pedestrians has been maintained’ sign! That made life much easier and yes, the bridge was closed and just to make life fun the pedestrian/cyclist access side was the side we were not on and didn’t have a dropped curb… (This is a problem on a laden touring bike, I can’t just pick my bike up and lift it up the curb and even bouncing the bike up a higher curb can be difficult!)

We quickly re-found the planned route, picked up fresh bread and further on down the ‘road’ soon reached the conclusion that the planned route was not suitable for touring cyclists and tbh was may not have been a bridlepath either – but we only decided on that when we made it to the far side and failed to get our bikes through a locked gate (having cycled round the edges of numerous fields and tracks to get there)… bikes unloaded, lifted over the gate and re-loaded we were soon on our way again, but today was going to be one of those days… We soon found our way blocked. One way led to a farm and the other ‘access’ was a footpath and therefore not a valid option (laden touring bikes and styles are not compatible even if you are pushing the bike up the footpath…)

We had until this point been trying our hardest to avoid the A171 which runs from Middlesbrough south up and over the North York Moors. It is the main road that runs along the east coast and I wasn’t that keen to cycle it to be honest! It was also a national speed limit dual carriageway at that point… However, someone, somewhere was smiling on us today because the entire length of dual carriageway had the inside lane coned off in both directions for grass and hedge cutting and given that they had already cut the grass on our side, we had our own private lane!

Whilst cycling along this section, a roadie caught us up and pulled alongside Stuart for a chat, commenting that we were ‘well laden’… actually we are not, but hey ho… He then took great delight in informing us that the North York Moors are not flat… What is it with road cyclists and the <insert swear word here> North Yorks Moors? (This happened last time as well!) We know it is not flat... do you really think touring cyclists are that naïve?

Lunch was taken at the top of the first climb (15%) which we both did without stopping and which we both did on the pavement (sorry folks but it was safer than the d/c up the climb) and strangely we never encountered any pedestrians walking up the climb!





Lunch time views (or toilet view - read below!)





Lunch view... or toilet view...

We did have one laugh whilst eating lunch... A minibus arrived at the car parking area and out of it got a youngish woman (definitely city girl) who went straight over to the burger van and asked where the nearest toilet was... she was 'advised' rather loudly that she was looking at it (he pointed over to the gorse bushes beyond us) and told to make sure she found herself a good view and squatted down lower enough to be out of sight... the burger man even gave her a napkin and asked her to make sure it found a litter bin afterwards... I think we all contained our laughter until...

After that the pavement vanished and it was back to the road, now single carriageway, so for the duration, our rackpacks wore our hi-viz jackets and the rear lights went on… We are slow on some of the climbs and can be as slow as 4kph! For a while it was pretty rolling with easy climbs…





Who says the North York Moors aren't flat?





More of that rolling scenery...





And yet more...





The she's taking photo's pose...





OK - its not all flat - you get these sudden sharp dips, but they do give you something else to photo...

Then we dropped into Whitby and froze… it was a long downhill and neither of us were really expecting it! Sheesh it was cold…Spotting a café sign at a garden centre, there was little objection heard from my OH when I suggested a stop to get warm again… Not really knowing what to do with the bikes and with people taking really large ‘trolley’s into the garden centre, we just wheeled our bikes in as though it was a perfectly normal thing to do…





Whitby Castle Abbey from the garden centre café.

Once we had warmed up, and put on some warmer clothes (arms added to our tops so converting them from short sleeved to long sleeved tops) we headed back out. It didn’t take long to get cold again and at one point my teeth were chattering as we finished the descent into Whitby! The climb back out soon had us warmed up again though! Also having made use of the wi-fi at garden centre we had checked out our planned route for tomorrow and soon realised that whilst we could do it, it might not be as enjoyable as we would like, so we rearranged our route for the rest of today, changed our planned campsite (nothing booked, just the one we were aiming for) and stayed with the A171. As it turned out, it was way too early in the day to have headed off to our original campsite as it was. 3 more +16% gradient climbs soon had us wondering about the wisdom of continuing and also soon had us much warmer than we wanted on the climbs!

At one point we had one of those “oh no please don’t” moments with an old (and I mean old) motorhome that got stuck behind us. It was only stuck because the driver could not make up his mind whether to overtake us or not… We were on the approach to one of those down and ups that the North York Moors are famous for, a sudden drop with a bad bend one way, then drop again with a bad bend the other way, then one of ‘those’ climbs…. On the approach I had seen a long line of vehicles all stuck behind a huge yellow double decker bus coming towards us. I couldn’t see all of the road in between me and the double decker and it was lost from sight, but I knew it was there… Cue the motorhome taking the most inappropriate moment to try to overtake us both! Just at the point where I had met the first of the bad bends (sharp right), the motorhome tried to overtake. I swore at him loudly – I may well have also been shaking my head at him as well… “not ****** now, not in front of that **** big bright yellow double decker bus that is about to come around that blind corner” I don’t know if he heard me, Stuart certain did because I heard him snigger, but luckily the motorhome driver changed his mind just before the bright yellow double decker arrived on the scene… Mind you talking to Stuart later on he hadn’t seen the double decker bus either! 

We are now at Grouse Hill Caravan Park which whilst signed as being on the A171 is actually up and over a hill away from it, so that the road noise is not too bad and it is quite quiet (£15 for the night) and we have just watched a sundog (parhelia) which lasted for 10-15 minutes which surprised both of us because the cloud layer has been such that we didn’t expect to see a sunset let alone a sundog.





The Sundog (Parhelia) or a rainbow without the rain as I ended up explaining to someone once... For those wanting to know more (and it is actually very interesting) please see this link at the Atmosphere Optics website.





The 'full' view. Shooting into direct sun is quite difficult and even at -2EV the sun is desperately over exposed still, but this is taken with a little compact camera and not really the best thing to be dealing with the requirements to photo a sundog.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296220


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## Sara_H (22 Sep 2014)

Lovely photo's once again - Very envious of yoy travels. It's an Abbey btw, not a castle!


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## Archeress (22 Sep 2014)

Next installment please! 

Hugs
Archeress x


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

Archeress said:


> Next installment please!
> 
> Hugs
> Archeress x


busy typing as I, errr, type this... just got the photos to edit (I don't take in JPEG so have to convert them to JPEG to be able to upload them....)


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

*Day 11 - (Part 1 of 2) Tuesday 9th September 2014*
Goxhill - 85km

For some strange reason this morning, the tent was full (and I mean full as in +20 or more) of daddy long legs… Yuck... And that +20 count does not include the dead ones that I subsequently found between the innersheet and the footprint and also under the footprint. Double yuck... I guess the flock of pied wagtails is going to have had a feast when we left! We were also surprised at taking down a dry tent (inside)… Not to mention the fact that we were on the road for a reasonable time as well…  And for the first hour we made reasonable progress, though why exactly we had to do so much climbing to come _off_ the North York Moors I have no idea, but it did warm us up. Sadly, the decent off the top was not quite as good as last time we were here (when it lasted pretty much all day), but then the climb up had been much easier this time as well… Can’t win them all.

I tried for a picture of the view on the descent, but the scenery seemed to be in the way all the time and when I finally got a ‘view’ there was more shrubbery in the way…





The only gap in the hedge... there was a nice patch of light in the bay, but...





the scenery got in the way 

I had one of those bizarre conversations with Stuart regarding the North York Moors and them being flat with all up/downhills being imaginary. We were on a steep downhill section at the time…
Him: could I let him know what it was he was not meant to see (downhill), so that he wouldn’t see it when it didn’t happen or not… 
All I could do was remain silent whilst I had an attempt at translation. He followed on with him not seeing the short, sharp, steep, downhill flat section where we touched +60kph and set off a few speed cameras… Apparently he asked me, I said yes, so it is all my fault! With logic like that, I can’t argue after nearly 18 years of marriage!

I’m not sure at what point we upset a landrover driver… I assume we upset him with his hare-brained overtaking manoeuvre (in a 30mph zone) whereby he swerved back to our side of the road so violently that he hit the curb and mounted the pavement. I was so glad that there were no pedestrians around at that point! Perhaps it was the section where we set off the speed cameras…

Then we returned to following NCR1 and progress slowed considerably, as is always the way with Sustrans routes… At some point there was a Sainsbury’s so a café stop and some shopping was called for and Stuart got to cycle along the front at Scarborough so he was happy. 2nd breakfast was called for at Osgodby where the village green was really well kept and looked after and a new bench put in last year (talking with one of the volunteers).






The scenery was still rolling with one more +16% climb to come which was just manageable. Somehow knowing a climb is 16% instead of 15% make it so much harder!





Much more rolling and agricultural now, but there is still one more +16% climb to come.


Somewhere around Hunmanby Stuart made the comment that at the next bench we would stop to have lunch. Now we had just left the last town/village so we were really not expecting any benches, so you can imagine our surprise when less than 5 minutes later at a seemingly random crossroads there was a bench… lunch was taken much to passers-by surprise! I don’t think that bench gets much use!

After lunch the scenery became more rolling and agricultural, but the light made it really nice. We were then to part company with NCR1 – it doing a detour I had no intention of doing.





General Scenery





I just liked the trees, but sadly the light was not really in my favour at that point.






A pee stop with a view... I know you can't take me anywhere


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

*Day 11 - (Part 2 of 2) Tuesday 9th September 2014*
(sorry took too many photos again!)

Just before Lissett we came across a war memorial to 158 Squadron of Bomber Command where the local wind turbines which have been erected on the site of the old RAF base have been named after the various Halixfaxes and crew/service personnel killed (Jane, Bondie, Zombie, Lili Marlene, Maori Chief, Goofy’s Gift, The Menace, Friday the 13th, Xpress Delivery, Git up dem stairs, Minnie the Moocher and the ground crew who died when a 1000lb bomb exploded without warning (Corporal Leslie Tomlinson Fielding, AC1 Jack Ezra Laycock, AC2 Robert George Mills, AC1 William Mithan, AC1 Lewis Daniel Moore and AC1 Kenneth Darwin Taylor)).




















From there it was a case of we are too early to stop at our planned campsite (in Atwick) so we found the start/end of the Trans Pennine Trail in Hornsea and another cyclist volunteered to take our photo. He declined the return offer, on the grounds that he only ever takes pictures of his bike at the destinations rather than him and his bike. We were chatting with him when 2 road cyclists turned up having "completed the TPT" - this is in quotes because there is no way any road bike can complete the TPT in anything other than spirit (we have ridden it and even I would not take a road bike along some of it!). Sadly they were pretty rude actually so we said our goodbyes to the other cyclist and left to head out down the TPT to our next campsite option, just as the schools were coming out...





Us at the other end of the TPT - now all we have to do is get back to where we started the TPT... 

We find ourselves the only occupants of this campsite, so hopefully it will be a peaceful night before we head off to York tomorrow.





Our campsite for the night...





And an unexpected sunset...





No Sundog tonight, but some nice colours in the clouds around the sun as it went down.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296223


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## Archeress (22 Sep 2014)

Again, again! X


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

*Day 12 - Wednesday 10th September 2014*
Stillingfleet - 104.5km

Humidity this morning was around 1,000% despite there not being a cloud in the sky and it was one of those mornings where a window scraper would have been more use on the tent than a towel! It was only what can be described as a wet take down and I really didn’t want to start the day off with a cold shower (shudders). Luckily there was some warmth in the sun from the word go so I soon warmed up again, then using the shortcut back to the TPT that had been pointed out to us (through a gate in the campsite and round the field perimeter) we were soon back on the trail and heading towards Hull.

The surface was, err, interesting in places and was usually worst on the tarmac sections where tree routes had grown up forcing the tarmac up and this hampered early progress






Stuart made it a staggering 3.5km before needing to scent mark an old railway platform – in fact I may name out next world tour (yes we are saving to be able to get back out on the road, but it will be a good few years down the road so to speak) “Scent marking his way around the world!”






Some of the barriers on the TPT left a lot to be desired (difficult with a touring bike) and some areas of Hull, err well I didn’t want to stop in, to be perfectly honest. Sadly my bladder had other ideas and we had to stop at an Asda in Hull for me to use the loos. Sadly because one ‘gentleman’ had Stuart that uneasy (mostly with the way he never said a word, staring at the bikes the whole time, and something to do with the way he looked) that Stuart didn’t even want to leave me alone, let alone me with the bikes… The shopping could wait – that way at least there would be bikes and a wife to return to!

5-10 mins further down the road and we found a park that we were happier stopping in – 2nd breakfast was called for – my body not giving me much choice in the matter – when it demands food, if I don’t eat I get the shakes and we go nowhere… and a little further down the road we came across a Sainsbury’s. Stuart by now feeling considerably happier and safer and happy to leave me with the bikes, went off and did the shopping whilst I sat with the bikes (and a drink). Before long I was in a conversation with a nice gentleman and his young son starting with the usual “I’ve never seen them (Thorn bikes) in the flesh before” (If you have a Thorn bike you will know this conversation… 

Soon after that and we were going under the Humber bridge – more loos were handy and whilst Stuart scent marked one of them I took a few photos…





Looking quite nice for something man made!





The light helped though!

The TPT trail then decided to take us up the only hill in the area (at Welton)… Lunch was followed by a stiff climb. The view from the ‘top’ was OK but we have had much better/nicer and recently so we just enjoyed the downhill





Lunch View and a handy bench in the shade.





Apparently we haven't done enough climbing yet this holiday....

Then we were out on to the flat lands – it is the only description I can give with a variety of surfaces, usually tarmac, but not always. We also met a number of other tourers, who all seemed to want to give us advice! We are not certain if we look too fresh, too clean, too relaxed or simply too energetic/not knackered but almost everyone we have spoken to over the last day or so and especially today seem to think we have just set out. We are ‘only’ +550 miles into our trip which is coming as a surprise to most people when we simply comment that we are only using the TPT to get home…





Some of the varied surface of the TPT

At Blacktoft we made use of the village hall/old school for some help yourself for donation tea/coffee top and then pressed on to our next stop at Barmby on the Marsh where it has to be said that we were seriously doubting the trail at this point! The trail being 6-8 inches wide, gravel and resembling a little used footpath! It was only a tiny TPT sticker on a tiny post that confirmed we were indeed on the correct trail – it wasn’t as if the trail could have gone anywhere else, it is just you start to doubt yourself when it looks like this





More of that varied TPT surface!

We have reached the (premature) conclusion that the only surface we hadn’t done today was beach/sand when further on we came across a section of concrete blocks… we had forgotten about that as an option; cue the feeling of being back on a 1970’s BR train… chi-chunkichunk, chi-chunkichunk over and over again…

In Selby we had a TPT diversion sign and with Stuart now on the digital navigation due to a slight Garmin issues before we left, we managed to miss out Selby completely. The diversion was unknown to me when I mapped out our route digitally and spotting that our route went off in another direction, he bee-lined for it straight through a concrete (?) factory! Selby was therefore missed which was a shame because he had forgotten to pick up a few key items of food like jam, peanut butter and matches so we were now on a hunt the village shop option…

Somehow going through Barlby we missed all of the shops – this is something that trails such as this one (or any sustrans route) are exceptionally good at doing – taking you round towns and away from all concepts of food! The day was only saved in the very last village we were to cycle through which had 2 shops! (don’t get too excited, they were a Premiere and a Nasa) though I did have to send Stuart back in for matches…

Going through Riccall I spotted a water cooling tower that looked very alien, so in my usual style I commented that it looked like a monster, then tried for a triffid. Stuart in his usual style hadn’t got a clue about what I was going on about because also in his usual style hadn’t seen it… He finally spotted it when our route went within 20m of it and promptly corrected me, it was a Martian from the War of the Worlds… It has been one of those days.

