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Cycling, Touring

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 7 Duns to Wallington (the easy way)

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Day 7 – 10/05/2003 (Saturday) Duns to Wallington

There are no maps or elevation profiles for today’s journey. There was also very little cycling involved.

I needed to be at Heathrow by 11 o’clock on Sunday the 11th to collect Mrs johnm55 after her trip to Canada. (I also needed to be back at work at 8 o’clock on Monday the 12th). Cycling back home to Wallington unfortunately wasn’t an option. I could have probably thought up an excuse for not being back at work, but not picking Mrs johnm55 up at the airport…. I don’t like to think of the possible consequences.

As I had stayed the night with my sister and her husband, we loaded the bike back into the pick-up for the trip back to Duns to say cheerio to mum. My sister then took me down to Berwick to catch the train back to London. I put the bike in the guard’s van and settled down to make the return journey in fewer hours than it had taken me days to cycle up.

The East Coast Mainline follows roughly the same route as my bike trip, so as we flashed past various places I had been on the bike I took some photos through the window of the train.

The Tyne Bridges

The Angel of the North

York Minster – it is there honest

Having ate, drank and dozed my way back to London, I wheeled the bike out of King’s Cross Station onto the Euston Road ready to ride back home to Wallington. But… after a week of cycling on quiet back roads with about three cars per hour passing me, I decided that dicing with death and London traffic could wait for another day. So I wheeled the bike back to the station and onto the Thameslink train to East Croydon

The Galaxy on the train

I did have to cycle back from East Croydon, but I was up to that by the time I arrived.

The next morning I was up bright and early to make sure that I was at Heathrow in time to pick up a jet-lagged wife back from Toronto. We both had a good week.

Cycling, Touring

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 6 Wooler to Duns

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Day 6 – 09/05/2003 (Friday) Wooler to Duns

Friday morning dawned bright and clear over Wooler. After a breakfast of porridge and toast I set off on the last leg of the trek to Duns (and what should have been last night’s evening meal). I was now back in the part of the world that I grew up in, on roads that I cycled long ago.

It was an easy day, just under thirty miles to ride and while it wasn’t flat there were no serious hills or wind to contend with. I decided to take the back road via Ford and Etal crossing the Tweed into Scotland at Norham. For the first part of the journey (as far as Norham) I followed National Cycle Route 68 although I ignored the off-road bits. Once you climb out of the valley of the River Till there are spectacular views across to the Cheviot Hills. Just over half way I crossed the Tweed into Scotland.

Writing about the Tweed and the Till reminded me of a dark little poem that I learned at school. The Battle of Flodden was fought near here and I think that the poem has its origin in the aftermath of battle.

Says Tweed tae Till,
“Why dae ye rin sae still?”
Says Till tae Tweed,
“Though ye rin wi’ speed,
whaer ye droon ae man
A droon twa”.

I was now in Scotland and took a photo of my bike to prove it

I forgot to take a picture of Norham Castle, so you will have to make do with Turner’s take on the scene.

After just over an hour’s ride through the rolling Berwickshire countryside I had reached my destination

By the time I had finished my shower and changed out of my cycling gear, Mum had lunch ready for me. It was a satisfying feeling to sit down to lunch knowing that I had cycled all the way from London to eat it. Later on my sister turned up with the pick-up to take Mum and I down to her house for dinner. I could have cycled there, it’s not much more than fifteen miles, but I was back wearing my normal clothes and I had done what I set out to do, so I put the bike in the back of the pick-up. Later on my brother and his wife turned up and we had a bit of a family reunion over my sister’s excellent food and probably a wee bit too much wine.

Art, Cycling, My Art, Touring

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 5 Egglestone to Wooler

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Day 5 – 08/05/2003 (Thursday) Egglestone to Wooler

The Moorcock Inn does a very good breakfast, but it also lies about its location. If you click-through to their website you will see its address given as Hilltop, Egglestone. This is a lie, it is nowhere near the top of the hill. Well, I suppose the road does go down slightly for the first half mile or so, but then it goes up and keeps going up, sometimes alarmingly steeply for a long, long time.


On top of that my nemesis of a couple of days ago, the wind, was back with a vengeance. The first ten miles from “Hilltop” over the real top of the hill and down to Stanhope took well over an hour. It was so windy I was having to pedal going down a 10% slope to keep my speed up. The scenery was spectacular, and I had plenty of time to appreciate it, especially on the way up.

I made an executive decision in Stanhope and abandoned my original route over the hills via Hexham and Rothbury and took the wind and incline assisted route down the Wear valley which would eventually take me to Newcastle. It helped for a while. Going down the valley with the wind behind me I probably averaged over 30 km/hour for the first half-hour or so, but eventually I had to get out of the Wear Valley and into the Tyne. That meant more hills, though not as long and steep and more wind in my face, though not as strong.

