Tandem to Edinburgh

Hmm, for some reason the last few posts of the trip got published out of order and a few people weren't quite sure if we'd finished. We have. Another three weeks and we might have done the coast of Scotland for good measure (after a few days' rest) but we had to get back. The wedding was great, the two days not cycling were also great, and then the closest we could get to putting a tandem on a train to Oxford was putting it on a train to Miton Keynes. So we had a 40 mile ride through oppressive heat and the rolling Buckinghamshire countryside to finish off our trip.

Official mileage door-to-door was 521.5 miles.

A sea haar kept us cool up the Northumberland coast. We just about made out the wind turbines at Blyth harbour.

The day of Katrina and Roger's wedding dawns hot and sunny in Edinburgh. And we're down the cafe eating brunch instead of adding any more to our 481 mile total. Cheers!

We've been over 30 mph several times this trip but not touched 40 since the Peak District 5 days ago. The Lammermuirs provided the perfect opportunity to break our own record: glorious sunshine, little traffic and a spectacular long straight road off the moor.

Last day stats:

distance from Spittal to Edinburgh = 62 miles
old men saying 'oh, a tandem, you don't see them much these days' = 1
Vmax = 43.3 mph

A light tailwind up the Northumberland coast saw us fly along the road from Whitley Bay to Spittal (near Berwick) via Blyth and Bamburgh. We got chatting in a restaurant to the diners at the next table, and they ended up sponsoring us. Thanks, Billy and Anne!

Today's stats:

distance = 82 miles
salmon fishermen spotted on the Tweed = 5

Bamburgh Castle. A mile further up the road we had a lie down by the side of the road to celebrate 400 miles from Oxford.

After a forgettable B&B in Richmond we had to choose between the pretty back route via the hills (about 90 miles) or hacking up the A167 to Gateshead. Tripped over an unexpectedly fantastic coffee shop and organic grocers in Piercebridge (crossing point of the Tees from Roman times) – fuelled by that we had covered 40 miles by lunchtime. Got to Whitley Bay in time to play with 11-month-old Rose, having now come 337 miles from Oxford.

Today’s distance = 62 miles
Number of useless cycle paths encountered (just get you safely to the dangerous bit) = we lost count

As it says on the plaque at the entrance:

The cycle/pedestrian tunnel was opened in 1951 and is 275 metres long with 61-metre escalators at either end - the longest in the world when built.

You just have to hang on to the brakes (and it helps if one of you isn't busy trying to take photos).

The Angel of the North, a kindred spirit.

Spent the whole day pedalling through God’s Own County. Knaresborough provided nourishment and entertainment from the bloke at Mungo’s Deli, and we set off for a wholesome picnic at Fountain’s Abbey. The 12th century Cistercian abbey remains and the 18th century water garden are acknowledged by the UN as a World Heritage Site but we were more interested in crispbread and aubergine pate. Our best feedback so far on the blog was in a text from Maria: ‘You have thighs like gods’.

Today’s stats:
Distance = 67 miles
Mechanical adjustments to bike = 2
Number of old men who said ‘oh, you don’t see many tandems these days’ = 2
Bananas munched on a bridge over the Swale in the sunshine = 2

We've had a great day toiling through the hills and moors of the south Pennines. After yesterday's posh cafe lunch we stopped today in Penistone for chips (wrapped in the local newspaper) and sarnies, which we ate on a bench in the sunshine chatting to a local. His conversation was peppered with allusions to socialism and trades unions and he told tales of the Clarion Cycling Club - one of the earliest organisations concerned with enabling working class people to access the countryside on their doorstep (by bike, of course) and discuss the need for political emancipation.

The weather has been glorious again and there have been lots of sweeping downhills at 30 mph followed by a long trudge up the other side pushing a large purple bicycle!

Now in Thorner, east of Leeds, and heading to Richmond tomorrow.

Today's key stats:
Distance = 53 miles
Vmin = 2.4 mph (for large chunks of the day) walking up 1 in 5 hills.

Well, it's day two and we're still talking to each other. After a strange motel room last night at Forest Accommodation near Ashby de la Zouch (no forest in sight, just a portakabin in a car park behind a pub), we're now staying in much more conducive surroundings with Jane and Andy and Harriet and Emily.

Yesterday's ride in brief:
97 miles from Oxford (oof!)
croissant and coffee stop in Banbury with Brenda and Derrick
bananas consumed = 4
strops by the side of the road = none (!)
KP peanut factories passed = 1
Weather = idyllic!

Today's ride in brief:
59 miles from just north of Ashby de la Zouch
Vmax = 41.6 mph down Cromford Hill between Wirksworth and Matlock Bath
Best banter of the day from motorist at the bottom of Cromford Hill:
Motorist: Oy mate, have you got a speedo on that thing? How fast was that?!
Answer: 41 and half mph!
Motorist: It can't be working properly. We were doing 80 and we couldn't catch you.

Weather = idyllic again. Daisies and poppies in the fields and pungent cow parsley and ramsons in the verges.

At 1:250,000 it's a leisurely 3 second crawl across the living room floor.

Anyone who hoards old bolts and washers on the off-chance that one day They Will Come In will know the joy I experienced yesterday when I fitted the front pannier rack to the tandem (in preparation for our trip, of course) and the whole thing was done in half an hour without any swearing or repeated trips to the bike shop to get the bits that didn't come in the packet. The best moment was unexpectedly needing four 11mm washers and finding them in the aforementioned stash of recyled ironmongery. And all finished in a sunny garden just in time for tea. Gavin :-)