Bikes and Trains

As any regular reader of my blog will know (as if there are any!) I am not averse to putting my bike on a train occasionally. These last two weekends I have done just that, ad will do it again in a couple of weeks!
The cost of petrol has risen sufficiently that it is just about the same price to drive on my own as it is to go on the train, if you book tickets well in advance. It also means I can work a bit on the train and even have a nap, which is frowned upon when driving.
The cost equivalence is only about right, and only for med/long journeys like London/Swindon/Bournemouth. That means that as soon as you add a taxi getting to the station or parking, and the a taxi the other end, it starts to become more expensive and not worth the incvenience of not having a car!!
So, I have trialled cycling. 15mins to the station and then a varied distance the other end. Last weekend in Swindon it worked a treat, and today I have been to London. In fact, riding across the city was more fun than tubing it! Unless petrol gets cheaper this is the plan from now on.

Re-jigging The Blog

I have rearranged things on the blog, hopefully to make it a bit more organised should anyone want to find something!?

I have not yet kept my new-years’s resolution of getting my bike back on the road and start cycling more regularly. I will, though!
Part of this boost in motivation has been reading a good book! I am not a big reader, but as I was ill for a few days last week I read a book by a fellow blogger.

Good Vibration- crossing Europe on a bike called Reggie (link)
When I cycled across Europe in 2010 (C10) my online research put me in touch with Andrew Sykes who was planning the same trip.  He was about 4 weeks ahead of me, so I basically followed him, both on the blog and literally.  He is far better blogger, and then wrote it all up into a great book, which I have been reading. It has bought back memories from my trip, since we went to pretty much exactly the same places, even the same campsites!

It has given me itchy pedals- time to start planning the summer ride.

Summary

I have updated my route pages to show the actual route I took.
I have also updated the plan to show daily distances and where I stayed each night.
Here are a few stats:
Total distance cycled: 938.2 km
Average distance cycled per day: 78.18km
Total distance travelled: 1175.1 km
Longest Cycling Day: 105.3km (Day 11)
Number of boats: 3
Total number of days travelling: 14
Total number of days cycling: 12
Number of nights camping: 12 (plus on on the beach in Weymouth)
Number of different campsites: 12
Number of punctures: 0 (only 1 for the whole group- Jonny)
Injuries: 0 (on 1 for the whole group- Pete)   Repairs: 0 (only 1 for the whole group- Pete)
Number of plates of baguettes: 14

Wordle…

…for this year. At the end of my last trip I was told about a website that will take all the text of a blog and make a picture of the word giving the most used words a bigger size.

Click this picture to see it in more detail…

Day 14…

…was home time.
It was great not to have to get up by any time, and to then just lie around rather than pack-up straight away and get cycling! I have enjoyed the cycling, and really gotten into a pattern the last few days, butt not having a day off in 10 days meant this was great!
It was already too hot to be in the sun by 830am, so we headed up to the campsite bar for breakfast, and then straight into the pool. The others were all staying for a few days so I was the only one who had to pack-up at all; but with the airport just across the road I was not in a rush.
My flight was at 4pm and check in closed at 345pm so I though that if I was there by 2pm I would have time to pack the bike up into the bag and check-in with plenty of time. I was there by six minutes past one and packed up by half-past! It is quite sad seeing the bike dismantled. It has been my home for the past 2 weeks and now it is in a bag!!
I had a nap for about an hour until check in opened and then joined the queue- I had plenty of time. 40mins later, at 310pm I got to the front of the queue to be told that my bag was not sufficient, and I needed a box. I was pretty sure I had checked all the info I was given and packed it up to specifications so felt pretty annoyed, especially as I now only had 30mins to sort it out. As it happens, the help desk at Biarritz airport are very helpful. They sold me a very good box for just 10 euros and even gave me the tape to close it up. I made the gate with plenty of time, thankfully.
The rest was straight forward. My sister met me at Gatwick with my two gorgeous nieces and then I drove home. It remains annoying that I can do in half a day what took us two weeks to do, but it was much more fun by bike!