Then it was onto a great cycle path that runs between York and Riccall and we spotted a 1/3rd size model of Voyager 1 on the trail – soon afterwards we found Neptune as well, but somehow seem to have missed Pluto… Sadly we had to turn off before we found anymore planets otherwise I would have been inflicting those photos on you as well!

Oh and to make life really good fun, my garmin decided to run out of power at 96.6km today! Ahhhhh so the stats for our 2nd metric century for the month came from my trip and Stuart’s Garmin!





The campsite (Home Farm - can't tell you how much because we haven't managed to pay yet...)





The sun had some interesting colour to it, but sadly was to fade out with the pollution in the air and there was no sunset.

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296252


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## Archeress (22 Sep 2014)

Thank you for keeping me entertained today 

Hugs
Archeress x


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

*Day 13 - Thursday 11th September 2014*

After some debate and finally finding out that we were on a bus route into York, we took the bus into York - that being the whole reason we were here today.

Walking out of the campsite we probably had the best laugh of the journey so far. Picture the scene: a track running down the side of a field which has cows in it. The field next to the track (separated by a fence) also has cows in it and both sets of cows have 'met' at the fence for the morning 'moo'. All fine and good so far... now realise that there is a white 4x4 style car sitting with its reversing lights on prior to the herd of cows which are blocking the track... seems the cows were winning the discussion until we come along on foot. Now you would have thought that the car driver would have been able to manage/handle a herd of cows with a car, but no. Even when we had cleared the cows off the track so we could walk passed them the car driver did not follow us (we live with a herd of cows and frequently end up rounding them up when they have escaped, so this is nothing unfamiliar to us!), and the cows closed back in over the track - cue us clearing the track again, to get back to the car.... then a third time to keep the track clear whilst the car driver (whom Stuart has now told in no uncertain terms to follow us or we will just leave them there) finally picks up the courage to drive passed the cows! We have no idea how long they had been sitting there, but it was a 1/2 km long track and they never passed us and we never registered any vehicles leaving the campsite area as we were getting ready to go and stand at the road to flag the bus down... Anyhow, it left us chuckling to ourselves for a while... cows 1: driver of white 4x4 0

So why have we come off our route and headed back north, well some of this holiday includes so sightseeing and we had chosen York and the National Railway Museum to go and sightsee in... so here at the pictures... And no, we did not have the entire museum to ourselves, despite what the photos may suggest!

I have selected a few of my favourites from the museum... if you want to see more, please see my CGOAB journal where there are plenty more photos of steam engines without people in them!
Oh and there was another day of feeding up - so we raided a veggie/vegan restaurant at lunchtime...  which was actually quite difficult because I am not used to actually having a choice of what I can eat when I eat out!


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## Fubar (22 Sep 2014)

Brilliant, loving this! Didn't know about Sundog's either, next bit of reading...


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (22 Sep 2014)

Fubar said:


> Brilliant, loving this! Didn't know about Sundog's either, next bit of reading...


It's an absolutely fascinating website. I have been fortunate enough to witness then many times over the years and also have seen mock mirage sunsets as well as earth shadows which are surprisingly common.

http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402946.html - mock micrage sunset (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402967.html - mock mirage sunset double reflection on the loch, (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_3402955.html - mock mirage sunset with a very faint sundog (Shigra, Sutherland)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_2409231.html - sundog (Bhlatos, Isle of Lewis)
http://www.aramok.co.uk/photo_5199411.html - The earth's shadow (surprisingly common, Loch Rannoch)


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## Hyslop (22 Sep 2014)

Wonderful,absolutely wonderful.ive thoroughly enjoyed this trip with you both.Shame about the miserable roadies that you met,Cumbrian roadies aren't at all like them but then,WE do come from Gods County,thats why we have The Vale Of Eden!Icant select a favourite photo but I was very impressed by the memorial to the Bomber Command fallen.That must be unique surely?Once again many thanks.


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## Telemark (23 Sep 2014)

Hurry up, SNSSO, next installment, please!  I can't hold my breath that long ... 
Great write-up & photos, thanks for posting ...

T


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (24 Sep 2014)

*Day 14 - (only 1 more day to go after this...) - Friday 12th September 2014*
Rockley Abbey nr to Pilley - 109.4km

It was an up and out this morning, we knew we had a long way to go and thankfully the tent was not as wet from dew and condensation as it has been for the last few days. We were on the road just before 8am and made good progress for most of the day. We headed off towards Naburn (north of where we are – when our overall route is south…) and picked up the TPT from there, coming in on the solar system somewhere around Uranus, so there seemed little point in photo’ing the few planets that remained  - probably just as well because there is only so often Stuart puts up with me stopping to photo things and when I had suggested (2 days previously) getting photos of all of them if we cycled into York, it had been met with stony silence before a curt remark that I could do it after our evening meal by myself…. Pluto was, however, still missing, but someone else has obviously noticed this and drawn it in on the ground roughly where it should be… 

It didn’t take long to get into Selby, and even less time to get out of Selby because true to Sustrans style we bypassed all of the shops (that we needed) and ended up on the Selby Canal and were out of the town before you had really appreciated you were in it! We didn’t stay with the Selby canal for long (sadly) and were soon on really quiet roads, in fact we had the distinct impression all morning that something major had happened and no-one had told us! We barely saw a living soul all morning! Soon after Selby we got to cycle down a disused (except for a gliding club) airfield… this struck me as a really good place to try for another of those “look there are 2 of us in the team” riding photos!





