Post 83 – Are you Local?

An Indian Summer was forecast, Well, if pissing rain and high winds are an Indian Summer we had one! It was getting towards the end of September and the Newspapers were reporting that the UK could expect an Indian Summer this Autumn. Warm sunny days and lovely Sunsets. With this in mind Fred convinced Bettie that it would be lovely in Perranporth, we could stay at our regular Campsite and enjoy the town and beach, now that the crowds have gone home we could almost be counted as locals.

Well the forecasts were wrong and we got a couple of big storms and a lot of wind. We made the most of it of course. We both love Perranporth and the surrounding areas, even if the weather is crap. So two weeks in Perranporth were booked. The town and beach were great but not what we were expecting weather wise. So we moved onto Brighton via Windsor and Winchester of course. We went to Winchester because Fred had arranged a BTS bike tour of the Isle of Wight. Leaving from Windsor and cycling down to the IoW a lap of the IoW and then back to Windsor. We’ll back to Windsor was the plan but Fred was so Cream Crackerd that he only made it to Winchester. Where he spent two days in bed trying to recover. The lesson here is that if you haven’t been on your bike for a month and have food poisoning you shouldn’t try to ride 250 mile in three days with a load of fit guys. Having said that Fred said he had a good time right up until the wheels fell off.

We have been making plans for the winter and are now heading North for a birthday bash and Christmas then South for a ski trip, back North again to pick up the van before heading a long way South, Spain for Feb.

Post have been sparse for the last couple of months but we are hoping to get back on the blogging wagon soon.

PS we have also been to Cirencester, Brighton and Burnham, so here are a few photo’s

Cirencester

Brighton

“He touch the precious things”

Love Bettie & Fred

Post 82 – “I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to be more tolerant of my idiot ideas.”

This is how I managed to get 5 other guys on a cross channel ferry to France with their bikes and enough kit to last 5 days most years. We headed from Portsmouth to Saint Malo on the overnight ferry.

Bright and early on Friday morning we were on our Bikes and heading to Segré-en-Anjou Bleu. Day 1 ride was 166 km with a couple of coffee/beer and lunch stop planned. This year’s victims were Barry, Simon, Jeeves, Peeley, and Neil. A ragtag of regulars for this kind of trip. All strong cyclists, the bulk of the group have known each other for over 20 years and know what we are getting into.

Day 1 was a doddle just 100 miles and we are at the hotel. A little bit out of town but it’s France and the restaurant has a proper chef and the food is always good if not exactly veggie friendly. Also we have two Buffet slayers on this trip. (Simon & Neil) the dessert buffet has a sign that says only two desserts per person. Simon is gutted until he realises that Peely and I will only have one each which means he gets 4. It’s hard to believe that he is over six feet tall and only weighs 65kg.

Day two we are up bright and early ready for the ride to Tours. A nice ride only problem is that it pisses down about 10km from the finish and we all get soaked just before we arrive at the hotel. Tours is a big city and we are staying right in the centre so lots of options for food and beer. Day three and we are off to Alencon, a town we have stayed in before. The good news is, it didn’t rain just before we got to the hotel, the bad news is it rained for most of the day instead. Now our boys cycle tour are set for 4 days only and there is a very good reason for this. We are all old buggers and tend to get a bit Tetchy after three days and it’s a wonder that we are still talking to each other on the ferry home. This year is no different and after the day 4 ride back to Caen, we are just like  6 teenagers snapping at each other. It doesn’t help that Simon has misplaced his passport when we get on the ferry. Also we have been in the bar/restaurant for a few hours before the ferry departs and the wine and beers have Been flowing.

We arrived in Portsmouth at about 7am and are barely talking to each other. As we ride away from the port, we all agree that it has been another great trip and are already planning for next year. There is no hope for this load of grumpy old gits.

So above is the route we took. 620km in four days with a lot of fun in between arriving in Portsmouth and getting back to Portsmouth. Bring on next year where I might have a few more victims to abuse.

Post 81- Dwayne Dibbley! I don’t want to be, Dwayne Dibbley!!

So after spending a few days at Bettie’s brother’s house in Castle Douglas we moved down the country to the lakes.

