A Sunny Ride Round the Island

Somehow cycling around the Isle of Wight in May wasn’t enough for this year, and on Saturday morning we found ourselves once again setting off on the chain ferry to register for the 110k route around the Island. This sunny September day was in sharp contrast to our previous wet ride, and a perfect celebration of Autumn. It wasn’t a ride for stopping and taking pictures. But, Tom did a great job at balancing camera and handlebars for some snaps from the saddle.

I love this ride in any weather, but it is all the more delicious in the sunshine.

Familiar Roads

There’s no doubt that the Isle of Wight is great for a cycling holiday, but it is also pretty fantastic for the locals. It’s no secret I’m a fan of Island roads. Knowing its network of little lanes offers endless possibilities mid-ride, and I love to make it up as I pedal. On Sunday we headed out for a coffee and ended up riding 60k, spurred on by the last of the summer sun, and the excuse for another coffee (and cake) stop.

It’s a pleasure to know roads well enough to plan a route in your head and travel without a map. I’m a little in love with the old road names, and wonder at their origins. Our Sunday route took us up Kite Hill, through Firestone Copse, down Beacon Alley, across Bleak Down, past Thorness Bay, and over Egypt Hill. I’m not practical enough to remember useful road names, (I pity the driver who asks me for directions in a town) but these old road names are so evocative, they’re forever in my head.

Do you have a favourite road, or a favourite route? Mine always has to involve a good coffee stop!

A week in The Lakes

When we told people we were going to the Lake District, everyone waxed lyrical about its beauty. I thought there was no way it could live up to the hype. Not for the first time, I was proved wrong.

Rusty cycling Honister Pass in the Late District — Riding in to Buttermere

We spent a week making plans more ambitious than our legs could keep up with, climbing peaks and pedalling over passes. We had the odd reassuring comment from weathered old cyclists along the lines of “not bad for southern softies” and spent our evenings flaked out on the couch and poring over maps for the next day’s adventures.

We stayed in the quiet Eskdale Valley, complete with grand hills, whistling steam trains, classic pubs, and very few tourists. A week here is just long enough to fall in love with the place and realise how soon we need to return and explore more. We will be back.

PS Thank you Tom for taking all the holiday snaps! My life would be a blank memory card without you.

Time well spent

Perhaps my persistent positivity about the weather paid off. Or, we’re finally due some decent weather. Either way we’ve now had days of perfect summer sunshine. I’ve been soaking up every minute, maxing out on outdoors time and ignoring any screen draw (bar Instagram, of course!).

Tom’s school summer holidays have started off in the best of ways, with mini adventures and celebrations. I’ve been along for the ride and in complete denial about work. We’ve spent our weekends in the countryside riding and walking, and our weekday evenings on the beach, drinking bubbly and dipping more-than-toes in the sea (it’s really not too cold!)

We’ve had plenty cause to celebrate, with the end of term, a new job in the pipeline, and our second wedding anniversary. Here’s to long summer days, filled with sunshine and happiness. Cheers!

Monday morning

After the traffic chaos from this weekend’s festival, today seemed a good day to commute by bicycle. My route takes me across a chain ferry, up an estuary, down a steep wooded valley, across a creek, through a copse, and up a down.

I’d love to share more photos of it with you, but I have a pathological inability to apply the brakes on a descent. So, here are some of the flatter parts my journey..

Many of the roads were closed in anticipation of the festival traffic, so it was just me and some other pedalling commuters, in a utopian post-petrol dream.

In the winter the early morning start feels crisp and new, but at this time of year 7am feels late to the party. Despite this, there was still a red squirrel, several buzzards and a general cacophony of birdsong, accompanied by the scent of honeysuckle, wet grass and pine needles.

Not a bad way to start the day.