Cycle Touring In The U.K.

When it came to starting our world tour we had two options. Take a plan direct to Paris, the official start point, or enjoy cycle touring in the U.K. as we made our way to Dover. Touring the U.K. on our loaded bikes felt like the most sensible decision. It gave us a chance to test our gear and ride our heavy bikes in our own country. We were also able to visit family on the way and experience our first Warmshowers experience in Dorking.

Telford to Evesham

For the last 2 weeks life has been all about this bike tour – last week it was final packing, pulling everything together and organising panniers etc. This week, we left Stew’s mum’s home in Telford and began our 24,000 mile bike ride across the world.

What a feeling.

Our family arrived at Stew’s mums at 8am for pictures and a final “bye for now”. It wasn’t the lie in our mother’s had hoped for on Mother’s Day, but they weren’t going to miss waving us off!

By 9am we were on our bikes and we were off! We left in good sprits, but honestly, if I had allowed myself to I probably could’ve had a good cry! As expected I got around the corner and was overwhelmed. I managed to hold it together by convincing myself “you’re only biking to Evesham”.

Immediately after the knee-jerk reaction to leaving my loved ones behind, I was filled with a feeling that I can’t quite put my finger on, a perfect balance of peace and excitement. Stewart and I shared our thoughts on how freeing it is to know that everything we need to survive is on us right now, all packed carefully into 4 panniers, a handle bar bag, a saddle bag and a couple of frame bags.

We are totally free – we can go wherever we want.

Amazingly, on the way to Evesham, a very familiar face drove by just as we were tacking the hills between Telford and Bewdley…since the trip is so significant and everyone we’ve told has asked if it’s sponsored we choose to do the bike ride in loving memory of my best friend Leanne. As we were making tracks, Lynne, her mother and Mick, Leanne’s father drove past and stopped for a chat! It felt like it was fate! Lynne was especially disappointed that she couldn’t wave us off so the meeting was just what we all wanted!

Stew and I made tracks to Bewdley and yes it was tough! Lugging a 40kg bike is not easy – and probably for me in particular. Due to an operation training was a no-go. For 3 months I was pretty much completely inactive meaning I went from an 8kg bike to 40kg with about 3 bike rides inbetween! Nonetheless we made it to Bewdley for lunch where we were stopped by Gemma who works at Rab – training staff internationally. She had spotted our bikes, as she used to have a Genesis bike, then she saw the jackets and put 2 + 2 together! We had a chat with Gemma over lunch and it was lovely to be recognised!

Out of Bewdley the hills flattened out and we arrived after a very long 9 hours on the bike! As it was Sunday everything was shut so I popped into the small Polish store and picked up dinner. Ironically I couldn’t understand what half of the food was so walkout with frozen burger and chips! I wasn’t anticipating these sorts of troubles so early on!

It was a case of eating, showering and sleeping. We were exhausted.

Evesham to Chinnor

When it came to leaving Evesham we were ready and rearing to go. We said goodbye to Caroline, our AirbnB host. She was lovely!! Caroline gave us full access to the house, allowing us to cook a meal. We retreated upstairs pretty early to rest the night before, but we loved the conversation over breakfast. Caroline used to teach English as a foreign language, which I know that is difficult from my University Studies. She had children and one of her daughters liked to do triathlon. Caroline slapped us on the wrists for putting jam on our toast. She and told us that marmalade is strictly for breakfast and jam for afternoon tea! I guess we should’ve known that being British, but I’m afraid that traditional english custom is one that we weren’t aware of. It seemed that Caroline appreciated our journey and living life to the absolute full.

The ride itself was hilly with 3000ft of elevation. It took 9 hours again -eek! Thankfully the last 20 miles or so were totally flat – and we know that road well now. Stew’s granny had a hot steak pie ready for us – and up to her usual standard, the pie was amazing!! I had cheekily requested we got to have Margaret’s steak pie one final time before we left for 2 years!

