Author: snailcycle

13 June

34 miles

Climbing 622 m

Cumulative distance 819 miles

We had a fairly short day today, we had a long chat with Glynne and Sue before they set off on the long drive back to North Wales and then had a very long coffee stop whilst we completed yesterdays social media duties that were hampered by the lack of signal at the campsite

Misty trees at Beecraigs campsite

The morning we thought would all be downhill to the Forth Bridge but in fact we hadnt studied the map closely enough- one quite steep hill got us warmed up before a gentle downhill into South Queensferry , we stopped at the local Tesco to stock up with food and sat in their cafe for a prolonged break uploading photos etc.

We set off to cycle across the Forth Road Bridge , the views to either side were stunning- the old Rail Bridge off to the right and to the left the new Queensferry Crossing-  still being built, a massive impressive structure with the towers disapearing up into the cloud at times- and on top of the towers huge cranes for the construction- being a crane driver here would not be for the fainthearted . We were rather surprised by how much movement there was on the Forth Bridge itself- the cycle way is bolted on outside the main roadways and very noticeably sways with every passing lorry . The bridge was recently closed for a while when cracks were found- not worth worrying about. We took lots of pictures of the construction although it was  partly obscured by the left hand carriageway.

Queensferry crossing under construction. Segments not yet joined up

Cranes disappearing into the mist

Segments advancing towards each other

Forth Rail Bridge opened 1890.

After the crossing we wound our way through the built up area of North Queensferry until we emerged into quieter roads and a substantial hill.

Looking back at the Queensferry Crossing

We stopped by the Town Loch at Townhill for lunch

Town Loch, Townhill

And then had a relaxed cycle up through hills, first grass then forest.

Hills South of Kinross

Forest lanes

Lane through Blairadam forest south of Kinross

Ferns

Water Avens

and down to Kinross, with fantastic views of Loch Leven and the much higher mountains in the distance that we cross in the next few days.

Above Kinross

View over Loch Leven

Down to Kinross

Above Kinross. Proper mountains blue in the distance

On the way through the forest Gayle spotted a lovely flower but couldnt identify it but with the wonder of facebook she sent her picture of it to our friend Chris who is an enormous source of information on botany and the natural world- within minutes we had the answer- Water Avens, so now we can post the picture and sound all knowledgeable and nobody will know.

We arrived in town  just in time to buy meths for our stove before the ironmonger closed.

The campsite tonight is rather expensive for basic facilities but there are some other end to enders with their support team and some very brown cyclists from the Netherlands who have been exploring Western Scotland and the Hebrides in perfect weather . The weather has turned much colder but this is a blessing as it keeps the midges down.

A12 June

41 miles

Climbing 840m

Cumulative total  785 miles 

Today dawned with with a scene familiar to anyone who has camped in Scotland at this time of year. It is not the wind or rain that can dominate camping- it’s the midges , Scottish midges are in a class of their own. They can reduce grown men to tears and anyone to near insanity. It is not just the bites- they come in clouds and crawl over your eyelids and into your ears and nose. They can supposedly detect heat and carbon dioxide given off by people and are attracted to them, certainly this morning although the field had some midges,  around the tent there was a visible cloud and they had collected under the flysheet awaiting their breakfast.

The classical Scottish camping scenario ensued- the tussle between a full bladder and the prospect of facing the hungry beasties outside. When we looked out and saw them crawling all over the tent flysheet there was a comment reminiscent of a scene in Zulu with Michael Caine-  “ Zulus Sir, thousands of them”  but without the cockney accent and with more expletives .

Gayle fighting midges in the rain

The needs of nature won as usual and we smothered ourselves in Avon Skin so soft – the secret weapon adopted by the SAS against the fearsome midge in preference to DEET- which works but repels humans as well as midges.

After another proper breakfast courtesy of Glynne and Sue we set off in the rain , but in fact we had a great days cycling-

Sue and the dogs in the van

Glynne making breakfast

Glynne joined us for the morning and the A road was quiet but had a silky smooth surface making cycling fast  and easy and the scenary lovely as the mist draped itself around the hills.

Misty green hills

Misty hills

We passed a lonely figure walking in the opposite direction in the rain- he was an American who was walking from John O Groats to Lands End- cycling feels quite hard work but walking the route would be much harder- in fact this was his third time, he had also walked across the United States – defies the imagination.

You’ve got to be hardy

We made good progress to Carnwath where the award winning Apple Pie Bakery provided excellent sustenance. We passed the intriguingly named village of Quothquan- Scrabble anyone?

On a treble word score?

Wet cycling but beautiful scenery

Glynne and Martin , lunch at the Apple Pie Bakery Carnwath

Pie awards

Along the way we met a Scots trio doing John o’Groats to Lands End,  they were travelling light and explained that they were doing “a tour of the Premier Inns of Britain”. Going up hill sometimes we see the attraction of this approach.

In the afternoon Sue joined us and we pressed on and the route became a bit more up and down (“lumpy” in cycling parlance) as we crossed the Pentland Hills.   We passed through the tiny habitation of Woolfords that was offering coffee in the tiny village hall but we were fresh from our lunch and didn’t stop, however half a mile further on Gayle noticed a distraught lamb stuck up to its shoulders in a boggy ditch in the middle of a peat bog-  inaccesible. Gayle cycled back the village hall where they knew who the farmer was and soon called for help to rescue the poor thing.

Hopefully rescued by now

Rams gathering their strength for the Autumn

A crow eating insects off a lanb

We then entered the low cloud and passed a series of wind turbines- quite eerily beautiful disapearing up into the mist.

Turbines in mist

Ferns and bog cotton

We passed through the new town of Livingston, a sprawling town but with an excellent series of cycle ways avoiding busy roads and taking us through extensive green spaces. There was then the hardest part of the day up some fairly steep climbs towards the campsite- Beecraigs country park, a mountain biking centre with a very well equipped campsite .

Pentland hills, Sue and Martin

Camped at Beecraigs, as far as possoble from midgey grass

3 cycle touring Poles from Warsaw arrived about 8, pedalling from Glasgow to London, enormous packs.

And so a final evening being looked after and fed by Glynne and Sue , tomorrow we were planning on a rest day but in fact after the last couple of days with them we feel refreshed and will defer the rest day and press on to Perth.

We didn’t manage to post last night as there was no mobile signal,  I think the radio waves couldn’t get through the mist

11 June

45 miles

Climbing 581 m

Cumultive 744 miles

Today looked as though there was a fair climb and we worried that the proximity to the M74 motorway would detract from the experience but we were pleasantly surprised- the motorway was fairly quiet and the landscape was striking. The road was the old A74 from before the motorway- hence fairly wide  , well graded with no steep sections and even some cycle tracks.

We set off from Robert the Bruce’s Cave south of Lockerbie after a hearty breakfast thanks to Glynne and Sue who continue to look after us, the tent was dry which makes life easier packing up even though the sky was threatening with the odd spot of rain. Sue cycled with us for the morning and we plugged away making good progress, we arrived in Lockerbie- the site of the disaster in 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb and landed on the town killing 243 passengers and 16 crew along with 11 people on the ground. Martin’s dad spent a week with other members of the mountain rescue team scouring the surrounding area for debris- a gruesome task.

Today however, the town was preparing for their summer carnival: floats going past and people in fine kilts milling around getting ready for the procession. We stopped and had a pleasant coffee at Cafe 91 and then pressed on passing the local hunt parading down the main road into town.

Sue and Martin in Lockerbie

The local hunt coming to the carnival

Floats getting ready

Several miles down the road we realised that we each thought that the other had paid for the coffee,  an embarrassed phone call to the cafe offering to pay by credit card was met by great good humour and we were told to forget all about it,  instead we have counted it as a donation and paid it into Just Giving.  

We met Glynne in the camper van for lunch and then he accompanied us for the afternoon, climbing gradually over Beattock – quite high but a gradual gradient allowing us to whizz along in a high gear  except when the surface deteriorated in places. Surface makes a huge difference,  we were going at 11miles an hour uphill where it was smooth but down to 6 or 7 where it got bumpy. We were amused at the sudden deterioration at a county boundary,  clearly one council was not going to maintain the next counties’s cycle tracks, worse luck for our bottoms.