Team photo time... OK it still needs practice on the timing but it is getting there...

The route today was one of those confusing days where to follow the Trans Pennine Trail heading in a westerly direction involved considerably more east than it should have done. There is nothing more confusing that looking at a sign post that says Trans Pennine Trail East Selby pointing to the west and Trans Pennine Trail West Doncaster which is pointing to the east… Luckily I had marked the route on the paper map we carry, so this sort of thing does not ‘phase’ us and I knew it was going to happen, but it is still a touch confusing to cycle east when you are trying to head west! It was somewhere along one of these easterly cycling sections that the sun came out (albeit briefly) when the weather front finally cleared and it went from exceptionally chilly to too hot in the space of 10 minutes… Thankfully the next weather front brought in some shade but it has remained one of those days where it is warmer stationary than when moving. It is also very muggy.
Going through Skyehouses I cycled passed a garden that I just had to turn around to photo. My step-father has been talking about putting in a small scale model railway into his garden for some time now (including talk of an extension from the railway in the summer house down into the garden…) so when I saw a 1 foot wide gauge railways (I assume a steam engine is involved here) in someone’s garden, I just had to turn around and photo it. Sadly the house looked empty at the time otherwise I might have been tempted to have found out a little more info than my OH would have appreciated!





The railway went all the way around the bungalow...

The New Junction canal was a delight to cycle along, though sadly short lived – a lovely nice, wide and smooth tarmac surface.





Just pretty





Rather larger than we are used to for the concept of a canal, but the surface was great for riding on.

Lunch found us having made surprising progress for the morning – most likely something to do with how flat it was around the area, but to have already covered 62km and stopped before midday for lunch caught us off guard! Lunch was taken in Tollbar where we borrowed one of the benches at the anglers club – there was no one there and we were not disturbing anyone and well, it seemed such a nice spot for lunch…

From there it was more disused, converted railways, some gravel, some track, some hard mud and some tarmac. The Doncaster Greenway started off really well but deteriorated, though thankfully nowhere near as badly as the Hull section did!





The start of the Doncaster Greenway.

And before long we were cycling alongside the River Don which was great – but we were definitely glad it was dry. We could see that it would not be a great route (on a laden touring bike) when it was wet and muddy! Along the River Don we also came across a new (to us) style of cycle gate which once we had worked out, was actually surprisingly easy and pleasant to use, much better than the kissing gates we have along the River Weaver where we live (we now avoid them even when on our mountain bikes with no panniers they are that bad!)





Stuart negotiating a new style (to us) of cycling gate





Looking back towards the east down the River Don with the TPT trail in the foreground.





Looking towards the west - but not the route we are heading along - we are going along another old, disused railway...

It has also been a day of road crossings and those horrible A frame cycling gates that you can just about wiggle a bike through, though trying to do this with panniers on it horrible. Sadly some of these gates were simply too narrow even for Stuart’s handlebars and I frequently had to resort to the prop the bike up, walk through the barrier and hold the front brake on whilst lifting the front wheel up off the ground to raise the height of the bars above the barrier to get my bike through. It is a very tiring process.

Somewhere around Barnsley we ended up flagging down a passing cyclist to ask about a supermarket when it became apparent that our route was successfully bypassing all attempts at shops yet again. So with a minor diversion on our hands (going off up another branch of the TPT trail towards Leeds I think it was) we headed off to find a Tesco’s (café stop as well…)

Sadly the diversion meant that the 1,000km photo for the holiday ended up at the most unscenic place possible! I had jokingly stated to Stuart that what with the diversion for shops, I bet that 104.8km would happen at a certain point and it did… The TPT bridge across the M1 of all places! We started a every thousand km’s photo on our big tour, and given that this is the first tour since then that we have covered more than 1000km we had decided to continue with that… A passing local cyclist offered to take our photo after a brief explanation of why on earth of all the scenic places we have cycled on this holiday we ‘wanted’ our photo taken on the M1 bridge!  He also kindly pointed out that certain unwanted graffiti had recently been covered up by the council, so at least from that point of view the photo is clean! 





Such a scenic background for the 1,000km photo of our holiday!

Then it was off to find the campsite, onto normal roads (most of today has been off-road (60-70%) and exceptionally quiet/deserted roads for the remainder). There was an interesting decent into the campsite (so glad we are not going back up that tomorrow morning) and a sign at reception that I should have photo’ed but was just too tired (something about never mind the dog, worry about the owner!) and a case of getting ready for a really long day tomorrow. So to sum up today, a quiet day where not much has happened – other than our 3rd metric century of the month, that is. Oh and the campsite fee was £10 - I know how to splash out don't I? 





Look, you don't need to go to the Med for 2 weeks to top up your suntan! Cycling around England for 2 weeks can have the same effect!

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296253


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (24 Sep 2014)

*Day 15 (Final day - part 1 of 2 ) - Saturday 13th September 2014*
Cuddington - 128.1km

This is the following day speaking…. In other words I was too knackered last night to write up my journal when we finally made it home (well after dark!). So the next time I plan the single longest day for the last ride, with the most off-road (roughly 90-100km of off-road) and tough off-road at that, with the most climbing (900-1,000m), crossing the Pennines, take this as proof you have my permission to shoot me – please shoot me, save me from myself - someone has too....

OK – it was the earliest start of the holiday… and it should probably have been a touch earlier than it was, 5:30am. It was another wet take down, but today it didn't really matter - we would be home in our own beds by night fall wouldn't we! Leaving the campsite was hard, there was a steep uphill climb in both directions, thankfully we were going off in a different direction to the one we had arrived from; I’m not certain at that time in the morning, without a warm up, that I could have managed that climb! At least heading off in the opposite direction we didn’t know what was coming!

Then it was off-road time (where we were to spend the vast majority of today) and this one was not an easy start – the track was rocky and uphill and our bikes struggled to get a grip on the large wet rocks that were the track’s surface. Added to the fact that it was also misty (something ironically Stuart was quite grateful for – less photo stops) and it was a slow start to the day. Sadly there was little to see and even less to photo!





See told you so!

A short section of road found us bombing downhill (not the direction we really wanted) to find the start (for us at least) of the Dovedale Trail (and one of the many arms of the TPT) for the climb up to the top of the Woodhead Pass… It also lead to a tunnel that Stuart had great fun/pleasure with the echo in – it was, I will admit, a really good echo. Sadly his efforts didn’t even raise a smile out of the 2 mountain bikers we met at the other side… spoil sports!





Some of today's surface!





Heading off into the tunnel...

Luckily the surface was very good along this section, so we made really good progress despite the constant uphill gradient all the way to Penistone where a pedestrian informed us of a café just up the trail… Knowing that today was going to be a challenge and that we needed to pace ourselves very carefully and that the worst of the climb was still to come, we naturally stopped for coffee, toast and jam… We had already eaten since breakfast, but still fuel is fuel and…. OK look we have both lost weight on this holiday and I don’t need to excuse our stopping, do i?






After the 2nd breakfast stop, the scenery was pretty much hidden from view with only the occasional glimpse of the surrounding dales. But the gradient was easy, the surface good and we had another of those – what a lucky escape moments when we cycled passed the Penistone Annual Fare (?) Actually I have no idea what it was but there was a fair ground there, and there were already an awful lot of cars around. Car occupants were being given rides from where they had parked their car (field) to the showground/fairground… I had a head to head with one of these golf buggies – I was not leaving the hardcore, they could! I won…

We had actually cleared the Woodhead pass by 10:20am.





Top of the TPT trail... spot the traffic!





Looking back the way we have come - still murky!

We had already decided to stay with the TPT rather than bomb down the really busy main road which was already just a constant stream of traffic and not looking that appealing… But it was the length of time that it took us to get across that road that really sealed our decision to stay with the TPT trail… The trail at times was interesting, but nothing too technical. I will say that they clearly don’t expect touring bikes to be doing this route – you only get the horse barriers with the gates all being padlocked which meant Stuart had to lift my bike over them for me because they are too high for the BB and chain/chainrings to clear and I can’t lift my bike…





Some of the off-road section - fine for a mtb, not so sure about it for anything else though!





Bit of a view.

By now the mist was burning off, as was the cloud and it was getting much, much warmer. The TPT crosses the main road a second time very quickly – sadly our ability to cross this road took much more time – it was a constant stream of traffic in one or both directions and we must have stood at the side of the road trying to cross it for 5-10 minutes! Decision made, no matter how bad the surface, we were staying with the TPT trail off-road…

3rd breakfast lay just around the corner with a nice view – not sure what the sheep thought of 2 touring bikes cycling downhill, off-road at them – we rattled something chronic along that section!





Scenic point for 3rd breakfast? why not...

The drop off the moor and (yep – back across that road) was steep and whilst not too technical, was err, interesting with the large loose rocks and boulders, switch backs, steps and gulleys… I would have photo’ed it but ironically the steepness prevented me from stopping and even if I had managed to I would not have been able to let go on either brake to get the camera out and… lets just say that I was at the limit of what I could manage on a laden bike off-road and had be have been going west to east, we would have been staying with the road… there is no way I would have tried to push my bike up that! It would have needed 2 people per bike to push! It would have been challenging enough on a mountain bike, let alone an expedition bike with panniers!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (24 Sep 2014)

*Day 15 (Part 2 of 2 ) - Saturday 13th September 2014*

After crossing the road again (now back on the south side of the road) the new track which the TPT uses (something to do with the construction traffic at the Woodhead Tunnel) was a touch rough and progress slower than hoped for, but it did finally improve when it passed the end of the first reservoir.