Our favourite Campsite in Keswick was fully booked so we stayed a couple of nights a short walk from Pooley Bridge and then went to an Aire in Ambleside. What’s an Aire you ask, well this is what Google discribes it as. “The word ‘aire’ is short for the French term ‘aire de service’, which is essentially a free or low-cost motorhome camping area where some basic services – such as water, waste disposal and perhaps toilets/showers and electricity – are provided”

This one was basically a carpark with a gate and a mobile phone number to ring. Inside there was a water tap and black waste area. It costs £20 a night with a discount for longer stays. It looked like the owner was making a killing at this time of year. There were about 30 to 40 vans for the two nights we stayed. The lakes at this time of year are just too busy for our liking even though you can walk up into the hills and be virtually on your own, just getting about on the roads and trying to book a table for a meal is a pain.

We left Ambleside and out of the lakes to Kirkby Lonsdale. It is very nice and has a very good tap house, “see photos later in blog”. After a couple of nights we headed further south and imposed ourselves on Ray and Jackie in Northwich for a few days.

Then it was time to head to Wales. We had booked a Campsite in Brecon for three nights. Brecon is the site of one of my planning fails when on a boys bike trip. I somehow managed to book the hotel in Brecon for the wrong night. You can read all about it in this post. https://wp.me/pdHIn-1Gp We booked into a Motorhome and Caravan Club Site, these sites have become our goto sites. They cost more but have good facilities and you get a lot of space around your van. Brecon has two craft beer bars and we tried one of them, nice beer and nice food. This brings me onto one of my favourite subjects. Craft beer as stated often on this blog we visit a lot of craft beer establishments and here are a list of a few we’ve been to recently. 

Kirby Lonsdale

Porto

Henley

Abingdon

A fortnight’s holiday in Wales. We’ve travelled to the Gowa to spend a couple of weeks with our Grandson, “and his parents of course”. Fun time on the beach and riding our bikes etc.  

This brings us up to the end of July, so I guess I wasn’t all that inspired to keep the blog upto date after all.

Post 80 – And another thing about 500g bags of Pasta

This is what a 500g bag of pasta looks like after you have carried it around Spain and Portugal. Exactly the same as it did when I first packed it. Here are the Oats & powdered milk. Sometimes you’d think I’ve never done this bike touring lark before. 

Reflections on the N2 ride. Of the thirty or so riders I think there must have been 16 Pinarrelos, a couple of Trek project one bikes, the rest were made up of expensive carbon road bikes. Oh yes and one 20 year old Aluminium Dawes. As I once noted in a triathlon, I’m riding my fancy new £1000 time trial bike and was overtaken by a fat bloke on a £200 Carrera bike. The lesson is. It’s not the bike that’s important, it’s the legs pushing the pedals. Anyway, enough of that. One last picture showing the route and climbs “just so I don’t forget” 

How did Fred get home form Portugal? I thought you would never ask. Alex had booked me a flight and I had my bike packed in a cardboard box, supplied by Decathlon. It was a  slow day as my flight wasn’t until 8pm. I arrived at the Airport, checked in and paid €7 for a pint of crap beer. All of a sudden the flight was boarding and we were being hassled to get onboard the plane. No problem, I thought, we would be on our way soon. As the cabin doors were closing the first officer was informing us that we had missed our takeoff spot and due to Air Traffic Control problems we would be sitting in the plane for another two hours before we could take off. Bugger. We eventually landed at about 1am. I collected my bike and bags and proceeded to find a quiet spot, “there are lots at this time of night”  I could reassemble my bike. About an hour later I was heading out  the airport and towards Alex & Beth’s house. It’s 2am and there’s me and a white van man on the road. How nice of him to give me a welcome to England by passing within about 6 inches of my elbow. I arrived at Beth’s sometime around 2:30ish. I think she was getting worried about me. Harrison woke me up nice and early the next morning. 

It’s now three days later and Bettie and I are in a Campsite on the outskirts of Cirencester. I think things are getting serious as we have registered with an estate agent. Is our search for a place to live finally over? Not just yet but we have spotted a couple of houses that could meet our exacting demands, possibly! Alex and Harrison gave me a lift and spent the day with us.

