The final countdown

do do do do do dum dum dum dum..... Or something like that.

We've only got a few days to go till the big off. Time has past so quickly. It doesn't seem that long ago that Serena was blogging about it being 100 days to go. It still feels like we have loads to do. Yesterday I changed the stems on both our bike - nothing like last minute tweaking. Before Orkney we swapped our upright handle bars for trekking butterfly style bars. These give you alot more hand grip options making them alot more comfortable over long distance. They do, however, require a much longer stem - unless you want to get grazed knee on every hill. I've also got to pick up some additional camping supplies and a map (that might be useful)! We also still need to pack.

We will be catching early bird ferry to Belfast on Saturday morning. After that it's going to be a combination of trains, buses and any other non-two wheeled forms for transport to get us as close to Malin Head in time for Sunday. Its going to be a proper public transport marathon! I'm looking forward to starting the challenge, if for no other reason than to have a single daily goal - 100km...

Orkney Adventure

Well, we've been back in Edinburgh for a two weeks and a half now so I guess I should post a wee update here. I think its going to be more a photo than word heavy blog post!


We had a fantastic trip over the Jubilee weekend (thanks for the long weekend Ma'am!). Things didn't start too well though - tragically there was a bad road accident on the A9 in the early hours of Friday morning. This meant that we had to take a long detour over the west coast, travelling up through Fort William. We eventually pulled into Thurso at 11pm. Given the time, we drove over the to port at Scrabster, parked in the long stay car park and collapsed to sleep in the car.

We were woken early the next morning with bright sunshine streaming through the window. This was a good thing as we had to cycle the 20 odd miles across to John O'Groats to catch the 1030 ferry across to Orkney. So it was a quick breakfast, unloaded the bikes, packing up the last of our paniers and set off. It was a pleasant enough ride across the north coast. I've heard a lot of things about John O'Groats, but have never visited. Lets just says it lives up to all expectation - a very uninspiring place.

 Serena searching for the John O'Groats sign post.

I'm not the best sailor and was very happy that the crossing was both short and calm! We landed on Orkney around 1130 and start the ride north to Kirkwall around the eastern edge of Scapa Flow. We saw the sea defences built during the war, these included the decaying hulks of sunken ships.  It was great riding despite the northerly winds. We did find that Serena back wheel was a little buckled and rubbing and the back break pads - this what happens when you don't give everything a good inspection before setting off on a trip. 

From Kirkwall we caught the ferry over the the island of Sanday and cycled over to Otterwick bay, pitching the tent around 2030. After a quick dinner we collapsed into the tent and were asleep in minutes. It had been a long day! Lucky, Sunday was going to be a more relaxed day. After breakfast we pack up all the kit, before going for a walk along the beach at Otterswick taking a picture of the ruin we camped next to. 

We then headed over to the Quoyness Chambered Cairn. I didn't really know what to expect having read the guidebook, but I was pleasantly surprised. It felt like something out of an Indiana Jones film, crawling along a tunnel to enter a tomb over 5000 years old. Best of all was that we were on our own, no guide, no large group of tourist.

We went for a walk around the coast, seeing seals, Arctic Terns, Shags and Oyster Catchers. 

  

Then, after a quick stop in Kettletoft, we headed back to the ferry terminal via Backaskaill Bay. As you can see the weather was wee bit different from the Jubilee weather in London!

Monday was an tourist day, although there was going to be a little bit more cycling involved. We left the campsite in Kirkwall around 8am heading west through the centre of the island. We stopped off at Maes Howe, another chambered cairn. While it was much bigger and grander than the one on Sanday, having to view in a group of other tourist did take away some of the magic. That being said, the scale of Maes Howe is simply amazing when you think it was built 5000 years ago. Up the road from Maes Howe we stopped at the Ring of Brodgar, a standing stone circle. The location of this stone circle does make it a bit more impressive to view than Stonehenge (which is sandwiched between dual carriageways). 

From here we thankfully left the main tourist route and headed over the the amazing RSPB reserve at Marwick Head. This was the real reason that I'd taken my SLR - I wanted to see some puffins. Luckily there were a few around, as this is not the best location for the wee birds. There were also lots of guillemots and kittiwakes. We sat around for quite a while watching the comings and goings. 

We spent the night camping down at Bay of Skaill. We arrived too late to visit Skara Brae, but there is always next time. After a pasta dinner and a few bottles of Orkney brewery, we crawled into our sleeping bags listening to the Jubilee concert in London on the Beeb. 

Our last day was a short ride south to Stromness to catch the ferry back to Scotland. We did visit Yesnaby Head quicky, but with the ferry being at 1130, we unfortunately didn't have much time to play with. We ended up cycling around 180km over the 3.5 days. Not great training for the mmmChallenge in terms of mileage, but we've trialled the new tent and check all our kit is fine. We've identified a couple of items missing from the kit bag that could be useful in July. Top on the list though is to get Serena's bike serviced - I'm not very good a truing wheels!

Our last view of the Island was of the Old Man of Hoy as we sailed south back to Scotland and day-to-day normality. It is great to get away like this. It always feels like a longer trip than it really is. 

The sink or swim appoach

Well, its the 1st of June - where on earth did the first five months of the year go? Whatever the reason, we now find ourselves 38 days from the start of the mmmChallenge and the only training we've done is a 90 odd mile ride in in mid April and a 200 mile ride I did without Serena in way back in March. It seems we are taking the 'sink or swim' approach to bicycle touring!

