Tour De France Blog V

Saturday morning dawned bright and breezy - a lie-in, hooray! Actually I was woken up by Tim & Matt bickering about whether 6:45 was a lie-in - Tim is plainly an early riser! "Do you mind" I said "I'm trying to have a lie-in!" Staggered around a bit, had a wash, a couple of cups of tea and a sosmix & cheese sandwich and all was good. Tim packed up and set off for Maidstone, allegedly to meet up with us later. Matt and I sat around for a bit and took stock of the surroundings.

The Lea Valley Country Park campsite was actually pretty nice. Having been brought up in the LV I've always hada bit of an affection for the place, although I couldn't wait to get out when was 18. The entrance to the camp-site, in one of the grimmer parts of London, off the busy Meridian Way with the railway the other side of the road, past a multiplex cinema - there aren't many campsites with a multiplex on-site are there? - and a leisure centre doesn't look too promising but once on site it's fine, with a golf course behind to provide a bit of greenery. I imagined it would have barbed wire all round and a controlled access, which was why I was a bit concerned about getting there before it closed, but it was actually just like any other camp-site, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.

We decided it was time to head for town. A quick pootle up the Meridian Way and we found our way to the River Lea towpath, through some of the extensive parkland and marshes that border the river. We pedalled through Hackney Marshes & on towards Bow, unfortunately missing the cut-through at Victoria Park that would hsve got us onto the Hertford Union. Realising our mistake however, we got onto Mile End Rd and headed for town. A motley peloton passed us, plainly heading for Hyde Park, and we tacked on the back as far as the City, where I veered off for Euston whilst Matt stayed with the pack to get to the Prologue.

I got to the CCN Meeting where the salient points were as follows.

Next conference to be in Oxford = will we get Boris there? Maybe. Theme is "Changing the climate on our roads"

Some groups are struggling - Tyne bikes is on the way out, Leicester has become a social only group. Now that the board has a few members on it - Rod King from Warrington has just joined - perhaps we can do a bit more development work.

The National Cycle Planner project is making progress, with OS agreeing to supply base data.

Board was duly impressed that I had cycled down but unwilling to pay cycle expenses!

Following the meeting made for Marble Arch, the next meet-up point. Caught up with Mike Edgington, who having finished his course has moved to Birmingham - we'l miss you Mike, come up and visit sometime. Matt was stuck in the crowds somewhere but eventually made it and we went down to catch a bit of Prologue:
















Eagerly waiting the next rider















Yes we made it to the Prologue!

Watched a bit of riders zooming past, then got bored and decided to head for the Pub,
as originally planned. Most of central london has been closed to motor traffic, so althugh it was still very busy it was a pleasure to wend our way through the crowds, and on to the embankment which was gloriously free of traffic. We got to the George, grateful for a drink, and Ruth and her friend Alexei turned up, so it all worked out pretty well for meeting people. They headed off for a bbq, and we headed up to a Turkish retaurant at the top of Brick Lane, which I would recommend to you if I could remember what it is called. We ate well and headed back up through Stoke Newington & Hackney to the riverside, witnessing some pretty hairy cycling on the way. Back on the river at Lea Bridge, and we stopped at a riverside pub for a nightcap, watching the moon rise over Hackney Marshes and the last trains glide over the landscape, before heading home.

Sunday morning I set off to see my brother - a mere 13 miles or so up the valley, nothing really - and then set off back through Broxbourne Woods, re-visiting some of the haunts of my mis-spent youth (I'm not kidding) got to Cuffley just to see the train leaving , so continuing over to Potters Bar (there are some hills in this area, I can tell you) for a train to Kings Cross, which meant I could just stroll over to St P. for the train back to Sheffield, in the company of Ruth and Trevor Mayne our fellow pp from Penistone.

Saw this couple of excellent Goths at St P.


























That's all folks!

==posted by Simon

Tour De France Blog IV

So we dropped Matt off at Leagrave station to make a train-assisted dash to the campsite and headed off around Luton. Tim navigated magnificently although I suspect we could have just followed the blue route 6 signs on the off-road path beside the ring road - the map I have for this area dates from 1976 I think. No matter, as we left Luton we passed the sign for Hertfordshire, and I knew I was near home, like Moley in the Wind in the Willows.