We have moved North from Cirencester and are heading for Beth’s sister’s flat in Oban. On the beautiful West Coast of Scotland. We are visiting to check up on Bettie’s Dad who has not been well and had a short stay in hospital to sort a problem with his leg. We had a lovely stay and I even managed to get out on my bike a couple of times. Between the rain. The sunsets over the island of Mull at this time of year and we tracked it moving slowly south along the island, that is when you could see it, unfortunately we seemed to have arrived to two weeks of rain and sunny spells. It’s mostly been sightseeing and cooking for Fred and Bettie catching up with her Dad and family. Next we are heading to Dumfries for a few nights at Bettie’s Brother’s house before heading to Northwich and then onto Wales for a holiday with our Children and Grandson. 

We haven’t posted much in the last few weeks but we have been inspired to post again by an old friend, Matt Pammer. He is currently cycling across America with his wife, “Robbin” and Daughter, “Shannon”. They are blogging daily about their adventure and experiences. If you are interested you can follow via the link below.

https://www.pammerstakethepedals.com/

Here’s some pictures of Matt when he was riding with the lads, on some of our France weekends and club rides.

Post 79 – The Long & Winding Road 🎶🎶, or just the N2

So having ridden from Santander to Chaves I had a couple of days to recover before the main event started. Day one was spent in bed and day two was swapping over the gears on my bike and making sure it was as light-weight as I could make it. At the introduction meeting, ride briefs, safety advice and information about typical groups were presented.

The riders

Kilometer Zero

Ride brief

There are about 30 riders which would split roughly into three groups. The N2 is a hard challenge when riding it over a couple of weeks. “The bad news” we were taking just 5 days. “The good news” all the hotels were booked and we had support vans which provided drink stops/lunch and technical support, if needed. They also took all my camping gear.

Day one was a sharp start, 165 km with a 29 km climb out of the Douro Valley. 

Day two was only 170 km but still some serious climbing. 

Day three was considered a rest day with only 110 km, it had an optional short 24% climb if you wanted to visit the most central point in Portugal, of course we took on the challenge and got to see fog and mist as the cloud descended. 

Day four 160 km of flattish headwind and rain. We spent 6 hours riding a chain gang getting wet and being blown all over the road. The kind of ride you enjoy, when it stops. 

Day five was a short run into Faro, just 120 km with a few ups and downs to keep you working. The whole group reformed and rode the last 10 km into town as a big group. 

It was a great experience, here are some photos from the rides.

Now that the cycling is over, it’s party time and a group of us went out for a few beers. The beers would have been great but someone, “Jorge” thought it would be good to have a round of chasers with every beer. My head still hurts. The next day Jorge, Barry Neil and I walked around town and took a taxi to the beach for some lunch and to view the sights.

I had planned to try and cycle some of the way back to the UK with a combination of trains and cycling to get me to the ferry home. Having spent two days in Faro and checking a 90 day Schengen calculator discovered that I only had 4 days before I had to be out of the EU or face an overstay fine at the border. Luckily for me I have a pilot who works for BA, who could sort me a cheap flight home. So Alex booked me a £40 flight back to Heathrow. All I needed now was to find a bike box and add an extra bag so I could get my bike home. I did consider leaving the bike behind, of which my behind would have thanked me. But, I had to have someway of getting from the Airport to Beth and Alex’s house in Burnham. I had a few days to recover in Faro, went for a shirt ride and just lounged about the hotel. I did spot a good looking India restaurant so finished my Portugal adventure the same way I started with a stonking curry.

PS, if you go to Portugal, it’s nice to have someone with you that was a native. This helps with food/drink ordering. The parts of Portugal we visited there was very little English spoken. The problem is Jorge had a habit of making us try the local spirits. My head still hurts from the 60% proof spirit he tried to make me drink.

Post 78 – Why didn’t anyone warn me about Muse?

Last week Bettie and I went to see Muse, and maybe because I have been on my own this week. I have found that they have some serious earworms in their most popular songs. As I rode over the many mountains in Northern Spain, I found the following chorus on hard repeat and not just in my mind. The fact that there wasn’t anybody else within a few miles of me meant that nobody was harmed by my pi** poor singing. 

Hold you in my arms, I just wanted to hold you in my arms, far away this ship is taking me far away. 

