Sunday 5th July  Dumfries to Penrith    Daily mileage 57 Total mileage 57 Temperature 23 C

A  hard first day. I know that the first day is always hard but this was particularly bad as it was humid with a head wind, which increased in strength in the afternoon. Pitching the tent was fun and I nearly got a lesson in paragliding. The site is quite busy, which I suppose is to be expected at the weekend in the summer, and I'm pitched not far from the neighbours from hell. There's a few families near to me who seem to have rented caravans for the holiday and arranged to have them put on the site (I've worked this out as they don't have towbars on their cars!). Anyway, the neighbours from hell have a son called Tyrone who likes to go and explore, which a campsite is ideal for. However, mother obviously likes to be able to see Tyrone at all times and, as soon as he disappears she runs around the site shouting "Tyrone, Tyrone, where are you?" at the top of her voice - I'm surprised that my fellow campers haven't set up a 'Tyrone Watch' so that they can send him back to mum. Anyway, the upside is that it's started raining and so mum and Tyrone are confined to the caravan, if only temporarily.

This guy is outside a house not far from Dumfries and his (her?) outfit changes regularly, depending what's going on. As it's Wimbledon it has to be tennis

I just put this one in because it's a nice, very old, house on the way in to Penrith and I want to look up the Latin some time (or someone can email me the translation!)

I'm currently in the campsite pub (Yes, this campsite has it's own pub), just so that I can use their wifi you understand and, surprise, surprise, they have San Miguel on draft so, whilst Karen flew out to Mallorca today and has probably landed by now, at least I got the first San Miguel!
Shap tomorrow.

Monday 6th July Penrith to Bolton-le-sands Daily mileage 46 Total mileage 103 Temperature 13 – 22C

The day didn’t start well as I was looking forward to a bacon roll and a cup of tea at a burger van I’ve used before but unfortunately it wasn’t there. I carried on the few miles into Shap village and got some bramley apple tarts from the Co-op as a substitute. Unfortunately these just fell apart when you tried to lift them out of their foil cups. After two I gave up and ditched the rest (Which was probably just as well when I looked at the calories/sugar/fat in each little tart).

The climb up Shap wasn’t too bad but was made worse because of a strong headwind. Once over the top the wind slowly died away to be replaced by rain, which kept going until just before getting to the campsite. However, it did stop long enough to allow me to get the tent up but has now returned with the strong wind – I’ve got all the storm guys in!

Just over the top of Shap I noticed a farmer with four sheepdogs rounding up some sheep so I thought I’d use the excuse for a rest and watch the dogs working. It’s always fascinated me how a farmer can control his dog simply by whistling and, sure enough, a few whistles and the dogs went bounding off after the sheep. However things didn’t quite go to plan and one of the dogs started to drive the sheep in the wrong direction. Firstly the farmer repeated his whistled commands and then, slowly but surely the whistling got less and the cursing and swearing got more!

I've seen quite a few loaded cycle tourers since I set out, which is a pleasant surprise. Whilst most of my route so far has been the same route as that used by many of the JOGLE/LEJOG riders (Land's End to John O'Groats/John O'Groats to Lands End), I'm sure that they're on the increase

Tuesday 7th July Bolton le Sands to Rivington (North of Manchester) Daily mileage 41 Total mileage 144 Temperature 20C
This entry will be incomplete for a while as I'm in a Burger King using their wifi.
A very strong headwind this morning (I'm beginning to get the impression that I'm doing this ride the wrong way round!) and lots of rain but the rain has now stopped and the wind is changing direction slightly. The roads have been relatively flat today which has made a big difference to my average speed.

Deer, deer, deer. These guys were really close to the road but were hidden from car drivers by a stone wall. Being higher up on a bike I had a great view, and if I'd had a long stick I could have had venison for dinner!

A nice old Police station (dated 1895) on my route - I'm guessing the garage is a later addition!

This little guy was hanging around the Burger King car park the whole time I was there. He was lucky not to end up on the menu!

OK, so I’ve now arrived at my campsite for the night, Home Farm, in Rivington. It’s a lovely site (£7. Oh, by the way, my first night at Lowther Holiday Park and my second night at Red Bank Farm were both £7 and are both recommended, although for different reasons). Anyway, Home Farm is really nice. It doesn’t cater for many caravans/tents and only has two toilets and one shower (all unisex), but because the numbers are so small it works really well. Also, the owners obviously care as there is soap and shampoo in the shower and sinks, washing up liquid in the area for washing up, a kettle and a ‘fridge/freezer for general use and everywhere is really clean. The farm buildings are lovely as well – see photo.