day 14 1089

day 14 1092

Day 13…

…was the day we arrived in Biarritz!
It started slightly earlier than we have been, I think because it was the final push, and also because Jonny was shamed yesterday.
Packed up for the penultimate time we set off, again on the forest cycle paths. These were not all as well kept as some of them, but it was cooler in the woods and didn’t require any navigation.
Again we seemed to start slow and then the kms went quicker.
At one point, going through the woods we saw in the distance a man sitting on a log by the path, with a gun in his hand. It looked like he was asleep and we were worried what might happen of we startled him. He wasn’t asleep, but as we passed he just watched us, without smiling or responding to our ‘bonjour.’ About 20m later there was another, a bit further into the woods, facing the path, holding his gun. Then another, then another. for about 200m they we lined up ready to shoot something. Thankfully not us.
We then hit cycle hire territory. the paths were brilliant, but they were also littwr with children, ladies and ‘Sunday drivers.’ However, there were a few stretched of about 7km at a time where we got into the zone and flew. This pretty much confirmed what was happening in the magical forest. When we got in a line and cycled we just went faster and faster- it was great fun.
A particularly memorable point along this stretch was one where there were loads of tourists, and we heard the familiar call from behind to keep in because a proper cyclist was passing. Most of us pulled in, and as he passed he turned and said ‘Hello’ to each of us. Pete, who had delayed getting in and slowed him down, took his ‘Hello’ to be sarcastic and so decided to hot-tail him. He struggled to keep up, but then managed when the guy kindly stopped to help a lady at a map find her way. Pete took offense to the kindest man on the path!!
The day was getting hotter and hotter. Grace, in the support vehicle, had looked for campsites and had found one in Bidart, about 10km further than Biarritz. The prospect of adding 10km to our journey was not pleasant, especially considering the fact that we wanted to spend the evening in the city so it would mean cycling back in after setting up. A visit to the info office told us about a campsite in Anglet, right by the airport. This would be perfect for my going home tomorrow, and closer to the city, in fact on our way so no extra distance. Thankfully, when we arrived that had space.
We pitched, off loaded our bags and set off for the final stretch to the destination. For some reason, somewhere along the line, swimming in Biarritz became the destination. I need to get a few things like tape for packing my bike up, and we wanted a team-t-shirt so we went into town first, then got to the beach around 630pm. It was still baking and a dip in the sea was delightful; good waves.
Biarritz is nice, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out to leave tomorrow. As we sat having a take-away tea on an out-crop, I was very aware that the journey had been the holiday, not the destination.
The cycle back up to the campsite in Anglet was not as bad as we had feared, having rolled all the way down! There was just time to sit and reflect on the week over a cigar before heading into the tent for the last night this trip.

Day 12…

…started with thunder storms. At about 2am a series of almighty crashed woke us all up, followed by hard rain. This meant that we got up to wet sand all around. Urgh.
The aim was to be out by 8am as we had a 80km day and we were to carry all our baggage. Up till now we have been able to off load much of it into the car, but Mel left on Tuesday night and today Grace was going to pick up her sister who joins us for the last couple of days, but they are staying in Biarritz and we will join them tomorrow. We left at 823am mostly thanks to Jonny!
Going was tough to start with. My legs felt like they had not recovered from last night’s climbing, so even the smallest hills were a struggle. It felt like the day would drag.
However, I warmed up and started keeping up with the others, and once again we started making good time. By lunch we were back by the beach in Mimizan and it was baking.
The we entered the magical wood! It was much like the other woodland paths we have taken but this had more undulation. However, it felt funny. I noticed it, but it was only when Pete mentioned it, and then everyone agreed, that we knew what we meant. It looked like we were going uphill, but we were coasting as if it was downhill. We never really worked out what was happening, maybe we were particularly slip-streamed?
Arriving at Contis-Plage, after a short hunt for the campsite, we headed straight for the pool. Delightful.
We are now sitting watching Mo, a band; live music at the campsite. Two guys playing guitars and drums and other instruments. Unashamedley pop, and great fun.