Cause I want it now, I want you now, give me your heart and your soul, breaking out escaping now

No one’s gonna take me alive, the time has come to make things right, You and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive 

The will of the people, The will of the people 

I have a couple of rest days in Chaves and I may regret this, but I have found an Indian restaurant. It has a 5 star rating on Google and the menu looks great so it’s curry here I come. Of course I’ll have to have a couple of beers first. I can see why G didn’t do so well in the Giro time trial now. He strikes me as a beer and curry on the rest day type of guy too. 

Well the hotel is a little bit better than my tent. 

The other cyclists on the N2 ride have started to arrive. Many have had problems with flights and luggage, Easy Jet cancelled flights out of Bristol, BA have lost bikes and Air Canada have done both of the above plus lost one lady’s luggage. Currently one guy without a bike and the lady’s luggage won’t arrive before we leave. What a shambles the airlines are in at the moment. 

Today I went for a quick spin with three friends that are also ringing the N2, we just went out to the Spanish border and back to test bike set ups etc. What a relief it is to ride my bike without all the extra load of luggage and tent etc. 

Today is the start of the ride. We have 174km with 2500m of climbing. I pleased that I haven’t got my panniers on the bike. I’ll let you know how we got on in the next post.

Where’s Fred, you know the drill

Forte de São Francisco Hotel Chaves
+351 276 333 700
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJ1YGZVMpRLctXvg9

Post 77 – If your going to close the road don’t wait until I’m 10km into a climb

 Today I headed out of the campsite with most of my stuff dried. Just a couple of things that are a bit damp. I didn’t bother washing out my cycling kit, with last night’s storm there was no way it would have dried. Which means I have a fresh set kit to wear today.

Also if you were wondering if I beat last night’s rain. The last tent peg got pushed in as the Heavens opened. So other than swimming to the tent I stayed dry. 

I headed up a long slow climb and after about 10km of climbing there was a sign saying the road was closed due to works in the tunnel at the top of the climb. Which was about 4km away. What should I do? I have a big problem the only way over this pass is either on this road or the motorway that runs alongside it. I pushed on thinking that there must be a road over the top. Then a sign saying diversion for Camino walkers. I’ll take that.

After 1km of pushing my bike up this alleged road I was back on the closed road. Bugger it, I’m staying on the road I thought and argue it out at the top. Turns out there was no-one to argue with. They must have all gone to lunch. I cycled through the freshly painted tunnel and was on my way down the other side. 4km into the descent and another road closed sign. This time the diversion was a proper road. Should I continue on the main road or take a twisting road alongside. 

Straight down the hill looked good but it would be a bugger if I had to cycle back up. These are the kind of problems that make up my days. On this occasion I took the diversion and although it involved more climbing it was a very scenic road. Not log after this it was lunch time and I stopped in what in the UK would be a transport cafe. In Spain they are a very different thing. Here’s what I had for lunch. 

A three course meal, It was only €15 and would have been €13 if I didn’t have the beer. 

The route was a bit hiller than I expected but it had some great views and I have now made it to Chaves two days ahead of schedule. Time to recover before the big dash down Portugal starts on the 5th. Here are some photos for the ride.

And now for the ever popular feature Where’s Fred now. Just click the link to find out. Forte de São Francisco Hotel Chaves
+351 276 333 700
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NJ1YGZVMpRLctXvg9

Post 76 – I’m sleeping on Bettie’s side of the bed & no one can stop me

After yesterday’s ride and the rain today I have decided to book into a hotel for the night. My room has a double bed and I’m on Bettie’s side. I think the IPA I had in the four Lion Brewery has gone to my head but nobody can stop me. Leon is a lovely city not to big and full of people enjoying themselves. Lots of history and very clean. Bettie and I enjoyed our stay a couple of years ago with the Van. Here are some photos. 

You’ve no idea how hard it was to walk past

After a good night’s sleep I’m up and off at the crack of 10:30. How is that I can pack the tent, cook breakfast, have two cup of coffee load all the gear on the bike quicker than leaving a hotel?must of been the comfy bed. 

A nice ride along the river on a bike path got me out of Leon and on my way. I have a route  planned, It’s in the garmin, I have no idea where I’m going I plotted the routes months ago.

