It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
Ernest Hemingway
I've been camping and staying with friends the last week or so, and for one reason and another, I haven't been able to get up to date with things. So I will blurt out a bit of stuff and get a bunch of soundslides up.
The north east coast from Ashington down to Redcar and beyond is really industrial, lots of Corus plants, no coal mines (just memorials to the days of coal). The roads are busy. But in some ways it's reassuring (industrial ghost towns would be a depressing alternative). Industry is punctuated by little seaside towns like Redcar and Marske.
Monday last, I stayed with brilliant folk in Sunderland, Dave and Hannah. Dave is one of those rare folk who spends his life helping and doing things for other folk and giving stuff away (saying he's got two of them, when I'm not entirely convinced). Dave and Hannah have three boys who were spending the night at the grandparents, so I slept in a Power Rangers bed (thanks Will) and left with a bag of extra stuff (food, pens and a booster charger) from Dave.
Tuesday night I found a room at the Ship in Mirske-by-the-Sea (very nice pint watching Arsenal and Celtic in the bar listening to pub quiz) I travelled 50 miles up to Scarborough, roads started off busy, narrow and hilly, but after arriving in the lovely port of Whitby (also jammed with holiday folk) I hopped onto the Whitby to Scarborough track, an old railway route, which was a great, bumpy 25 mile ride along a beautiful coast passing Robin Hood Bay.
I remembered that ex-Howies Alison came from Scarborough and she is back there before heading off on a new career (beautician on cruise ships), so Wednesday night I stayed with her at her folks house. Anyone who knows Alison knows what a ball of energy and fun she is, and she gave me a grand tour of Scarborough in the evening. A's folks, Barbara and Colin, were great too, fantastic hospitality and nice chats about life and stuff.
On Thursday morning Alison and I set out to cycle the 20 miles to Bridlington together, first time I had cycled with anyone since Cardigan. Unfortunately Alison felt really sick after about 15 miles and had to be rescued by her mum and dad. But it was nice to celebrate doing 3000 miles with A after 8 miles and we stopped by a big gate with Alison on it.
So I went on alone and met up with Dave Cooper, a traditional blacksmith (not forgetting Rivet his dog) working in Bridlington. Dave told me that the Blacksmith was once the king of the trades, and in villages and towns, he would have been topdog.
Again really strong southerly winds were mind and leg sapping all day and the 60 mile ride from Scarborough to Hull felt more like 100.
I met Jon Moss at the Do Lectures and again at bTWEEN the excellent multi-platform conference in Liverpool a couple of months ago. So when I staggered into his village just outside of Hull it was very nice to see Jon again and to meet his lovely partner Kate. Kate had a top pasta supper on the go which brought some life back into my weary soul. It the morning Jon and I met up with another nice local bloke, another John and we headed into Hull for a brilliant full on breakfast at Fudge (with a name like that it had to be my sort of place).
Losing the daylight hours
I left Hull at about 2pm to cross the Humber bridge and out of Yorkshire and into Lancashire. I cut across country to miss the grim A road routes around Grimsby and worked my way through the nice little lanes on mainly flat routes. The wind dropped which made riding much easier.
But I've started to get caught out by the nights drawing in. Getting into Hull at 9pm in darkness wasn't much fun the day before, and I realise now that I have to get earlier starts in to get miles done. Again, I got a bit caught out by darkness arriving pretty quick around 8.30pm. I was thinking about cycling on Anglessey in late June in daylight at 10.15pm, seems like a luxury now. Shame really because cycling in the long evenings is the best time because the heat of the day has got, the wind often calms and the roads are quieter. Also, you get amazing skies often at this time.
Losing weight
I quite rightly got a bit of a talking to about being flippant about losing weight again. When I started out I was a tad over 12 stone (about 76kg I think). Now I am down to about 10 stone 5 (about 68kg). For someone who is 6'1" that isn't a good weight for the journey that I am doing. Basically (Tim tells me) I'm probably about 500 calories light each day, and he has suggested having a protein rich drink each night to make that up.
London bound
Before the ride, I noticed a band I really like (WIlco) were playing at the Troxy (a 30s club in the east end of London) on August 25th. So I bought two tickets thinking that I would be there or there abouts around that time. Also, I've sort of looked forward to a little outing (even if it means hopping on a train for a day). Now though it looks all a bit problematic. What with where I might be, whether to take the bike or leave it somewhere. Its tricky for H to get there from Bristol for the night. So now the trip is a bit in the balance. WIll weigh it up over the next day or so.
And then a few days with friends in Suffolk at the weekend. Such a busy social life I lead! and how to fit it all in. I don't know.
Here are some images to give you a feel of the north east coast down to Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
The last one is fairly typical of cycling through Lincolnshire and Norfolk, it looks like an incredible year for harvests and the fields of wheat are golden with farmers working hard on the land.