Before long we started on the up/down – down/up shenanigans around various villages sometimes on the road, sometimes off-road but it was quickly wearing both of us out and we were both vary aware of how little progress was being made and it was a touch worrying… There was also a desperate lack of benches in this area as well. Just before lunch we found ourselves at the top of the latest of the climbs and the path split… I was pretty certain we needed the road off on the right, but when faces with 2 downhills, both steep and long downhills, it is always a good move to double check your route before a costly mistake is made! We also both needed a breather and some food… so a breather was called for and we pulled up on to the area in front of greengrocers It was by now, very sunny and very warm and we needed liquid refreshment, so whilst Stuart walked over the road to the newsagents to try (and sadly fail) to obtain some fizzy drinks, I did the usual of standing around holding both bikes and souble checking the map. – OK so why is she mentioning this? Well whilst I was standing there, a lady came out of the greengrocers (Village Organics – I think it was called) and without saying anything put a huge plum into Stuart’s barbag and pressed one into my hands before starting to ask if I wanted to sit down (pointing to the chair they kept outside) and offering me a hot drink (tea/coffee) and asking what we were doing. It turned out that the owner’s husband was a very keen cyclist and they frequently got cyclists stopping at this point (nice handy space to get the bikes off the road and make a decision on which way they were meant to be going next!) With the bikes propped up, the chair was made us of and the plum eaten very quickly. She was also able to tell us that there were some benches coming up soon! I believe the shop was in Charlesworth.

Heading off again, we bombed down a really nice hill before heading off-road on an interesting corner and promptly found a bench. I walked back to photo as sign which I have nominated as the most ignored sign there could ever be!





Yeh – right, like I am going to get off and walk my bike downhill!

Lunch was taken in bright sunshine and well-earned today, but we were both concerned about how little distance we had covered (50km) compared to what we needed to get done today… Whilst we were having lunch one of the mountain bikers who was cycling up the hill, clearly on a strava segment, gasped as he passed us “I hate Strava”. It made us both smile – something we don’t worry about when we are on tour – our speed! Setting off again after lunch, the daft signs continued (just wasn’t photo’ed) “Caution, sharp bends…” no prizes for guessing what cyclists were advised to do!
The climbs slowly became shorter and less intense, but frequently the downhills were on such poor surfaces that the last thing you could do was let the bikes run and forget building up any speed at all. In fact often the downhills were slower than the uphills! Progress was painfully slow.





Some general scenery - the track surface along here was not great...

Stockport caused one or two navigational issues but before long we found ourselves cycling alongside the M60 literally. This came as a surprise because we had no idea that there was a cycle path there and thankfully, it had very recently cut back otherwise it would have been awful. We were literally 2 metres from the hard shoulder of the M60 at this point!




The M60 is on the left... so glad we have puncture resistant tyres...

By now it was 3:30pm and we had not covered ½ of the distance we needed to do, but we had reached the decision that we had come this far, so would not take the ‘short’ cut home and would see it through… Around about this time, I also decided that I had a job vacancy and needed a T-shirt to advertise it “Sanity required, apply within”….

4:30pm saw us at Chorlton lake and taking a well earned rest on a bench. A local man advised us that the TPT simply went around the lake and that we could stick with the ‘road’ and save ourselves a few hundred metres and several gates that the bikes won’t fit through easily… by now we were celebrating each time we saw the hated A frame cycling barriers because it meant that Stuart didn’t have to lift my bike over any horse barriers… it meant I could wiggle my bike through them, just (mine has slightly wider and higher handlebars than Stuart’s which has been causing a few issues on this holiday). Thankfully we were both starting to feel less exhausted than we had at lunchtime and had continued with the policy of eat every hour whether we were hungry or not (which we had been doing all day). We have also mastered the art of fishing a bar out of our pocket, unwrapping it and eating it without stopping… I do however find this is easiest going uphill for some bizarre reason.





View from the bench at Chorlton.

5:30pm found us back in the “flat lands” and we finally started to make more progress, helped by the fact we knew where we were even if we hadn’t previously cycled most of the TPT before. It also meant we were more reluctant to stop for photos – we knew we were not going to make it home before dark and also we knew the area, so there was little new to photo for us… But it didn’t stop me stopping to get a photo of some great light in some woodland somewhere (I think it was just before Altrincham but I am not certain)..





I just had to stop and photo this... part of the TPT

A brief diversion in Altrincham took us passed a Waitrose – time for more food and free coffee (using our mywaitrose cards) and then it was onto the converted section of railway that led to Lyme. It would have been a fantastic section of converted railway were it not for all the barriers we had to negotiate at each and every road junction and most of them were not the A frame type but the horse barrier type which meant Stuart was back on weight lifting duties… The other downside was causing us to cycle for long periods of time without talking to each other – it was getting dark and this meant one thing on a still autumn night… thousands of midge in large swarms under the trees and there were way too many trees… it was a cycle in silence policy to avoid eating too many… as it was they still found their way up your nose periodically (yuck…). The M6 came as a relief – we were now back on our side of it and that meant we were quite close to home, only one more motorway to cross… Before too much longer, we had finally made it to the Manchester Ship canal and sadly with it, the last of the light and the last photos…





Down the Manchester Ship Canal





Up the Manchester Ship Canal.

We baled on the chips at Stockton Heath – the eat every hour approach was working and we were both feeling strong and we knew exactly what was needed to get home from Stockton Heath – it was Stuart’s cycle commute home for the remainder of the journey because we had come off the TPT opposite his work place. The long pull up and out of Stockton Heath was surprisingly easy and stopping just before the M56 we had our final snack and cleaned up the reflectives on the panniers (covered in dust), the rear reflectors (covered in dust), the bike lights (front and rear and both covered in dust…) and topped up our water before the final push down the A49 for home. It seemed that vehicles had no problem seeing us, we were being given very wide spaces (amazingly and sometimes worryingly so) when they overtook us and it was just a case of plodding home…

We made it for 8:30pm – exactly 13 hours after setting out from the campsite this morning, exhausted, but happy/elated and saddened that the holiday tour was over.
I just hope my own bed was worth it! The shower certainly was!

http://www.strava.com/activities/194296306


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## Fubar (24 Sep 2014)

Aw, is it just me that is sad this has ended???

