B Day - Still Searching

If D Day is the day I start my odyssey than today is B day. However the day before A day saw some serious hardcore testing of tents, mattresses and cyclist. If any makers of mountain/cycling/expedition equipment are reading this you should forget giving your products out for free to various so called adventure types. If you want your products fully tested I have a gang of three to five year olds who can tell you in under ten minutes if your stuff is up to the job. I can now inform Quechua that their Ultralight Pro 2 tent will be absolutely fine up a small mountain , in a banana field with clumpy ground , go below zero degrees in the middle of a British winter and survive many miles strapped on the back of bicycle. It does not however last more than five minutes when housing an impromptu disco for Rio, Beni, India and Theo. So three days before the off I had to make a journey to a Decathlon store to get some replacement tent poles. Not a problem as I could combine it with a ride to see Maddy's brother's family and also to visit Thomas Stevens' grave. A beautiful sunny day it turned out to be too, unfortunately although Wikipedia tells me that Mr S is buried in East Finchley Cemetery, I wasn't prepared for quite how many graves I would have to look through. After about half an hour of searching Maddy came to find me to let me know she had found him. On closer inspection it appeared only to be his name sake and not the  global cyclist/adventurer/theatre manager that my quest revolves around. Another half an hour was given over to searching but squid ink risotto was calling from N1 so we had to leave. I had intended to leave a small something with him whilst on my journey but this will have to wait till I hear back from the council as to where his plot is located.
R.I.P. Thomas.

From Drop Box

En-route to Maddy's brothers we passed Hops n Pops off licence on Archway. I always stop in here when I'm passing and pick up any world beers they might have that I've not tried before. After a few of these at dinner it dawned on me that I had forgotten to get the tent poles. Oh well, any one for a German sausage beer? It's not actually made from sausages but it does taste very smokey, has to be tried to be believed.
Sunday arrives and I still have a broken tent pole to replace. We decide to combine the journey to the store in Reading instead of London and take the bikes on the roof rack and then go for ride somewhere near the Thames. We find a great spot at Aston and have lunch here by the river and then cycle down the Thames Path for some supplies in Henley and then cycle back for more food and amazingly some more world beers I discover in the Henley Wine Rack of all places. I'm thoroughly enjoying a Pacifico Clara as I write this. Very nice on a hot day, much what you would expect from a 4.5% Mexican cerveza. Definitely one to serve chilled. The planned 40 mile ride has actually just tipped the scales at a feeble seven miles but swimming in the river and eating freshly cooked sausages by the Thames has taken precedent today. At least I remembered the tent poles.

The Route Through France

The France route is up in the "Route" section. If anybody knows anyone who lives along the route who would like a slightly silly cyclist to sleep on the floor/sofa or camp in their garden and generally bore them with tales of rabid dogs, irate motorists and pot holes then get them to get in contact with me at my email address. richiefinger@gmail.com
I will be visiting the following places:
Please note the dates are from the book, not when I will be there:)
I will be leaving Paris on 17th September 2011 and cycling approx 100km per day.
I'm considerate, open minded and a non smoker, I may however have a bit of a man sniff about me after cycling all day:) A shower would be much more welcome than a bed.

	Dieppe France Arrived by Boat. Monday May 11th Location 1453 18% Chapter 5
	Cleres France Location 1470 18% Chapter 5
	Rouen Cathedral France Location 1470 18% Chapter 5
	Elbeuf France La Poste Location 1497 19% Chapter
	Elbeuf Rue Poussen (poussin) Location 1497 19% Chapter
	Gaillon Location 1497 19% Chapter 5
	Vernon Location 1515 19% Chapter 5
	Mantes Location 1525 19% Chapter 5
	Nanterre France Location 1534 19% Chapter 5
	Port Maillot Location 1534 19% Chapter 5
	Arc de Triomphe Paris France Location 1534 19% Chapter 5
	Champs Elysees 23:30 Location 1570 20% Chapter 5
	Hotel De Loiret Paris France Stayed Here. Location 1543 Chapter 5 He stayed here because there was no room for bicycles at the Louvre Hotel. When I tried to make a reservation there was no room for bicycles here too:(
	Port Daumesnil Port Daumesiul
	Vincennes Location 1570 20% Chapter 5
	Fontenay Passed under a large stone Archway Location 1579 20% Chapter 5
	Provins Location 1588 20% Chapter 5
	Sezanne Hotel de France Location 1588 20% Chapter 5
	Champenoise Location 1596 20% Chapter 5
	Vitry Le Francois Location 1596 20% Chapter 5
	Bar-La-Duc Location 1615 20% Chapter 5
	Tronville Location 1624 20% Chapter 5
	Void Location 1651 20% Chapter 5
	Toul Location 1660 20% Chapter 5
	Nancy France Location 1660 20% Chapter 5
	Luneville France Location 1660 20% Chapter 5
	Blamont Location 1660 20% Chapter 5
	Sarrebourg (Sarrbourg) France Location 1685 21% Chapter 6
	Phalsbourg (Pfalzburg) Location 1686 21% Chapter 6
	Saverne Visits Barbers Location 1696 21% Chapter 6
	Marlenheim Location 1704 21% Chapter 6
	Strasbourg Railway Station Germany Arched Gateway to City? Location 1704 21% Chapter 6

Stop Planning and Get Doing

So, the days are running out. Tuesday August 2nd 2011 is but five days away and I haven't really sorted out any maps yet. Umm. This has been at the top of my to do list for ages but buying aerospace grade aluminium cutlery or cycling specific sandals has always seemed more important up 'til now. The planning is coming to an end and the doing is starting. I therefore scoured the land and hunted down the finest mapping resources known to an English traveller. Namely: Hemel Hempstead tat market. Here I was able to barter with a man with a dodgy leg for his finest Europe Road Atlas. The princely sum of 50p changed hands and I am now the proud owner of a Michelin Atlas De Carreteras y Turistico 2004. Italys finest motoring publication. This almanac of blacktop, rivers and woods should see me through the first leg of the hunt for Thomas Stevens. As I'm aiming to stay as close as possible to roads or tracks that were around in 1885 the fact that this fine piece of cartography is seven years out of date might actually help me. I must at this point say hello to A.T.Oughton of Milton Keynes. The book has this name and address written on the inside cover so I might pop by when I'm en-route to Fenny Stratford and see if said person still lives there. I just can't resist joining the dots in situations like this.
The map has a scale of one square equals 65km with roughly three and half squares per page....until it reaches Budapest. It then changes to a 195km per square. I hope I remember that. 