My route now took me into Newcastle. The last time I had been to Newcastle was back in my days as an Engineer Cadet at South Shields Marine and Technical College. That was about thirty years ago. I would probably have saved myself about five or six miles if I had crossed the Tyne at one of the up river bridges. I decided that having made this detour through Newcastle that I might as well make a further detour and cross the Tyne on the Millennium Cycle Bridge.

Newcastle has changed a bit since my student days. The Quayside area which was derelict coal staithes and warehouses is now all smarted up and trendy. The roads also seem to have altered. It took me a while to find a way out that didn’t involve an urban motorway, but I eventually made it onto the back roads from Ponteland to Morpeth.

At this point my intention was still to make it to Duns today, but time was getting on and I still had over fifty miles to go. I decided that going straight up the main road from Morpeth to Coldstream would be quicker than the back roads. The A697 isn’t usually too busy because most of the north bound traffic goes up the A1.

There was one memorable point on the journey. I was descending in to a valley,I think it was the Coquet, and I looked across and thought to my self, the climb out the other side can’t be as steep as it looks, it must be foreshortening. The I looked down at my computer and saw it reading 85km/h and thought maybe it is as steep as it looks.

By the time I was getting up to Wooler it was around seven in the evening. There were still at least two hours in the saddle to get to Duns. I decided to stay the night at the Wooler Youth Hostel. I called my mum to say that I wouldn’t make it that night, but she could have my lunch ready for me the next day if she wanted. My sister offered to come and collect me and the bike, but the idea was to cycle up to Duns not just to get there, so I said thanks, but no thanks and had a night on the town in Wooler.

< Part 4 York to Egglestone

Art, Cycling, My Art, Touring

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 4 York to Eggleston

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Day 3 – 07/05/2003 (Wednesday) York to Egglestone

At least the wind died down today, or if there was any it was helpful, but we did find some hills. After two days in the flat-lands it was quite pleasant to be somewhere with contours.
Actually the first two-thirds of the trip was reasonably flat. I was climbing steadily and there were hills to my left and right but the roads were quiet (excluding the first few km up the A19) and it was pleasant cycling. It was only after Richmond, going on into Co. Durham that it became necessary to shift into the Granny Ring now and then.
Continue reading Bike ride to Scotland: Part 4 York to Eggleston →

Art, Cycling, My Art

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 3 Lincoln to York

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Day 3 – 06/05/2003 (Tuesday) Lincoln to York

This should have been an easy flat day. It was flat, for the most part, but it wasn’t easy. Most non-cyclists think that it is hills that make cycling hard work, they are correct, but only to a certain extent. The thing that makes cycling really hard work is wind coming from the wrong direction. Today I had wind from the north-west. I was riding roughly north-west. This resulted in a very hard day in the saddle. Psychologically wind is harder to deal with than hills. When you are riding a hill you know that sooner or later you will get to the top and at least for a while you can have a rest as you free-wheel down the other side. When you are riding into a head wind you get no relief. You know that the wind will be in your face all day. You have to work harder and you go slower. It feels unfair. All that extra effort and you go nowhere rather slowly

Continue reading Bike ride to Scotland: Part 3 Lincoln to York →

Art, Cycling, My Art

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 2 Hitchin to Lincoln

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Day 2 – 05/05/2003 (Monday) Hitchin to Lincoln

I underestimated the distance from Hitchin to Lincoln. I thought it was around a hundred miles, it turned out to be nearer one hundred and thirty. Most of the way was flat, well the first two-thirds of the route was across the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire Fens.

Click for a larger map

On the last third of the route, from Sleaford to Lincoln, I made the discovery, that contrary to popular belief Lincolnshire actually has hills. They are not the Alps, although I did see a sign advertising the head quarters of the local mountain rescue society in one of the villages. This Facebook page possibly belongs to them or their successors. However when the hills arrive in the last thirty miles of a long ride, one that is thirty miles further than you expected, they are hard enough. (The route profile does make them look a bit worse than they actually are).

I had expected the countryside to be a bit boring and unattractive. In spite of the unremitting flatness and the difficulty in distinguishing one stretch of road from the next, I found the scenery quite attractive.
Watercolour Sketch of the Fens

I stopped for lunch in Spalding round about two pm. I found a café selling cheap carbohydrates and refueled. I have noticed that when I am touring, and especially doing longer distance, that my critical faculties as regards food drop off. As long as it fills the hole I am happy.

It was after I passed Sleaford that I entered the Lincolnshire Wolds and the road started to go up. After riding through flat-lands all day riding up the hills was initially a pleasant change. It is not that steep, but you are climbing constantly for thirty or so miles. I kept consoling myself with the thought that I would probably be able to free-wheel the last ten miles into Lincoln. Not quite. Yes I did free-wheel into Lincoln, but not in the gentle controlled way I had anticipated. All the height that I gained in two hours of climbing I dissipated in about three minutes as the road took the short route down a cliff face into Lincoln. You can see it if you look carefully at the elevation profile.


