Stories from
the road
(and beyond!)
Cycling to the sea - 77 miles in a day
It all started when Daddy was in the kitchen, chopping up carrots. He said to me "You keep asking to go to the sea, Ruth - wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could ride all the way to Kings Lynn. Would you like to try that? It’s a long way" And I said "I would love to do that!”
The graveyard shift - where is it OK to wild camp?
We had turned off the main road when it finished abruptly at a neat and well tended graveyard. Tom walked around the perimeter wall to see if there was anywhere we could go to the other side of it that might be less directly in the face of the fierce wind, and the foamy sea. He came back, eyeing up the ground next to the wall.
Mrs Risk-Averse is alarmed, and the inner monologue is running away with me.
Steaming socks on the ‘spine road’
Readying ourselves to get off the boat, we were in the invidious position of knowing that we were about to tackle our nemesis from our last visit here - the short, sharp climb from the slip, over the hill to the village and the causeway to South Uist. We decided not to put on an ‘ambitious, but rubbish’ display of heroic failure for the other tourists, so as we usually do now, we waited for everyone else to hit the beach and get up the road before setting off.
Making up the miles: Mäel-Carhaix to Loudéac
We became something of a tourist attraction ourselves as we stopped to consult the map for options for the next stretch of our day's mileage. One lady got her camera out and started snapping pictures of the girls in their trailer, which was a bit surreal. The lady and her family stopped for a chat and she was amazed at Thomas Ivor's proficiency and the distance we were hoping to cover. She told me I was mad to do this with my "remorque". By the end of the day, I was starting to agree! Today's mileage was a PB for me towing the trailer.
Getting out of the door
With a growing family (numerically and in stature!) it follows that you are forced repeatedly to break one of the golden rules of bicycle touring - get to know your kit and your capabilities, and once you have a setup that works, stick with it unless there is a compelling reason. It's just not possible to do that long term, when the number, size and capabilities of your 'team' is ever-changing.