We passed an unusual sculpture by the side of the road- entitled Toulouse ,  we didnt appreciate what it was meant to be until we googled it later- it is called Montgolfier Toulouse- clearly a hot air balloon- obvious when you know! It is by Stefanie Bourne, an artist from Brittany. When we were trying to identify it we read that Sustrans doesn’t know exactly how many sculptures it has or where they are, however there is a list and this one was on it.

Sculpture

The scenery continues to be so beautiful, hillier all day today, low near Lockerbie but getting bigger now. The flowers too are profuse. For every photo we take there are so many lovely things we cycle past.

Orchid in the verge

We arrived at the campsite in Abington in good time and not too tired today- it would be nice to think that we are getting fitter but in fact the roads today were kind. Also every mile today was a mile further north, usually we are weaving around East, West and sometimes even south.

Enzo and Patch, Glynne and Sue’s terriers

10 June

53 miles

714 m climbing

Cumulative 699 miles 

We started the day fully refreshed and Martin fully recovered, Chris and Cas looked after us and we talked late into the evening . This morning we had a tour around their estate, a wildlife oasis but also very productive, full of fruit bushes, trees and vegetables. On their birdfeeder there was a Greater Spotted Woodpecker which they thought was completely normal, they also have red squirrels in the garden .

With Chris and Cas

Chris in the garden

We set off and had quite a relaxed day- all of the height gained yesterday climbing Shap meant we had lots of downhill and flat sections. After a few miles we met up with Glynne and Sue , Martin’s brother and sister in law who have joined us for a few days , taking turns cycling with us and driving their venerable camper van.

This poses an ethical dilemma – we are doing an unsupported jouirney so still carry our luggage but is it ethical for them to carry the food all day and feed us with their delicious cooking- well we think  so. Tonight absolute luxury as Sue provided two full size towels – absolute luxury after our two miniscule towels we packed to save weight.

We cruised downhill into Penrith- an attractive town and market with established independant shops, and then on towards Carlisle. It was damp and we eventually gave in and put on waterproofs for the first time on the trip. The countryside was green and lush. It is an area much fought over as the Scottish border moved back and forth and there were fortified farm buildings and stately homes. Cows, sheep and a hare in the road

Fields of buttercups

Beautiful fortified hall

Lanes

Penrith

Penrith drapers since 1742

Sue gave us plentiful lunch including her gooseberry chutney and fuelled by this we cycled on to Carlisle along a cycleway along the Cardew. Finding the cycle way through Carlisle was slightly challenging but we eventually did and escaped the town traffic back into small lanes along the Solway estuary.

Solway estuary

We were amused in Rockcliffe by their celebrations of the Queen’s birthday

We had to join the motorway service road for the bridge over the Esk, small but with lorries thundering the other side of a fence and then to Gretna and the Scottish border

At the Border, part of Britain, depending on the result of the vote

 Then on another 4 miles to our campsite. it is called Sir Robert the Bruce’s cave campsite and is allegedly where he hid from the  English and drew inspiration from the persistence of a spider to sally forth and defeat Edward the 1st at Bannockburn and be crowned Bruce the 1st of Scotland. we will visit the cave in the morning, showers and supper were priorities for tonight.

Annandale buttercup field

Annandale lane

One last task tonight,  Gayle brought two batteries for her camera thinking that they would last for the trip but no charger as it was heavy,  Martin brought his charger but for a different make. With the help of a short length of wire,  some blu tac,  insulating tape and two matchsticks we concocted a device to charge the battery.

 It looks deeply suspicious and definitely wouldn’t be allowed onto a plane. With the propensity for lithium ion batteries to burst into flames we have put it in the entrance to the tent and will let you know tomorrow if it works. In the process we have discovered that just crossing the border into Scotland does indeed increase the midge population,  there are swarms of the beasties out there. A good incentive to have a strong bladder tonight.

Suspicious device

18 miles

511 metres climbing

Cumulative miles 646

Poor Martin woke up this morning with one of his awful migraines, he couldn’t cycle , indeed couldn’t really manage standing up. Fortunately this happened at Maggie’s who was a real star, was kind and looked after us and gave us the run of her house, even after she had to go out, so he could stay in bed.

Maggie and Gayle

Maggie’s lovely garden and view from the summer house

Fortunately too we had a very short day planned, although a somewhat fierce climb over Shap Fell. He slowly improved and we set out about 3. This area of the Lakes is lovely, gentler than the big fells further North and very green. The climb up Shap Fell was OK: steady, and we just cranked down the gears and snailed our way over. It is clearly a popular cycling climb as we were overtaken by several fast cyclists on road bikes, in some cases several times as they went up and down while we plodded up the once! Maggie advised us on a way avoiding the initial steep bank up the lane and we went over on the A6 with a Southerly wind helping. This is the first ( and possibly only) time we are planning to use an A road but it is in fact quiet, scenic and the alternatives are all much longer and fiercer.

Borrowdale, but not the well known one. From the A6 South of Shap Fell

The top was breezy and beautiful, the wildflowers here bog cotton and tormentil and the old Roman road running along the ridge.

Then the long downhill to Shap and left towards Bampton with beautiful views of the fells receding into the haze

And so to Chris and Caz where we have had a lovely evening talking about everything , generally setting the world to rights and being very well fed and comfortably rested.

32 Miles

Climbing: 404 metres

Cumulative miles 628

We had a very comfortable night with Griff and Jess. We were very impressed that they got up at the crack of dawn to go to the gym …. we stayed in bed until a reasonable hour.

Lancaster was a very cycle friendly town and we were able to whizz past the traffic jams on the cycle lane and down to the Lancaster canal. This canal was built in 1797 because the navigation on the Lune was so restricted by tides and it used to go all the way to Kendal. It crosses the Lune on a very handsome aqueduct built by a man called Rennie and has a nice tarmacced surface …. to start off with.

Aqueduct over the Lune

On the aqueduct

We stopped for coffee at Bolton le Sands with Carol and Arnold, Gayle worked with Carol in South Manchester many years ago. It was lovely to sit in the crows nest at the top of their garden and catch up with each other.

With Carol and Arnold

Back on the canal, Sustrans route 6 follows it until Carnforth and then takes little lanes, however a reasonable towpath carried on and so we opted to stay on the canal. It was very beautiful, green, full of flowers, birds, lovely views over the fells as it takes an elevated line contouring around the side of the valley. It did get quite bumpy as the tarmac ran out and the navigable part ended where it bisected by the M6. It does continue as the ‘Northern Reaches’ in many ways even more lovely as it becomes somewhat wild , the locks turn into waterfalls and the surface covered with waterlilies.

On the Lancaster canal

The locks become waterfalls in the Northern Reaches of the canal

Lovely views over the countryside

Herons

Cows

Looking down onto Holme from the canal

There are ambitious plans to reconnect this segment with the main canal network but it will invovle getting around several crossings of the motorway so a bit of a wish at present

Level with Milnthorpe, the gates turned into stiles, not bike friendly so we abandoned it and carried on on small lanes to Kendal and then Burneside where we are staying with Maggie, a friend with whom we went ski touring in Norway, 27 years ago. She lives in an beautiful spot and we sat soaking up the evening sunshine, bowling cricket balls for two small boys and admiring their snails over tea, all very idyllic.

7th June

47 miles

522 metres of climbing

Cumulative miles 596

We had a nice day’s cycle starting alongside Anglezarke reservoir, near where we used to go climbing years ago when we lived in Leyland.

Campsite in the early morning

Anglezarke reservoir

Rhododendrons by Anglezarke

Then some quiet roads and the Leeds Liverpool canal up to Whittle le Woods, really pretty.

On the canal

We worked our way through Cuerden Valley Park and into Preston along the old Tram Road- traffic free but with a good cycle friendly surface. The only drawback was again the barriers to prevent motorbikes- a different design to yesterday but too narrow for panniers so we had to remove all of the panniers at each barrier- slow work.