The weather to Chinnor was just perfect. It was a Monday – and honestly I was not missing the office and usual influx of Monday morning emails. This was bliss. The pictures barely do the day justice!

Chinnor to Dorking

We left little later than we would’ve liked for Dorking and headed straight up Chinnor Hill – and let me tell you that is one hell of a hill! It just keeps going and going – and with nearly 40kgs on my bike I was struggling! I definitely let a few swear words rip as I tackled that one.

The main downside to riding a loaded bike is that riding very slowly is better than walking! Yes even if that slow speed is 2.5 mph! Pushing the bike is heavy and it puts a lot of pressure on the shoulder and calf muscles. So basically, when going up hill you’ve just got to dig deep and keep pushing the pedals.

On this day we started to question our 65mile a day plan, we’ve decided that it is a little ambitious this early on in the trip. Whilst is is do-able and we are happy doing it, we’re our for 9 hours a day just to do 65 miles. This left little time for rest and downtime. As we’ve booked out itinerary until Paris we’ll need to get there before we can release the pressure. We’re both looking forward to it.

The start of the ride was incredibly cold and hilly. We were both demoralised, our £40 “all weather cycling gloves” had let the water in and we couldn’t feel our fingers or toes. I had considered a train to Dorking because the cold made the ride seem impossible. Why we didn’t plan 2 nights at Stew’s gran’s seems stupid now, but we are so focused on getting to Paris – possibly a little too focused. We must stop and enjoy the rides and listen to our bodies.

Managing Cold Hands when Cycle Touring in the U.K.

The highlight of the day was pulling unto a corner shop, buying 2 coffees and 2 sets of Marigolds. These Marigolds were life savers! They replaced the “water proof gloves” and the coffees warmed our hands. In the time Stew and I have been together he’s never drank a coffee, but he didn’t turn his nose up at a machine latte – we would’ve done anything for some heat!

After 20 miles the sun started to shine and we thawed out! Tonight we stayed with a warmshowers.org host, Peter and his wife Mo. For those of you who don’t know, Warm Showers is, in their own words:

The Warm Showers Community is a free worldwide hospitality exchange for touring cyclists. People who are willing to host touring cyclists sign up and provide their contact information, and may occasionally have someone stay with them and share great stories and a drink. All members agree to host others either now or in the future, but for some members hosting may be in years or even decades in their future.

Warmshowers & Cycle Touring in the U.K.

Peter was fascinating to stay with. First of all he and his wife Mo had the most beautiful home and it was a real pleasure to stay their. The bedroom was comfortable so we both slept like babies! A hot cup of tea was waiting for us on arrival and a chicken stew for dinner which was beautifully cooked.

The best part about warm showers is the community. Warmshowers encourages hosts and guests to eat and share stories together. Peter provided the food and we provided the wine, an Argentina Malbec with some nibbles too! During meal times – dinner and breakfast Peter, Stewart and I shared stories. Peter was especially interested in the trip and Stew’s 2,500 solo trip from John O’ Groats to Lands End.

Peter told us about his bike packing trip across America with his son and he even managed to put us in touch with his friend who’s currently working in Kyrgyzstan. We were really grateful for this contact and we will certainly be in touch! It will be really beneficial for us to have someone to share hints and tips as we learn to navigate the Middle East. It was really insightful to stay with a fellow bike-packer full of experience, useful tips and we were especially grateful when he helped us re-route to Charing due to roadworks.

We loved our stay with Peter we left with full hearts and we were very well fed too – everything we needed to power us through the next day!

Cycle Touring in the U.K. Dorking to Charing

As Peter has reassured us at breakfast this morning the trip from Dorking to Charing was pretty much flat! There were a couple of steeper climbs, but it was nice to cut through some miles earlier in the day.

Somehow we were still on the road for 9 hours, and we have no idea how that happened…we did take quite a long lunch break.