Thank you @SatNavSaysStraightOn - said it before but that is a brilliant write-up and really makes me want to plan another cycle tour, can't wait for next year! If you and Stuart ever come back up to Scotland again we will need to organise a CC Ecosse meet-up ride!


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (24 Sep 2014)

Expecting to be back up there either at Christmas (if it is a cold crisp Christmas and New Year) or February/March as usual to Loch Rannoch...

There may also be one final instalment, at the weekend when we ride the final tiny section of the east-west TPT that we haven't done between Stockton Heath and Runcorn.... so a case of watch this space, you may never know 

PS - did anyone notice the lack of rain during the day? We went 2 weeks without using waterproofs on a cycling holiday in England! Carried those waterproofs (tops, bottoms and waterproof gloves) for well over 1,100km and never used them! ... you know what will happen now don't you?


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## fimm (24 Sep 2014)

I really enjoyed that account, thank you.
I'd love to send it to Sustrans, though - how many times did you mention barriers that you can't get your bike through unaided? It is a lot!
By co-incidence I was on a bit of Hadrian's Wall last weekend - but the bit near Housesteads (sp?) that I don't think even a mountain bike would get to...


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## summerdays (24 Sep 2014)

But to be fair to Sustrans, I suspect it isn't them that put them in. They are pretty annoying though!

I've thoroughly enjoyed it though, and think I must try to plan a much smaller one myself!


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## Archeress (24 Sep 2014)

Thank you very much for your write up. It is very inspirational.

Hugs
Archeress x


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## Spoked Wheels (24 Sep 2014)

Have enjoyed every mile and I'm sad that the holiday came to an end. Hopefully you do another one soon.

Thank you.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (24 Sep 2014)

fimm said:


> I really enjoyed that account, thank you.
> I'd love to send it to Sustrans, though - how many times did you mention barriers that you can't get your bike through unaided? It is a lot!
> By co-incidence I was on a bit of Hadrian's Wall last weekend - but the bit near Housesteads (sp?) that I don't think even a mountain bike would get to...


We cycled not far from there - tough section near to Vindolanda... and were only one road south from Housesteads!  nice views - but I think we were rather enjoying the 11km of downhill we had after the highest point on Hadrian's Cycle Way...


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## Hyslop (24 Sep 2014)

Well,thank you,a wonderful read each day.Many congratulations to you both on your achievement,your enthusiasm and humour shine out through your account.Perhaps if ever you ride along the Solway in future you might consider a placard(lightweight of course!)pointing people to the site.Thanks again.


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## Ern1e (24 Sep 2014)

Thanks for such an inspirational account I must admit it is quite sad it's over but i fel sure you will do another one soon (hopefully he says)


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## Pat "5mph" (24 Sep 2014)

What an adventure!
Hurry up @Fubar, organize our next tour 
All the pictures are spectacular, SatNav, I particularly like the "selfie" of you and Stuart riding along together.


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## Fubar (25 Sep 2014)

Pat "5mph" said:


> What an adventure!
> Hurry up @Fubar, organize our next tour
> All the pictures are spectacular, SatNav, I particularly like the "selfie" of you and Stuart riding along together.



I'm working on it, my head is full of rides I'd really like to do - just need to give up work!

p.s. I really liked that photo too


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## nickyboy (27 Sep 2014)

Seems you are following me around.....Bolton-le-Sands (born about a mile away)....Kendal (lived there when I first left home).....Woodhead (just down the road from where I live now)

I rode the TPT with my Dad a few years ago Glossop - Penistone and back over the Woodhead on a hired MTB. The TPT is hard around there...Dunford Bridge is a hard climb.


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## voyager (1 Oct 2014)

great photos and story

regards


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## i hate hills (3 Oct 2014)

Wow what a fantastic adventure. Great write up , enjoyed every instalment , thank you so much for sharing your story and pics. All the best Mike.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (5 Oct 2014)

Epilogue: there was this tiny section of the TPT trail that we had not completed between Stockton Heath and Runcorn.... so today we completed it...


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## david k (2 Jan 2015)

SatNavSaysStraightOn said:


> Further on and we were soon to find ourselves on one of many converted disused railways which ran almost all the way to Aintree and I have to say you would have had no idea you were cycling through Liverpool because I saw none of it (thankfully – I hate cities).
> View attachment 56164
> 
> Liverpool, honest!
> ...



Know this section well, nice run to southport, i take a section of it past sainsburys weekly, very nice.


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## david k (2 Jan 2015)

Great advert for the North of England


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## Goldie (2 Feb 2015)

Just read your write up from start to finish SatNav - it was great! It was particuarly awe inspiing noting how quickly you both crossed my patch round Scarborough. I might be teaching granny to suck eggs here but you should definitely give NCN1 a go between Whitby and Scarborough - there are some spectacular views that the A171 misses. There are some pictures from the last time I rode the route here: http://thelangsett.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/scarbjorca.html


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## theloafer (7 Feb 2015)

great reading SATNAV and excellent photo`s (as always) ...  looking forward to your next adventure ..


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