Other than a wee weekend trip to St Andrew – approx 55 miles each way – I haven’t done much on the bike this year, apart from commuting to work. So it was time for a bigger adventure.
The loose plan was to cycle from work towards Edinburgh, head south to Newcastle, continue to Yorkshire, head southeast to Waterhouse in Staffordshire where Bertie (the bike) was being abandoned for a few days (while I went to a festival), onto Liverpool where I would get the ferry to The Isle of Man for a few days and then head back home.
So here we go………
Day one – cycle to work (approx 8 miles) – leave work on time(ish) and cycle to Linwater Caravan Park which is about 11 miles west of Edinburgh city centre and near the Union Canal (34 miles). Get about 5 miles from work and remember that my waterproof jacket is at work – oops – opted not to go back for it as that would add on an extra 10 miles and I’d be arriving at the campsite in the dark – luckily only one heavy shower and it didn’t last long. Once I got to Falkirk nice easy cycling along the Union Canal to the campsite. