Tag Archives: adventure

Hadrian’s Wall Ride – Day 1

Cycling Adventures, Travel, ,

I suspect on these pages I’ve written about Hadrian’s Wall before but it’s still topical, not least because it’s a wonderful and intriguing piece of our British history and the fact that it offers a wonderful route across the north of England with delightful scenery and antiquity. 

I first got interested in the area in 2020 when Anna and I took a short break up at Hexham and ventured onto the wall for a bit of a walk. Anna remembers it will as she slipped on the mud, that comprised the path, and sat in her coat in a soggy puddle! It was touch and go as to whether I would allow her into the car.

Later that year I ventured back up in the Morgan to investigate the Vindolanda Fort, the site of a world class museum that was one of the first locations in the UK where archaeology discovered the written word. Frankly, I was blown away by this Fort and the stories and histories it divulged. If you’ve not been then what’s wrong with you?

From here my visits were about taking holidaymakers there as a guide, whether walking or cycling. One of the delights that never failed to draw literal sighs of pleasure was Sycamore Gap. Here where the wall dips down between two cliffs a glorious and iconic tree stood. Sadly we know that the tree was felled for no good reason by two vandals who will find out their sentence in July. Let’s hope it reflects this awful act.

My image taken in May 2022

Stretching back nearly as long ago as the building of this 84 mile long barrier was my friendship with John. Fortunately John, judging by the look of him, has fared better than the Wall over the 60 years we have known each other. We met at Ashville College, Harrogate in 1966. We were both very young boarders at Ashville’s preparatory school, New College. John moved south at 16 and stayed down that way (poor soul, I know.) Our contact has been intermittent but includes the honour of being his Best Man at his marriage to Pip.

I’ve hardly changed since 1988.

So when John contacted me about his own idea to cycle Hadrian’s Wall I invited myself onto the ride! He never objected. Using my knowledge of the ride, the sightseeing and possible accommodation solutions we agreed a date and I got down to booking hotels and trains. John’s worries weren’t about my itinerary but how much fitter I’d be cycling after my well documented adventures. As it turned out John did quite a bit of training in the hilly areas of Hampshire and turned up fit. He actually turned out to be quite an athlete and got round well with no hitches or stress. So leaving the house we cycled to York Railway station and embarked on the straightforward trundle to Carlisle.

The only problem arose in arriving in Newcastle and finding the platform for the Carlisle train that was so tight for time that a coffee couldn’t be procured. However in Carlisle we girded our loins to cycle west to the ‘start’. This was at Bowness-on-Solway. Here the Wall was originally earth and timber and had disappeared several centuries ago. However before that we popped into Carlisle Cathedral. This magnificent building has quite a history with lots of graphics as well as impressive vistas.

Around the church we found a custard cream.

These little metal biscuits have QR codes with them that if scanned open up web pages giving you the history of the monument, building, sight or whatever they’re sited next to. Why a custard cream I hear you all ask? Well, McVitie’s and Carr are located in the centre of the town where one of their iconic products is this biscuit. Did you know 65 million are made here per year?

Frankly, yet unsurprisingly, I got a little excited by this because this biscuit is made even more supreme by covering it in thick milk chocolate. I felt compelled to share this vital information with strangers. So I did to a very kind elderly lady volunteer in the Cathedral who heard me out. She no doubt thought that this idiot, in hi viz cycling lycra, would shortly be gone and so adopted Plan A: smile sweetly. I felt that after this revelation we should pop back to M&S Food where these treasures appeared from and buy her a packet. The look on her face, on receipt, said ‘idiot, but with biscuits’.

Anyway after all this there was the small matter of turning the pedals to get to the start in Bowness. It was flat all the way and keeping the estuary to our left we ate up the 13 miles to find the formal start.

Forgot to breath in

Catriona took the photo. She was a middle aged hiker with a slightly furrowed brow who was walking alone and planned to start the Wall tomorrow. It did strike me as we chatted that this may be something of a retreat for her as she strode off heading east the next day; no doubt seeking exercise, history and possibly inspiration. The walk is a lot more ‘true’ to the old Wall location than the cycle route where we dodge around it on local roads but we would meet walkers from time to time. Anyway it was a sandwich in Bowness and then back to Carlisle. Also we additionally fuelled for our journey with another chocolate coated custard cream. They’re addictive.

Solway estuary behind us

Texas Odyssey 2025 – Bob – Part 6

Cycling Adventures, Travel, , ,

I think about my 2014 bicycle ride across America one way or another every day. It was an amazing nine weeks of adventure, phenomenal effort, awesome scenery and some new friendships. I’d call it the adventure of a lifetime as well as an item ticked off my bucket list. It was 3,900 miles of scary freedom across nine States not knowing when the next Kentucky dog would chase you or where you could fill up an empty water bottle in the sometimes 40°C heat. The cycle route was laid down on maps and either millennials, wondering what to do with their lives after graduation, or physically fit retirees, with time on their hands and still a head full of dreams. Cyclists would appear coming the other way and you’d stop and engage in a sort of 5 minute speed date before waving goodbye with one heading east and the other heading west. On July 25 2014 I met a guy as I cycled through Virginia. This was Bob Sanders. He was nearing the end; I was passing through my first State. We talked about the route, lodgings and he volunteered a calling card with his personal details on it. I pocketed it. He said that this wasn’t his first long distance ride, he was 75 and was looking forward to reaching the coast where after meeting up with his wife he had some respects to pay for some fallen comrades. He was a Vietnam War veteran. We shook hands, parted and cycled on.

Bob Sanders in 2014
Photo by Bob of you know who

Subsequently we’ve corresponded over the years and both of us continued on our two wheel adventures. Mine are well documented here on the web site. When Bob recently dropped into an email that he was going to ride across the USA for the fifth time and nail the Guinness World Record by being the oldest person, at 85, to do this I was literally blown away. Riding across the country with the wind, the sun, the variable quality lodgings and food, the potential bike issues, the endless minutiae of the logistics and all those long hills, day after day, was not an easy undertaking irrespective of your age, fitness, experience and mindset. It’s also an expensive project if you think of getting to the start, home from the finish, the hotels, the food and incidentals etc.

However, adding to the above was satisfying the Guinness World Record rules. The route has to be submitted in advance and be a minimum agreed distance, your own credentials needed confirming and then the verification process on the journey included obtaining witness statements repeatedly daily as well as completing a daily video record. It’s one thing to actually do this as well as the small matter of riding, maybe, 80 miles daily including 3,000 feet of climbing. All this needs collecting and documenting. What a determination and energy on and off the bike!

So whilst I’m sat in wintery York admiring Bob’s plan Anna had booked two weeks in Texas. She knew nothing of Bob’s record attempt. I’d not had sight of Bob’s itinerary and hadn’t worked out that maybe our paths could cross. Slowly but surely I woke from my metaphorical slumber and calculated that if Bob met his daily schedule there was a good chance by our driving west on our second to last day we could rendezvous. If you’ve read my other blogs you’ll know that Anna and I had a busy schedule all around the southern part of Texas and so this meeting would be a bolt on if Bob did the miles.

Stay tuned.