This weekend we will be celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee in the only way we know how - by completely ignoring all the London pageantry and heading north, as far from a television as possible. During last years Royal wedding we escaped to the North West Highlands, this year its going to be Orkney. While maybe not being the best training for the summer excesses (there really aren't that many roads around the Orkney islands!), I'm really excited about this trip. Our previous 'Adventures' have generally involved very little time to stop and look around the places we visit - this is will be the same on the mmmChallenge. This Orkney trip is going to be very different - with no more than 120 miles to cover in 3.5 days we should have loads of time for wildlife watching. So I've pack up 300mm lens, Serena has her binoculars and even the weather forecast is looking good. Hopefully I get some good photos to share when we get back.

Once again we will be trialing the live tracking. Hopefully I've ironed out the battery issues. Guess we will see how long the battery lasts over the four day weekend!

Back on the bike

After I finished my PhD got a job working in a lab about 3 miles from where we lived. I don't drive and public transport connections weren't great. So before I started I bought a bike and decided to cycle.

Cycling to work was great it meant I exercised for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week and it helped clear my head after a day of work. I no longer cycle to work and the reason why is because I have had not one but two bike accidents. I know what you are thinking "well it must have been your fault". The first accident, a van turned right across my path and took me out, The second accident, the car was pulling out of side road, turning right, again across my path. The first time was quite a serious crash, I had the two-tones to Glasgow Western Infirmary. The second time, the driver took me to hospital. I don't prescribe to two wheels good, four wheels bad doctrine or vice versa. I believe there are good road users and bad ones. In fact the driver of the van from the first accident kept repeating "but I am cyclist too!".

I have seen cyclists that make me very angry! No lights, headphones on and a lack of arm signals!!! The worst one is no helmet. Below is a picture of my helmet after my first crash.

Imagine if that was my skull!

The problem is a lack of infrastructure for cyclists. I rarely use cycle lanes they box you in and people park in them which means you end up having to pull in and out which I think is more annoying for cars. I still find it hard to cycle round towns or cities and rarely do if Andrew isn't with me. That's why if Andrew is away, I am training for the mmm Challenge on a spinning bike at my gym. The Times has a campaign for Cities safe for cycling. Please click the badge above to support this initiative.

With our jobs Amelia and I hear about the UK's obesity problem, in fact Amelia's research focuses on this. If more people felt safe enough to cycle to work or even just small distances this would encourage people to be just a little bit more active. Not saying this is the only area that needs to be tackled but it is one small piece of the puzzle.

If only all roads were this quiet!

Music keeps me going

I try to go to the gym twice a week. I know that some people find the boring and repetitive. I have to say that I quite enjoy it but one thing that keeps me going is music.

As you can see my taste in music is quite eclectic. So how do I choose what I listen to? Well its a combination of upbeat songs and songs I like to sing along to. Though I try not to do this whilst in the gym, don't want too many strange looks.

Training Trip 2

So Andrew had managed to get out for a training ride but with a hectic time at work and the absence of spring weather I haven't been able to get out on the bike. This changed on the 15th of April. We had decided to go out for a training ride to Peebles and back, which would be about a 90km ride.

So we set out at 8:30 on the Sunday. It was chilly, 2.5 degrees to be exact but a really clear day. Andrew crazily set off in shorts, but as we started to pass fields with a light dusting of frost he had admit defeat and put a pair of trousers on! I didn't feel too bad on the bike and we made it to Peebles in a couple of hours. Had a pitstop at the slowest cafe in the world. One hour, a bacon butty and a cup of tea later (the food of champions!) we continued on towards Innerleithen.
From here we headed North back into Edinburgh into a nasty headwind, which made the going very hard. Though the scenery was great and lots of wildlife spotting. One of the good things about travelling by bike is get to see so much rather than racing past it all.

So we made it back about 4:30, I felt shattered and not very bike fit at all.

Andrew turned to me once we got back and asked me "so, do you think you could do this again tomorrow?" and I replied "yeah, I think I could". But the key questions is could I do this for 10 days in a row? I hope really hope the answer is yes.

Early season training

With Scotland basking in warmer temperatures than Hawaii during my working week, I simply had to get out for the weekend. With the temperatures plunging and snow on the hills this week, this seems like to have been a wise move.

Having had a long week at work, I nipped off a little early on Friday, hopped on the train across to Glasgow with my bike and caught the last train north. The train ride up the west coast of Scotland is amazing, and I was glued to the window all the way - well at least till the sun went down! I got off at Rannoch station, dug out my end head torch and headed southwest along a vehicle track till I found a perfect camping spot on the side of Loch Laidon.

Next morning I set off. My plan was simple - be back in Edinburgh in time to recover for work on Monday morning, while doing enough miles to be considered training for July. In my Friday lunch break I'd come up with a rough idea for heading up round the back of Schiehallion, along Glen Lyon before heading down to Loch Earn to camp Saturday night. Sunday would be a dash along the Perthshire backroads to the Forth Road Bridge and Edinburgh. Simple - now I just had to do it!

View Larger Map

The first day was great. Its the first time I've been up Glen Lyon, which is a beautifully picturesque and quiet part of the country. The climb up over to Loch Tay was a shock to the legs, coming 42 miles into the day. This was my first proper ride for almost a year, so the first day was definitely a case of getting used to the bike.

I woke on Sunday morning to find that there was a frost. Eventually I forced myself out of my warm sleeping bag, made some tea and was on the bike again by 8am. Once the sun rose, so did the temperature and it was a great ride south from Comrie and across the Ochils. I always speed past this part of the country when heading to the highlands, so the ride was a bit of a revelation. 

I was home in Edinburgh a little after 3pm, 223km cycled in two days. Very happy - celebrated with good beer!