Herts did not disappoint, as we dashed down a pretty valley, stopping at a village store for more refreshment, passing by old Welwyn and the railway viaduct (Tim was convinced he started his survey of the New River here - I knew better but kept schtum) on up the hill and down the other side through Bengeo into Hertford. the country town treated us kindly and we were soon on to Ware, passing the real source of the New River (neither new nor a river, having been built by King James to bring fresh water to London, and not cyclable but a very pleasant walk) with the A10 viaduct rather than the railway as the landmark. We could see the results of the survey Tim had done as various parts of the New River embankment had been shored up, and at St Margarets we joined the River Lea towpath, part of NCN1 if I recall correctly and a good cycling route into London. It was 7:30 by now and I thought it was time to check up on how Mat was doing. It transpired he was a quarter of an hour from the campsite, so we still didn't know whether we were in or not, but we carried on as well as exploring other options. Soon enough though the call came from Matt that we were in, so it was time for a last spurt. I however was flagging by now as well as thinking we should get up to the camp site and keep Matt company so was strongly in favour of getting the train, so we called in at Broxbourne (my old home town, and we passed the house I was brung up in) to check out the trains.

Having 20 minutes to go before the next train we figured we could make it to the next station along, Cheshunt, and so we did. Tediously it looked as though they weren't going to lift the level crossing gates in time for our train, so we carried the laden bikes over the railway bridge, but then of course they did. De-training at Ponders End, the campsite was a short schlepp along the off-road route alongside Meridian Way, the campsite was far from rammed out and easy to cycle in, so why the person I spoke to had given me so much bullshit was beyond me.

Matt had popped up to the local store (a giant Tescos, and of course if you believe in shopping local you have to go to Tescos in this area, as they originated in Cheshunt and their Head Office is still there) and bought a large quantity of Meat (vegebangers for Tim) and a BBQ. So we ate well with no vegetables spoiling the purity of the meal. It was a beautiful evening, a hot shower was very welcome and we all slept well.

..to be continued...

Tour De France Blog III

Well, the downpour did lift slightly and we moved along, Matt & me thinking we could always jump ship and get the train back from Harborough if things still looked bad. We did about 10 miles and passed a pub - it looked like a good bet for dinner, and we noticed a spacious beer garden, the landlord was very friendly and took pity on us - it was quite a smart pub and not everyone would have welcomed three soaked cyclists! But they were quite interested to hear what we were up to. A few beers and a meal and we were in better shape, and tucked down to a dark and squally night. My new lightweight tent proved not to be the best design ever, but stayed up most of the night!

The morning dawned, grey but not raining.Tim with his lightweight cooker fixed us hot drinks and Ready Brek, which got us into a fit state to hit the road. Leicestershire country roads rarely disappoint, and we got in a good few miles before finding a cafe for a spot more breakfast. Back on the road, we were soon reaching the outskirts of Northampton, on the main road which was getting a bit hairy. Tim wanted to head in and find a bike shop to replace his stock of inner tubes, whilst Matt & myself preferred a more leisurely route in on NCN6, so Tim sped off and we headed for the trail that takes you along an disused line that is being brought back to life as a steam railway. Where the disused railway joins the live one there was a subway that had turned into one enormous puddle, and then there was a bumpy track for a bit. We got a bit confused coming into Northampton but that was really our fault for not trusting the signs which were fine, and stocked up on sandwiches & juices in the town centre, chatting to a busker who had moved from Sheffield (he played "it's all over now baby blue" one of my favourite Dylan tunes).

Leaving town, again a certain amount of confusion ensued (sustrans routes do often seem to lose direction in town centres) , but once we had got to the river and pointed in the right direction we were fine. By this time the sun had come out & we came across some brave souls practicing river rescues:
















...and there was certainly plenty of water in the Nene to go at. We pressed on, got a bit lost in the industrial estate at Hardingstone (first the signs had slipped down the pole and got overgrown, then there was an access barrier that was nor clearly signed - had to rein in Tim a bit who had developed a tendency to power off past junctions where we needed to check the route - apparently he has a tremedous sense of direction ) but soon we were off on the country lanes again. following the blue signs. Tim & I swapped again so I had the pleasure of his lightweight bike for the next few hours.

We called in at Salcey Forest which has a visitor centre, picnic tables & cafe, next to the M1 but still very pleasant, and worth hanging on for if you're doing this ride. It was at this point I thought it best to check whether we had a campsite for the night in the Lea Valley, and the conversation went like this:

"hello, just checking whether you've got room for three cyclists tonight".

"We're totally rammed out mate. Have you booked?"

"Well I did email you a few months back and you said it would be no problem"

"Oh well, I suppose we might be able to fit you into a corner. What time can you get here?"

"About seven?"(I said optimistically)

"Can you get here before that? only we close the shop at 7:30"

"Well it's a bit tricky because we're cycling, but we can always get the train I suppose"

"Alright mate, see you later"

So the time pressure was on. This was also where Tim, aka the Duracell bunny, for some reason decided he should take Matt's panniers instead of mine. Since Mat had been involved in an accident where one of his panners had come off in the path of a cycling companion who ended up in hospital, and we all know how we make adjustments to ensure that our own stuff all workd together wit the bike, he was a bit nervous about all this, & I don't blame him.