Unloading to get through the barriers

Much better design

Apart from the barriers Preston seemed a very cycle friendly town with well planned cycle ways and good signs.

We went through the middle of Preston where we had lunch in a friendly small cafe.

Lunch time

It is a nice town with some fine builings including the really good Harris Art Gallery,  and felt quite vibrant with street music, bunting and trees adorned with knitted decorations!

The Harris Gallery

Knitted tree decorations

Then back up onto the canal (pushing the bike up a ramp along steps which was hard work) Again the canal was lovely and people really appreciate these green corridors, people had built their gardens right down onto the canal, folks were fishing, sunbathing , messing about in boats or just sitting enjoying the place

Garden built down to the canal

On the canal

The final/part of the day was on quiet roads with silky tarmac but our legs were feeling the effort after yesterdays ride and we made slow progress, however with ice creams and cups of tea, we prevailed.

Sustrans sculpture

Barnacres church

Our speed has been very variable, averaging only 8 miles an hour on the hilly South West days or when there has been a lot of rough surfaces to 10mph on the smooth flat Cheshire lane where we were cycling with unladen companions. 9mph overall today.

The final stretch was alongside the River Lune on an idyllic off road track with lots of other cyclists .

We are staying tonight with Griff and Jess and their 2 beautiful cats. They have been really hospitable and it has been great catching up with them.

We are planning a couple of quite short days next, partly to visit friends in the Lakes and partly to give our legs a chance a chance to recover.

6th June

60 miles

climbing 786m

Cumulative 549 miles

Today was tough, we rather underestimated it as it was a pretty flat route and the luggage has much less effect without hills. However we hadnt factored in the stop start nature of navigating past the outskirts of manchester and our over optimistic trust in a book with a suggested route.

The day started well,  the Shays Farm campsite was really comfortable and Lisa who runs it made a generous donation . We set off through the lanes of Cheshire again into deepest Osborne country around tatton park, the stereotypes of the Cheshire set seemed remarkably true as most of the cars passing us were Range Rovers.

Celebrating thhe Queens bithday- complete with corgi

We stopped to look at the uniqued Anderton Boat Lift- canal barges are lifted and lowered in tanks of water rather than using locks. It was restored some years ago and is busy with a queue of boats waiting their turn.

Anderton boat lift

The roads got busier as we neared Manchester, we had had to skirt east nearer Manchester as there are no good cycle routes crossing the Manchester Ship Canal to the West- they all involve busy main roads that we are keen to avoid.

We skirted Manchester Airport and into Wythenshaw – wher Gayle workeed years ago. In fact there was a good network of cycle paths through Manchestr- mostly off road through parks and along waterways, we went past Wythenshaw Hall tragicaly badly damaged by fire recently.

although the paths were good it was slow going as we had to stop to cross main roads and many of the paths had assorted barriers to  stop joyriders and motorbikes- but also very effective against heavily laden touring bikes with bulky panniers.

Defensive measures on bike path

We stopped for lunch outside a Spar in Wythenshaw and then carried on along the Mersey and canals crossing the Ship Canal easily.

We were following a route we had found written by Royston Wood in aa book “End to End- thesafer way”. We had used part of his route on some other sections and foundd it to be reliable and good at avoiding main roads, however today things seemed less good- first we went along quite a busy main road towards Leigh, then we had to cross a really busy dual carriageway to get onto a narrow track, it took ages to wait for long enough gaps in the traffic. Almost as if to compensate the route then took us along a path on some old railway lines- but it was overgrown with  poor surface and got narrower and muddier until eventualy we abandoned it and planned our own route instead on roads that wernt too busy.

narrowing path….

we gave up at this point

The last few hills felt tough and we arrived at the campsite at Rivington at 7.30. tired and dishevelled. The camping was  quiet on a working farm- working hard getting the sileage in late tonight.