A Century Ride Equals 120 Miles

A few weeks ago I set off on an attempt to complete my first ever ride of 100 miles in a day. I was planning to visit my Mum on the South coast near Christchurch in Dorset. A weather friendly day arrived and the map said 100.7 miles. I loaded up with everything I am going to take on the trip the night before and with the intention of setting off nice and early the next day. I eventually left at 07:50. Not the earliest of starts but allowing 10mph average and two hours for stops that would hopefully mean I would get to her before it got dark. I plotted my map using cyclestreets and chose the quickest route rather than the scenic. I Loaded that onto my Garmin GPS and off I wobbled. Approximately 40kg of luggage on top of my sturdy but heavy touring bike made for a leisurely rather than quick pace but it's all good practice. I had split the route roughly in half. Apsley to Reading: I pretty much knew this so didn't worry about the planned route and Reading to Christchurch: This is where I would have to start to concentrate. Having done a driving job for most of my life I know the roads of England pretty well and could eventually get to most cities without the aid of a map. However riding a bike involves effort and not just twiddling your thumbs for a few extra minutes when you take a wrong turn and have to get back on course. All was going well to Reading. The GPS spent the entire time telling me to take a U-turn when ever possible so I just ignored it. As I came through Reading the GPS eventually picked up the trail and off I went following it along bike paths and over pedestrian bridges. Most annoying as on the whole bike paths in Britain are just lip service to cyclists and don't encourage getting lots of miles done. They are great for families with kids because they tend to go for safer routes rather than direct. I'd rather take my chances with the traffic over cycle routes in Britain most days. All that said I still decided to follow the GPS down an off-road track that ran parellel to the A33 towards Basingstoke. This turned out to be quite clever as it allowed me a few miles later to cross the A33 which I wouldn't have been able to do If I had stuck to the road. This gave me new faith in the route that cyclestreets had plotted for me and I continued on my merry way. I had lots of energy and all was well. I had made the decision to only stop for lunch when I had done more than half the miles, a purely psychological thing. With about five more miles to go 'til lunch time the GPS sent me North and I was supposed to be going in a generally South Westerly direction. Then a mile later down hill the GPS stopped giving me directions altogether! I followed my instincts and turned around-ish and went off in a general South Westerly direction. I had achieved my half way mileage and decided it would be a good idea to stop for lunch and check my route out on a paper map.
 As the sun beat down I recovered from my ginormous pasta lunch and had a bit of a lay down and closed my eyes. I was awoken by a tractor rumbling past and packed up camp and headed for the coast. All was going well and a lovely young lady appeared next to me on a totally pink road bike, we had a chat, I explained I was a bit lost and she pointed me in the right direction. A few miles down the road, I asked a man with a dodgy leg and a dog who was just leaving the pub to confirm my route. I followed his advise and then low and behold the GPS started to work again. Like a fool I followed it. Fifteen minutes of uphill later I was back where I had met dodgy leg man! I still followed the GPS thinking it was easier to stay on it's route and spend a bit more time now rather than deviate and resort to the paper maps for the next 50 miles. Oh Dear!! I was sent further North into a new housing estate and a dead end. By now the joys of lunch had long since passed and I was starting to get a bit p*ssed off. A decision was made at this point to totally ignore the GPS from this point onwards even if it did start working properly again.
Approximately two hours after I had first turned towards the North and about ten wasted miles later I was back on track. This would be a pain any day but today especially was soul destroying.  The following twenty miles or so were hard work but made easier by the beautiful countryside, lush rivers and the odd village scarecrow thrown in for good measure. The first I saw of these was a builder leaning on a road sign with a step ladder and a tiger. At this point I didn't know it was scarecrow week and found it extremely amusing. This part of the world is thatched cottages personified and the miles started to roll by.
I rolled into Romsey about 7:30pm and stopped for a chip butty. Whilst I sat on a bench enjoying my fuel the drizzle started. No mention of this on the weather forecast! As I laboured into the New Forest it began to get dark, the rain got harder and my glasses started to get a bit dirty. Eventually night descended fully and the roads through the New Forest are not lit. Although my lights are pretty good and enable me to see fine, the rain on the glasses makes it bit more difficult in the dark. Although I couldn't see the road very far ahead I could see the car headlights and this would lift or depress me depending on whether they disappeared up or down into the distance. By now I was very tired, worn out, thighs, knees and bum where all aching and I didn't quite know how long I still  had to go. Because I was fully loaded with all my gear I of course had the tent etc with me and the last 40 miles had so many good camping spots I could have easily chucked the tent up in.  I thought about putting the tent up and having a quick ten minute nap and then setting off again but decided to just stop for a rest instead. I tapped the destination into my GPS again to see how far it was to go, thinking it would be about eight miles, it was fifteen!!! I was devistated. Still another 90 minutes. I looked at the GPS mileage for the day and it was at 105 miles, I hadn't even noticed I had done my century ride. This cheered me up and knowing that if I managed to limp all the way to my Mums I would have done 120 miles in one day. That's nearly double what I had ridden before. With all the luggage that would be no mean feat for me so I dug deep and carried on. I eventually arrived at Mum's doorstep at about 10:45pm shattered, broken but well chuffed with myself.
If I had known it would be 120 miles with the last 20 or so in the rain and the dark there is no way I would have started out in the first place. This has given me great hope that I can do the physical side of the trip now as I will only being aiming to cover 50 miles a day and the luggage should get lighter, as should I, as the miles pass by.

Trains & Lions

As an update to my post of 14/06/11 I received an answer back from The Train Line by the afternoon. Apparently the best thing to do when booking trains for bicycles is to phone rather than book online because the operator can make sure both spaces are available. The day after I received another phone call from The Train Line to just make sure everything was all right and week after that Virgin phoned me to confirm I had a space. No doubt I've probably got two spaces now:)

Unfortunately Whipsnade Zoo where not so forthcoming with their response. I am currently without Lion or any other big cat Excrement to ward off the rabid dogs of Outer Bulgaria so will have to improvise "on the wheel" as it were.

Route Information

I've added a new page to the blog where you can see the route.
Click on "The Route" at the top of the page.
In here you can see a little google map of all the places I will be visiting.
If you click on a place marker it will tell you the location of the place in the book and sometimes some details about when Thomas visited said place and any interesting tid bits I feel worthy.
You can now read along with me as I travel in some crazy kind of virtual time trip parallel adventure.

Shakedown 2

I'm currently sitting in Ashridge deer park with Maddy , testing out
the stove and making sure I've packed enough bits n bobs to survive
with. The new Primus multifuel stove is fantastic. It uses gas,
petrol, diesel, kerosene or even aviation fuel should we get stuck in
an airport. It does however sound like a rocket so not good sneaking
into a campsite super late at night. Tonights feast was sausages,
Aberdeen Angus burgers and Spanish mash and carrots. Yum. Forgot some
beer though. So a valuable lesson has been learnt. We've seen one deer
and a few rabbits. My side stand fashioned from a few old tent poles
is working superbly and the massive plastic bag for putting the bike
in to to go on the plane, is doubling up as a picnic blanket. Good job
as a bit wet under foot still.

Photos (full page click here)
Time to scarper before parky finds us. :)

Blogging by Kindle

If your lucky enough to have a 3g Kindle you may or may not know that you should in theory be able to connect t'internet anywhere in the world you have a 3g signal. Im having a go right now from mine and testing it from deepest darkest Apsley. I could probably cut my right arm off and still type quicker with my iphone and puttng in characters that are not letters or numbers is such a faff. That said It might come in handy to see how Liverpool are doing at the start of the season or another such emergency. Anyhoo thats another task crossed off the list so I shall bid you good day.

Blogging by Email and Gadgets

As the title suggests, I'm not at the PC but tippy tapping away at my
phone. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors. It's a lot
easier to forget what you've written on phone. I'm still undecided as
to wether to take my laptop with me. When I chose my laptop I wanted
one that would be small and light enough to go travelling with it.
Although it's only a small one and weighs 2kg , by the time you add on
the charger and a protective case it's more like 3kg. Or to put it
another way 3000 grams. When you put it into grams it looks like it
feels. Not very heavy in the real world especially compared to Maddy's
beast of a thing that requires a crane to read it in bed, but for
bicycling every gram soon adds up. Most seasoned travellers offer the
advice of lay everything you intend to take on the bed and then halve
it. I've gone down the opposite route and tried to gather everything I
can possibly think of and see if I could fit it on. This was going ok
until I actually went out on the bike. I managed to squeeze it all on
but couldn't even take my hands off the bars to take a drink for fear
of wobbling to a rather anti climatical end.
So the last few weeks have been pretty much about packing and nothing
else. Losing the odd unnecessary item here and there and shaving off
weight where ever I can. The pinnacle of this was yesterday when I
realised I had some pliers in my pen knife so I could lose the other
pair I had packed in the tool bag. A load lightening 200 grams saved.
I actually gave a yelp out loud. Then the postman arrived with some
bits I had ordered. A spoke spanner, A chain extractor and some
batteries for the rear light. Total weight 216 grams. Massive Fail!
The sun has got his waterproof hat on so I need to hotfoot it over to
Stanmore sharpish to pick up my prescription cycling glasses before it
rains.
Tara

Testing Email Blog

Testing again just for James
Just testing updating the blog by email.

I wonder if it works.