I stayed the night at the Lincoln Youth Hostel (which has sadly since been closed). I was too late for an evening meal at the Hostel, due to me taking about two and a half hours longer than anticipated because the route was thirty files longer than I thought it was. I wandered out into town had a look around and found myself a curry. Very nice it was too.

Part 1 Wallington to Hitchin

Part 3 Lincoln to York >

Art, Cycling, My Art

Bike ride to Scotland: Part 1 Wallington to Hitchin

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Day 1 – 04/05/2003 (Sunday) London to Hitchin

Today didn’t work out that well. For various reasons, some good, some bad, I didn’t actually manage to leave until one-thirty in the afternoon, rather than seven or eight in the morning as I had planned. Never mind, I thought at least I had lunch before I left

Everything was going well, apart from a bit of hassle with the traffic in Brixton, until just after crossing London Bridge. I realised that I might have left the train ticket for the return journey lying on the kitchen table. A search through my bags confirmed that my thought was correct.

“Oh dear” I said to my self, well that wasn’t exactly what I said, but this blog tries to be suitable for all ages. I turned round and went back to London Bridge Station and caught a train to East Croydon, from where I cycled home and retrieved the ticket. I thought that while I was back home that I might as well unload the dishwasher and put the washing, which was now dry, away.

I cycled back to East Croydon and put the bike back on the train, this time to St Albans. My theory was that St Albans was roughly where I would have been if I hadn’t had to go back home to retrieve the ticket.

I decided to push on further. Eventually I decided that I would call it a day when I got to Hitchin, about 20 miles nearer to Duns. Then to cap, what was not the best day of the journey, the hotel I stayed at was not only the most expensive place I stayed at all trip it also, in retrospect, was the worst.

I plan my routes on BikeHike.co.uk which is a great little route planning website for cycling or walking. Your routes can be uploaded to or downloaded from a G.P.S. device if you own such a thing, or printed off if you don’t.

Part 2 Hitchin to Lincoln >

Art, Cycling, My Art

Old sketch books.

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I was sorting through my art equipment this afternoon. Basically looking to see what was worth keeping and what needed to be thrown when I came across a couple of old sketch-books that I also used as diaries to record a couple of trips. For my younger readers, “Keeping a diary”, was a bit like blogging ,except you wrote your thoughts down on paper. Usually no one else read them, not that much different to blogging then.
I thought that I would re-write them as blog posts and include the (better) sketches.
The first series of posts will be about a bike trip I made to Scotland in 2003. Mrs johnm55 had gone off to Canada for the week without me, so I decided that it would be a good idea to go and visit my mum – on my bike.
Day one can be found here

Cycling

L’Eroica

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L’Eroica is a sort of Sportive/Grand Fondo type of event that takes place in the Chianti region of Italy each October. It is one of the events on my list of ‘Rides I would like to do but probably won’t’. Others on the list include Paris-Brest-Paris, The Fred Whitton and the Dunwich Dynamo. Actually I might get round to doing the Dynamo one day.
The event, you can’t really call it a race, started in 1997 as an attempt to draw attention to, and help preserve Tuscany’s ‘strada bianche’. It has been remarkably successful in that respect and has even spawned a race for the professionals, the Montepaschi Strade Bianche. The other purpose of the event is to connect to a (partly imagined) time in the past when cyclists were real men (and women) of steel. The type of people who would and could repair their broken forks using a borrowed blacksmith’s forge, like Eugene Christophe but without the aid of the boy to pump the bellows.
In keeping with this ethos you are not allowed to take part in the event on a bike made later than the mid nineteen-eighties. Many people take part on bikes that were originally built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most participants dress in retro cycling gear appropriate to the bike they are riding. Woollen jerseys and shorts, with a spare tubular wrapped round their shoulders in the style of the pre-war heroes like Alfredo Binda, is the look to aim for.
Alfredo Binda
Additionally, while I’m sure that there is no ban on energy drinks and bars, they are not exactly encouraged. The correct food and drink for cycling is water, or better still red wine (this is Chianti country) and some good bread, cheese and a bit of prosciutto or salami. If you need a caffeine boost an espresso will do the trick.

The video gives a fuller flavour of the event.

Cycling

Cavendish does it.

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Mark Cavendish did what he promised to do and won the UCI Road World Championships: Elite Men Road Race. otherwise known as the World Championships. His is the United Kingdom’s first world champion for 46 Years, in fact he is only the United Kingdom’s second ever World Champion. He went there to win, the British team had no plan “B” either Cavendish delivered or they failed. The British team rode brilliantly, controlling the race from the start. If I had one minor criticism of the tactics it would be forget that ‘Cav’ won, the tactics must have been just right.

Cav crosses the line

In the Rainbow Jersey
In the Rainbow Jersey

He obviously took my advice and had a look at Lucy Garner winning the Junior Women’s Race