Great paths, great food and company and it turned into our hardest 75 miles we have ever done.

We set off from London St. Pancras towards Luton, simply because that would allow us to avoid riding out of London, and also because our friend lives there. Dave then led us out for 25 miles north on quiet and pleasant roads.

We went out on a 53 miles ride today joined by five of our friends. Never been in that part of London before and it really didn’t feel like London. Even though we were within the M25, pretty much London still, we enjoyed some rather nice country lanes.
The weather meant that we had to put on our waterproofs four times before we managed to get home as we enjoyed four rather hard showers. During one downpour we had to pull over and wait under a bridge as we couldn’t see where we were going. At least it was not cold so we didn’t end up freezing our bits off.
It was the first time I have really used my new Dakota 20 from Garmin. Before I have only played around with it here in London where I know the roads.
There are two ways of using the Dakota (I think), one which is very close to the typical DumDum erm TomTom where it will tell you when to turn with a beep and show you a big fat arrow on the screen. You can plot a route that way but you are limited to 50 points which made our route impossible …

On Saturday the 21st we are jumping on a train here in London and head north to Luton. No we are not flying out, we are cycling away to save around 30miles of the worst and not so fun London. It will also give us a good start to the next 235 miles we are planing over the next six days.
This is the route as it stands right now and hopefully on the 26th of August we will have arrived.
We are planing to do around 35miles the first day and to shssss don’t tell anyone to wild camp, simply because I have given up on finding a campsite in that area.
The more we manage on the first day the less we have to do on the second day. So hopefully less that 55miles as we are staying at Whatoff Lodge Farm just north of Leicester for one night.
Then we are cutting right over to the bottom of the Peak District where we will be joined for some of the ride by our friend whom we are staying with that night. That would be around 43miles unless our friend knows a good short cut :)
The next day is our …

A few weeks ago I got a Garmin Dakota 20 GPS mainly for us to use when touring. Don’t get me wrong I do love the old paper maps, could spend hours looking at them.

We got up and ate our left overs, since we ran out of gas yesterday, packed up and left the wonderful campsite. Since the station was only one-two miles away from the campsite we asked the proprietor if there was a little loop we could do to get some miles in our legs plus to kill some time before departure of the train.
He sent us on a nice little loop around the Weir Wood Reservoir to Forest Row and then onto East Grinstead. We stopped at the reservoir and had a look at the blue bells in full bloom before we headed onto The Swan in Forest Row. We had picked the right pub as we were greeted by smiles by five other cyclist. Who at first was very impressed by our bicycles and was very keen to know how far we had come and where we where heading with all that gear.
Them : How far have you come today ? Us : From a campsite outside East Grinstead.
Them : How far do you have to go today ? Us : To the train station in East Grinstead, was our answer to much amusement.
Them : And you are all ready, …

Last Thursday I was utterly knackered and couldn’t see beyond my bed that night. But Peli managed to talk me into going camping since I had one of my rare weekends off. If we just train it down and then rest the whole day Saturday, I could go for a spin while you sleep, was her argument.
So we booked the cheapest train tickets we could find for the Friday and found a campsite that was within easy reach of the train station. Forgetting all about booking the bicycles etc and started to pack our panniers. Peli for the next morning as she would go direct from work to the train station. I would rush home hit the shower, pack and sprint to the station for the departure.
We arrived with minutes to spare and were told no bicycles on the trains between 16:00-19:00, rush hours. I was utterly creamed knackered and was quite keen on just packing it in and going home to bed. But Peli did what she does best and on our bicycles we went.
I knew a route down to around 3 miles away from the campsite off by heart, so it wouldn’t be that hard to find. …

Since we had not been to the shops the night before and had that hairpin to start with we decided to have breakfast at the YHA.
In Croatia we were ready to go on the dot 9:30 every morning no matter how fast or slow we were getting ready. This trip it was a 10am start no matter how much we faffed.
We managed to cycle up the hill, it is amazing how steep things are when you are tired.
After two days of nearly hot weather and plenty of sun we had a bit of a cold start into the wind.
Even with our tired legs we then made good time to Newent where we had a long pub lunch and probably the best sticky toffee pudding with ice cream we ever have had.
Just as we had had enough of the busy B4241 we found a cycle route for the last few miles into Gloucester. Though there was a bit of confusion at the junction of the A40 and something other big road thing. But we managed to find our way via the “scenic route” which looked more like a left over building materials land fill.
In Gloucester …

As the reverse Newton law goes for cycling.
We had good night sleep bar one peak outside at midnight looking at the stars. The Trekmates mat, Mummy camper lite, I got yesterday did the job but I wouldn’t sleep on it for more that the two nights I’m doing now.
Got up to glorious sunshine and cooked our porridge and a cup of tea. This campsite is one that we come back to again and again. George the proprietor said that we were brave to do what were about to do.
We set out and climbed the highest hill of our tour at 542 metres, well the road next too it. At Whitney-on-Wye we paid 10p pet bicycle on the toll bridge over the Wye.
In Dorstone we had a splendid lunch, which confused the staff a bit. Since the were looking for a table for four. But is two mains, two side dishes along with a plate of chips on the side that much for two hungry cycle tourers?
If you should in Dorstone do make sure pop into the The Pandy Inn to try our their banoffee pie a true delight for a cyclist in search for some energy.
The …

Well the trip to Cardiff went well and I spent some time in the tourist trap that is Cardiff bay before I went to a pub for a quiet pint.
I met up with Peli at the station and after some delay and faffing around with the platforms we were on our way. Arrived in Abergavenny and made our way to the campsite. Pen-y-dre is a nice little site attached to the farm, but located right next to the busy A486 and the local road. Which made it a noisy night. Though that wasn’t the biggest problem, while pitching the tent I suddenly realised that I hadn’t packed my sleeping mat. So the night was spent listening to traffic fighting over space on our only mat.
The next morning we started of at 9:30′ish and headed for Hay-on-Wye over the Gospel Pass. Stunning weather made the journey. We passed the Llanthony priory which was started by two hermits back in 1108.
The Gospel Pass isn’t that bad but fully loaded and not in peak touring condition we found it hard. And the ice cream at the top was a nice treat that hit the spot. We even spotted some snow on Lord …