The rest of today’s ride was pretty straightforward – quite good, mainly level roads and so I made good time. However, as you will see from today’s figures, I only covered 41 miles and I think that I’m going to pay for it tomorrow. I’d normally be staying with my dad and his wife tonight but they’re away on holiday at the moment and finding a campsite near to Manchester is a bit like looking for hens’ teeth! So tomorrow it’s straight through the centre of Manchester and keep going!

When I was sorting through my gear this evening I realised that I’ve lost my compass. I knew that it must have dropped out of my map case only a few miles back at most as I’d seen it not long before arriving at the site. I jumped back on the bike and went looking for it and, sure enough, there it was lying in the road a few miles back. Unfortunately it had become a slimline model having been run over – it is an ex compass, it has ceased to be. I must try to pick up a replacement before I get to France as I find it invaluable for escaping from badly signposted French towns – just head south!

Great farm buildings at Rivington - they'd make a good film set for a spooky film!

Wednesday 8th July  Rivington to Ashbourne  Daily mileage 65 Total mileage 210 Temperature 21C

It was raining when I went to bed, it was raining when I got up and packed and it rained for at least half the day. Fortunately I’m slowly getting into my ‘chilled out’ mode and just decided that you can only get so wet and the clothes I’m wearing dry out just as fast once the rain stops – which it did early in the afternoon. The run into Manchester was pretty good, with great bus/bike lanes pretty much all the way to the centre. Once you’re in the centre it’s a different matter – it’s all traffic lights and traffic jams. I was brought up in Manchester and have lived much of my life in cities but there’s no way I could go back now – things are just too slow. Once out of the city I faired better and made quite good time, mainly because, although the wind is still really strong, it is no longer in my face but has moved round to the side and, once or twice, was even behind me – yippee!

One good thing about Manchester was that I passed a GO Outdoors store where I managed to get a new compass (I also managed to use my discount card and so it only cost me £2.99!)

Whilst I was cycling along I heard a rubbing noise from the front wheel which I thought was the mudguard – my new tyres are so big that I’m having difficulty getting clearance. I stopped and tugged the mudguard around but still the noise persisted. I checked that the brake blocks were not catching but still to no avail. Then as I was pulling away from some traffic lights I happened to glance down only to see the front wheel swaying dramatically from side to side! At first I thought that my front wheel bearings had collapsed but on further investigation found that my new, non-quick release skewer had come loose and there was nothing stopping the front wheel falling out! This was even more alarming as I’d not long ago come down a hill at around 35mph! Mmm, maybe I’d better check those skewers regularly.

Anyway I’m now at Common End Farm campsite, just outside Ashbourne (£7). Once again it’s quite small but very nice and well looked after with clean, modern facilities.

Tomorrow is an even longer haul (75 miles) so I expect tomorrow’s notes will be short!

On my way through Manchester I stopped at an Asian sweet shop to make a purchase - a variety of Asian sweets that I used to enjoy when I lived in Leicester.

My pitch at Ashbourne. Sky is hiding under wraps.

Thursday 9th July Ashbourne to Marton (nr Rugby) Daily mileage 72 Total mileage 282 Temperature 25C

Today was generally a good day. I awoke to sunshine (Although it had been cold during the night at less than 10C), the weather stayed fine the whole day, and the wind slowly died away. Consequently, although it was probably the longest day of the entire trip, I made good time. Possibly because I was whizzing along, I managed to miss a turning and ended up having to re-route myself – although it doesn’t seem to have added anything to the mileage.

Yesterday a guy on a bike stopped for a chat (as they do) whilst I was doing some map reading. It turns out that next week he’s off to Italy to cycle around the Dolomites and today I stopped for a roll from a sandwich shop in Burton on Trent and the owner is currently planning a walking holiday in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. There are a lot of people out there doing really interesting things!

At about 3.30pm I was pretty hot so stopped for an ice cream at a garage. When I came to leave I attempted a U-turn and nearly fell off the bike – the front tyre was completely flat – my puncture-proof tyre had got a puncture. In fairness Schwalbe claim that a spike the length of a drawing pin will not puncture the tyre (and I believe them, I’ve seen the videos of people putting them to the test on YouTube), but I suppose their claim roughly translates to “If the spike is longer than a drawing pin, you’re stuffed!” Anyway, half an hour was lost fixing it.

