now resumed!

Well as normal as it gets! My sojourne to GOC is a thing of the past and i need to get my head around writing and doing 'stuff' that i've been prevaricating over. Of course, i need to bring you up to date too and thats where i'll start.

Just a quick recap, after Covid cancellations of the last 2 editions, i - and many others, was keen to attend the York Cycle Rally, a free, usually annual gathering of cyclists who aren't fixated on racing or going fast. Its a social event really, people from around the country (and beyond) meeting old friends, supping ale, making new friends, eating cake and even riding bikes! I've been attending off and on for almost a quarter century, sometimes working, sometimes just day visits but more recently its been a highlight of the year's social calendar - sad but true!

When i go i camp and i usually ride at least part of the distance up from Sheffield, a distance of @ 100km but i'm not in Sheffield at the moment, Bristol is @ 400km away, clearly i needed a different plan this time. I looked at the trains - far too expensive for the whole journey and my original choice of bike for the trip ruled out using express coach, plan C then. Plan C was to ride up and being financially poor i'd need to camp - which i'd be doing at York anyhow, given the distance i thought 3 days would be about right so camp one night and stop at my fathers place the second before riding on to my destination.

I found a campsite, made arrangements to call in at my daughter/grandson in Leeds then ran into a wall with my failure to be able to repair/service my bike of choice. The only alternative would be Foxy, my folding, much travelled suitcase bike which i duly rebuilt for the job. It gave me a plan D but more of that later. Fast forward to last Wednesday ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Day one of my mini odyssey dawned bright, the forecast suggested it would be warm later and that i'd have a slight tail wind. The overnight break was booked a couple of miles from Stratford upon Avon (a different river to the one in Brizzle - don't get me started on that!), on paper a fairly benign ride with no real climbing totalling some 130ish km. I travel/camp pretty light, but even so the addition of @ 15kg to the bike took a few miles to get used to but i was soon bowling up the A38, the simplest route, up towards Gloucester.

City riding isn't much fun, the plan was to bypass the city to the east then Cheltenham to the west before joining the Avon valley at Evesham which i would follow to my stop. By the time i'd threaded my was past the first there were already over 60km on the clock and a navigation error sent me through the second, the day was warming up as i headed up towards Evesham. My stomach was suggesting a lunch stop, i spotted a cafe which gave respite from the sun, a light lunch and a rest, ninety km done @ 40 to go.

Back on the road i felt refreshed and forty K is only a couple of hours riding, i'd be in Stratford @ 3, the campsite maybe thirty minutes later, the former prediction was dead on, the latter a bit out as i stopped in Bard Town for an ice cream before tackling the last leg. 137km was the final verdict, the camping was basic but i grabbed some local apple juice, cooked my tea and all was well with the world, but what would tomorrow bring?

Well a warm start to begin with, this was to be the big day, 160km thereabouts up to Sheffield, my previous renditions of this stretch were all rail assisted but this time it was to be Maddy power all the way although bale options would be available at both Tamworth and Derby. The forecast reckoned it would be warmer so i was glad to get away just after 8 which meant the first hour was at least relatively cool. Then disaster, approaching Meriden i threw the chain which got itself jammed, a simple job? think again, a partial disassembly of the crankset finally freed the drive system but it had cost maybe thirty minutes which i could ill afford today.

Meriden is the geographic centre of England, i stopped briefly at the cyclist memorial as i fo each time i go that way but the road i needed to take was closed. Now at this point i should mention that i was travelling sans cartography, a basic map on the phone hardly counts and is often lacking in essential details. The result of all this is that instead of heading fairly directly towards Tamworth, i ended up on a more convoluted route, i was well pleased to stop for a break when i reached Tamworth.

At least it should be straightforward from here to Derby, essentially following the Trent valley, the longest river entirely flowing through England. Indeed it was easy riding up through Burton, a little error on my part as i reached Derby was of little consequence and i was soon doing the traffic shuttle through the centre. It was certainly warm by now and i was ready for a second stop but not before i cleared the county town. But not far beyond, on the old A38 (yep the road i started out on yesterday) i spotted a cafe and gratefully pulled up. Food and drink were consummed and i reckoned i'd get to my destination close on 6pm, by my reckoning i had @ 50km left but of course from this point i'm into the somewhat hillier North Midlands/east Pennine hills.

At least the wind was still sort of behind me, i made good speed after the climb up to Ripley, joining the A61 which i followed pretty much the rest of the way to Sheffield. I was hot, tired but not exhausted when i got to Dad's place at ten past six having amassed 170km and 1250m of up, most of that in the last 50km. Its probably the furthest i've ever ridden in a day with all the camping gear on board so i was pretty chuffed - i slept like a log.

Phew, I was perhaps a bit late setting off initially for Leeds, the day was already warm by the time i reached the A61 which i'd follow almost to my daughters address @ 60km away. I made my planned tea stop at Newmillerdam @ 11, well it ended up as an early lunch, pie and mash isn't usually thought of as breakfast! Then the rest of the way was largely urban riding, through Wakefield then into Leeds, reaching the kids a bit after one.

It was great to spend even a little time with my descendants, i got a card from my grandson, wrote by his own 4yo hand which is great, where does the time go? But it does so fed and rehydrated, just turned three it was time to complete my journey, a short and fairly flat 40km hop, by half five i had the tent up and the socialising was in full flow! just over 400km, 250 miles in three days, not the stuff of records for sure but loaded as i was i'm pretty chuffed with how it went.

I won't bore you with the events of the weekend, we supped, rode, ate and talked then did it again and suddenly the return journey was staring everyone in the face. But i'd come up with plan D remember? Monday then i did the 100km ride back to Sheffield but there wasn't to be a repeat of the northward journey, nope Foxy folds and after a couple of days catching up with folk in Sheffield and mooching around the city, i was able to take a coach for the remaining 300km southwards. Four hours being chauffeur driven certainly trumps riding when you just want to reach your destination - it was also cheaper, the coach was less than the campsite cost the previous week!

So that was that and its time to return to a routine and the first part of that is to post chapter 25 of Fame, Kabin Krisis for you. Its another longer chapter, i hope you enjoy it.

The next update/blog will be on Wednesday, in the meantime enjoy the weather!

Tack,
Madeline Anafrid