However we had a warm welcome and warm showers and couscous improved the situation

Tonight we had our first truly midgy camping- good practice for Scotland no doubt

Approaching Adlington, Winter hill in the background

sileage making

June 5th

Miles Today 52

Climbing 527m

Cumulative 489 miles

We spent the night with friends in Shrewsbury- another comfortable bed so we are not that hardy really. Mike , Anna and Ruth really looked after us so we were raring to go this morning, respect to Heather who was away in London for the Ride London event- cycling around the centre of London in the middle of the night on empty roads- and a night with no sleep. We need sleep too much to contemplate that at present.

We set off from Shrewsbury with Mike showing us a better way down to the river and accompanying us for the first 10 miles or so – making it a really sociable relaxed start to the day. We stopped briefly at the ruins of Moreton Castle-  a Medieval stronghold and then Elizabethan House that fell into ruin but is still impressive

Leaving Shrewsbury with Mike

Moreton Castle

Shady Lane

Hungry cows

We settled into a rhythm making good progress across the flatter part of Shropshire- in marked contrast to crossing the Long  Mynd yesterday. We then met up with our “outriders “ for the day- Mark and Michelle had come down from Manchester and met us half way through the day and we cycled with them for the rest of the day- the easy conversation helped the miles fly by relatively easily as it was all pretty flat as we headed into Cheshire. We had our lunch sat in the sun in a field and then pressed on- getting really hot as the sun blazed down- so a medicinal stop for ice cream was essential. We sat in the shade watching narrow boats navigating through the canal lock with a cup of tea and an ice cream- British summer at its best .

We hadnt realised that the campsite we had booked was near Oulton Park racing circuit and as we passed the roar of the race reverberated- the British Touring Car championship. We avoided a huge traffic jam as people were leaving by a detour through the woods on a sandy path  ( seems ironic, lots of Jeremy Clarkson types sweltering in the heat in the traffic jam whilst we whizzed along on our low tech bikes) .

Avoiding the traffic – a detour in the woods

We arrived at Shay’s Farm Campsite to two really nice surprises- the campsite is lovely and quiet nestled down in an idylic little valley and the owner Lisa couldn’t have been more welcoming, and then Mark and Michelle produced their surprise- tea , scones and a bottle of prosecco – we hardly felt that today was arduous at all. Despite the Prosecco we seem top have erected the tent OK but if the wind blows we might find what we missed when pegging it out

Impromptu party at the campsite- thank you Mark and Michelle

Our neighbours on the site Phil and Michelle have been really supportive as well seeing our banner and feeding us cups of tea and a donation- people have been really kind as we progress along and the campsite is making a donation as well. 

4th June

43 miles

1034 metres of climbing

Total miles 437

Leominster was a lovely place to stay and it was great too to meet up with Tony Adams from the Spire cycle club and meet Helen from Huddersfield, they are being joined by others for 5 days cycling bonanza in the Herefordshire lanes

We set off North, initially fairly gentle ups and downs. Coffee in Ludlow where we really enjoyed the lovely old half timbered buildings in this ancient town. We felt we didn’t really have time to do the castle justice … another time. Instead we made for a coffee in the Ciccetti bar, a wonderful establishment where Martin succumbed to Cannolo, a crisp Italian pastry filled with a delicious chocolate and pistachio cream while Gayle’s croissant came with alcoholic Calabrese marmalade.

Not all half timbered buildings are black and white

Ludlow high Street

The town gate into Ludlow

We had been under the impression that Shropshire was flat but after Ludlow were swiftly disabused of this as a long steep hill appeared on the satnavs. Beautiful lanes up Corvedale and Westhope took us up 200 metres to Church Stretton, a characterful small town which is not called Little Switzerland for no reason.

Hedgerow flowersk

Caer Caradoc above Church Stretton

Walking the dog in Church Stretton

Bacon butties there on a bench outside HSBC and then unsuspectingly set off again on the planned route, it got steeper and steeper and steeper until eventually ending up on Long Mynd at 325 meters . Beautiful views and we were glad to be up there but next time I will pay more attention to contour lines, even on days I anticipate to be flat ….

On top of Long Mynd

Shropshire lanes

Shropshire hills

Shropshire lanes

After that it was basically downhill through green lanes to Shrewsbury and a cup of tea in Heather and Mike’s lovely garden with their hens scratching and a wren visiting their pond