The next problem of the day arose after arriving at tonight’s campsite. I was relaxing with a coffee and casually looking at the bike when I noticed a crack in the rear wheel rim around one of the spoke holes. Further investigation revealed two more spokes with cracks around them. I’m not sure how bad this is as I don’t know when they appeared – they could have been there for a while. Anyway, I’ve marked the spokes so that I can keep an eye on the situation. I suppose this sort of thing is to be expected if you overload the bike – it weighed over 52kg fully loaded.

Sky waiting to be off whilst her owner refuels at a burger van. You can see that I've tried to placate her with a mug of tea but she doesn't seem interested.

A beautiful cycle lane running along the side of the A50. How many people would take up cycling if all roads had a lane like this?

Every time I stopped cycling along to check the map I was plagued by little black flies landing on my cycling shirt. I washed it in the hope that the flies were being attracted to the salt in my sweat but, as you can see, it's obviously the colour they like! I wore a different colour the next day!

Friday 10th July Marton to Kennington (just south of Oxford) Daily mileage 46 Total mileage 328 Temperature 28C

A hard day today. Although it was quite short, it was a hot day, the strong headwind was back, and it was all hills. It was a harder ride than the 72 miles of yesterday.

Anyway, I’ve made a decision; I’ve decided to call a halt to the ride. The cracks in the rim appear to be getting larger and I don’t fancy the idea of getting the wheel rebuilt by an unknown shop and then jumping on the ferry to cycle another 1,000 miles. I’d be lucky to find a shop with the right type of rim anyway as mine has 36 spokes compared to the usual 32. If I carry on I’d just be worried the whole time that the rear wheel would collapse leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere and if I’m not enjoying myself then what’s the point?. I suppose that this is an occasion when travelling with someone else would be an advantage. So I’m now at my aunt’s house getting fed and watered and tomorrow I’m going to see if the bike and I can get back to Dumfries on the train. Should be interesting!

Hundreds of bikes in the racks at Oxford train station. Sky on the right. There must be many thousands of bikes around the city.

Epilogue

Six hours and three trains later I was sat in my lounge back in Dumfries. It was quite a good journey apart from the fact that I could only book the bike on the first train and had to re-book before each train, meaning a hasty dash to the ticket office each time. Fortunately there was space on each train and on the last two I didn't even have to remove the bags.
Once home I got straight on-line and booked a flight out to Palma. I was slightly amused that it had cost me £104 on the train from Oxford to Dumfries but only £67 to fly from Glasgow to Palma. I also went to my local library and, because of my age, was able to apply for a bus pass (!) which arrived before I was due to leave and so I got free bus travel from Dumfries to Glasgow airport (I didn't want to take the car and leave it at the airport as my return flight was into Newcastle).
I then spent three and a half weeks in Mallorca in blissful weather, generally enjoying myself - well, someones got to do it!



This is our current favourite restaurant - it's a buffet - 10 euros including wine, beer, soft drinks and coffee afterwards. This is at opening time!

The barbeque area of the reastaurant

And the endless supply of meat it produces that you helpyourself to.

And this is it a little while later! It seats 600 inside, 100 on a terrace outside and has overflow rooms that can seat more if needs be. We like it, not because of the unlimited food and drink (although it is!) but because of the fantastic range of Mallocian/Spanish food, so you can try very small portions of anything that you fancy but you're not sure of.

The menu del dias (menus of the day) are really excellent value (except in tourist areas). We tried a new one in Palma. It's called Wok and is staffed by Chinese but there was virtually no Chinese food on offer - most of it was Spanish. Again it was a buffet, but the food that was set out was raw. You load your plate with what you fancy and take it up to the pass where a brigade of cooks wait to take your food away and cook it for you. 10 euros plus drinks, so about £10 each with drinks. However the amazing thing about this restaurant is the food on offer - oysters, frogs legs, razor clams, a whole leg of serrano ham, lobster, langoustines - how they make any money I'll never  know.
One day we decided that for a change we'd take out a motor boat so that we could access some of the bays that you can only get to by water.

This was the little bay that we landed on for our lunch

This is one of the yachts that we passed. It cost 7 million pounds and has a permanent crew of twelve.

And of course, some people have quite a lot of money! I'd settle for the helicopter.

And of course some people don't have much money! This is our rented boat.