Today, with it being so flat for 30 miles we it could’ve been the best day possible, but there was some adversity. First of all Stew’s rear light has stopped working which is really frustrating and shouldn’t have happened. We’re heading to a bike shop tomorrow and we’ll have to send the current one back. Secondly I fell over … TWICE! Firstly just stood still with the bike, one foot clipped in, the bike moved and I went with it! The second time I was climbing super slowly up a very steep bank, I weaved into the ditch and when I tried to recover I ended up hitting the deck for the second time! A bit of a bloody knee, and nice bruise on the left leg, but nothing our AMAZING AirBnB host Hilary couldn’t solve!

Cycle Touring in the U.K and AirBnB

AirBnB is a little more advanced than warm showers and it has a “Superhost” award. AirBnB explain that

“Superhosts are experienced hosts who provide a shining example for other hosts, and extraordinary experiences for their guests.”

To say that Hilary, is a super host is an understatement. Hilary and her husband are so welcoming and accommodating, possibly the best Airbnb stay yet! On arrival Hilary and her husband quickly settled us and addressed my bleeding knee with a full first aid kit! Once that was all sorted we retreated to our lovely room with en suite so we could freshen up after 70 miles on the bike. Hilary very kindly washed our bike clothing and gave us access to the kitchen, although she pretty much cooked the entire meal for us! Not only this Hilary has been lovely to talk to! We’ve discussed Hilary’s travels, of which there is quite a bit and her love of her old camper van. Hilary and her husband have throughly enjoyed nights away in their van and hope to get away in their caravan.

It is impossible for Stewart and I to thank Hilary and our previous hosts enough for everything they have done for us. We will remember them fondly as we continue with our journey! All being well, if we end up cycling from Paris to Shropshire we will call by a second time.

Charing to Dunkirk

After we climbed 2000ft yesterday and Dover is at sea level I was hoping for a nice flat run – this wasn’t the case for the first 20 miles. We went up and down the Kent countryside which was beautiful, thankfully!

When we saw the main road with a sign 6 miles to Dover we decided to hop on it, rather than continuing along the hilly backroads, we smashed 6 miles and arrived Dover ahead of time. This was good because Stew’s back light broke on the way to Charing – it just stopped working, we called some local bike shops back in Charing but no such luck! We kept getting the same message: we wouldn’t find a dynamo light in stock anywhere. We called Bicycles by Design in Coalport who built our bikes and they posted a new light out to our Paris accommodation, arriving on 9th April, we posted the old light back! Nice to rely on home team in times of need!!

Once at Dover we caught our Ferry – I fell over again, making it a total of 3 cleat-related falls! This was dramatic as three men rushed to my rescue! I was on the floor having almost knocked Stew over. the men who rushed over tried to help, but because my foot was clipped in to the pedal I couldn’t get it out!

Boarding the ferry wasn’t overly straight forward, but we muddled our way through. The process is fairly simple if you’re on a bike , follow the red line! No one really tells you anything but once you’ve done it once I imagine the second time would be a breeze.

We Made it to France

Our AirBnB in Dunkirk was 8 miles away from the ferry and not 4 as we anticipated. It was tiring biking to our AirBnb, but we got it done in good time. Instead of our host greeting us we were first met another AirBnB guest in the home who showed us our room. As we were so tired we went straight to bed and met our host in the morning.

This was our first experience of cycling in a new country and cycle touring in the U.K. is quite a different to cycling in France – the roads are just perfect in France – wide, quiet roads with smooth tarmac. It was dreamy.

As the room was so well priced we weren’t expecting a breakfast, but Eva-Rose insisted. She cooked a wonderful breakfast of breads, jams, pancakes, fruit, a little chocolate and some coffee. We left very well fed and Eva-Rose was just wonderful to talk with in the morning. We really loved our stay. A little pang of sadness as we pressed on, but we had a long day ahead, cycling to Arras for a night with a Warmshowers.org host.

Post written by: Zoe Ashbridge