Now that’s a cafe con leche

About 50km into the ride there was a turn that seemed to be taking me in the wrong direction. There were only two road and a quick look at Google maps, I spotted a campsite heading in a different direction from the garmin. 35km later and I check where the campsite is, Bugger nobody want to see this on Google maps

No problem I just ride to the next site. It’s only 55km away. Double bugger, Even better news is that the clouds are beginning to look a bit threatening. I’ll race them to the campsite. Here are some photos from the ride

If you can’t afford a stained glass window, just paint one instead

I know you want to know who won the race?Did Fred get a good soaking? 

I can see the tent I just can’t get to it.

It’s suspenders time again. You will have to wait for the next post. But here’s a photo taken, just before I swam to the tent.

Where’s Fred

Camping Isla de Puebla
+34 980 62 00 52
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5EeRJ5H8TPUT9YNr8

Post 75 – It’s the Ono Gear and I’m not talking Yoko’s fashion

 The Ono gear occurs when you have about 12 crank revolutions before you’re about to give up on a big climb. It’s OK. you foolishly think I’ll just change up. Push the gear lever and “Ono” I’m already in top gear. Now you have three choices; 1, Man up and stamp on the pedals. 2, unclip and admit defeat before you get your heart rate under control and then repeat the process all over again. 3, Think it is OK, keep going for 100m and then falloff. I’ll leave it up to you which two of these three I did yesterday. There were many Ono moments on yesterday’s ride with 2600m of climbing. Good news for me is that today is mostly downhill to Leon.  Some photos from the start of today’s ride.

Weather looks nice this way

But the clouds were building

Coffee & cake €3

I’m writing this section of the blog in a bus shelter, sitting out the hailstones and lightning. There is some sunny weather coming soon. 

Did you know that when you buy pre-sliced Cheese, they sometimes put bits of greaseproof paper in between the slices? No? Well neither did I. Imagine my surprise when I was half way through the baget that I had stuffed the cheese plus paper into. I’m not sure what tastes best: the cheese or the paper. I’ll take the rest of the paper out now though. 

If you look closely you can see the paper

Last night was spent in Alexander’s tent. I have brought his tent because it’s a lot lighter than the one Bettie and I use, it’s also a lot smaller. In the middle of the night I was cold but could be bothered getting out of the sleeping bag to put a warm top on. This morning a guy in the van next to my tent told me his temp gauge said it was 4 degrees C at 6am. I guess I should put a top next to my sleeping bag in future. The rains stopped so I’ll finish up the blog tonight. 

If you want to make life easier for yourself, remember you’ve set the garmin route to finish at a campsite on top of a hill outside Leon and not to the city centre where you are going to stay. Today I have mostly been dodging rain storms. I stayed mostly dry except for the hailstorm/bus shelter incident. A fine ride which would have been better if I hadn’t cycled up to the campsite and back again when I realised.

Would of been a good phone signal in the campsite

I wonder what I’m going to do tomorrow. 

If you want to know where Fred is click the Google link.

Four Lions Brewery
+34 619 89 19 02
https://maps.app.goo.gl/brbTL2KWvU86Tr5w5

Post 74 – How much does a 500 grams pack of Trail mix weigh? Yes almost 0.5 a kilogram

Why didn’t anyone warn me? You can add to that 500g of oats, 300g of powdered milk, 250g of coffee and two liters of water. Which if I’m not mistaken comes to about 2 tons. Bloody decimalisation I bet it would be less if it was in lbs and ounces. I’m going on a label cutting binge tomorrow.  My food weighs more than my tent and clothes. I met a fellow cycle tourist today who told me he had more spare  inner tubes than pants. Who needs pants anyway?

Day 2 or is it day three? 2 for cycling or three if you include the day spent on the ferry. Bugger I don’t what day it is already. Not a good start.

I have managed to get a whole day ahead of my plan. It cost me and I’m a sweat soaked dripping wreck who needs a shower. Today’s ride worked out to be 125km, (which would have been shorter in miles) and 2600m of climbing. The ride  was fantastic, well the downhills were. 

If Google maps tells you this bit of the ride has moderate hills, don’t believe it. 

You don’t want to see this on your Garmin screen so I turned it off. 

Stunning views if a bit intimidating

This was a break block melting descent

The bike and legs have had a good workout today. I’m currently in a very small tent trying to stay awake while I write this. Want to know where I am just click the Google link. Freds location
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nF7ihntB7vVxMx8i8