Things went well until we reached Castlethorpe where the route took us down a seriously overgrown path, got well nettled, then the next section had recently been flooded and ws covered with gravel - Matt & Tim found my attempts to control Tim's bike on this surface somewhat amusing, Vernon and Matt's converted MTB negotiated the surface with rather less fuss.

(Matt & Tim alongide the Nene)















Matt















Matt & Tim


...past the hairy bits, we were on the riverside heading for Milton Keynes. I have long wanted to visit MK and check out the controversial "redways", so this was my chance. The routes are certainly fine but there didn't seem ot be much utility cycling going on, while there was plenty of traffic on the roads nearby. We made made a slightly wrong route choice by blindly following Route 6, while Route 5 looks to be a better choice on the map - however we did power along an old railway line, stoping briefly to remove a fallen tree (Tim & self putting our Sustrans rangers hats on for a moment) and then followed the route alongside the Grand Union, pleasantly scenic if a little bumpy, and it did bring us out on the right side of MK, at Bow Brickhill, following the redways for the last part of the urban transit. From here we climbed up at 1:8 (what is that in percentages again?) into beech woods on the edge of the Chilterns, aligning ourselves with Woburn.

A fortuitious wrong turn saw us correctly placed for the spin past Woburn, and having got ompletely disoriented when we came out at the wrong place, I handed over the navigation to Tim (after all he already had my bike and I've got it set up so I can read the map as I go along on my own bike - see my comments above). With a strong following wind (We'd had a lot of that, the pay-off for the rough time we'd had on Thursday) we zoomed along towards Luton, aware of the need to get to the campsite in good time. Having discussed the options, it was clear that one of would have to get the train in to London, and Matt volunteered - I suspect he was ready for a break, the pace having been pretty hard over the day. As we approached Luton & crossed the M1, traffic got heavy, & some joker threw water at me from a van - I'm sure he though it was funny, but I didn't. We passed Leagrave station and this looked like a good spot to send Matt off on the train.

to be continued...

Tour De France Blog II

Thursday morning dawned and I found Tim bright and ready for the off at my door at 8 a.m. After a spot of coffee we were ready to roll. Tim seemed to like to ride my heavily laden tourer better than his ultra-lightweight carbon racer, so I was happy enough with that so we swopped and took off up to Meadowhead. On the way down through Dronfield Tim realised he was only wearing one glove, and I was missing my SDP clips so we stopped in at James's Chesterfield where they were just opening the doors. I merrily fitted my new spd's while Tim inspected the stock and off we set, choosing the short section of the canal in preference to rush hour traffic to get us to the station, with only a slight glitch when I realise I couldn't get out of the SPD's as I negotiated the access barrier to the canal - quickly grabbing the wall was only to prevent a disastrous topple.

It transpired I hadn't done the bolts up tight enough and one had come out. A bit more adjustment had us on our way, emerging out of the canal, back on the road, negotiating the intimidating A61 roundabout and heading up towards Clay Cross (see my May 20 blog entry)
we enjoyed the ups and downs of this section, swopping bikes again near Ripley, stopped as is traditional at the co-op in Little Eaton for sustenance, and got onto the cycleway and through Derby in short order. Following route 6 now - what a blinder this route is, anyone who hasn't done this and still claims all sustrans routes are pants should really put up or shut up.

Following the route of a disused canal out of derby, then on a real canal for a bit before joining a disused railway, mostly tarmacced, then linking with the Cloud Trail and minor roads through rolling farmland, we kept up a good speed, despite a bit of headwind. Nevertheless our estimate of a 2 p.m. arrival at Leicester was optimistic - we saw off Loughborough in reasonably short order, chasing down the old A6, but it wasn't until 4 that we hit Leicester and found the Cycle Park, that excellent facility in the Town Hall where you can leave your bike, have a shower, get your bike fixed and buy some spares, meeting up with Mat who was to join us for the rest of the ride. We refreshed with tea & cake and as the market was closing I was able to pick up a tray of bananas which stayed with us for a few days.

However, as we left Leicester on the Great Central Way the heavens opened. Things got worse when, in the outer suburbs, Tim got a puncture which took 5 attempts to fix, and we spent 1 1/2 hours in a bus stop in in the rain trying to sort it out. Morale was low and both Mat and I were thinking of returning to Leicester (Mat would have been very happy to put us up) but Tim was determined to press on.

..to be continued..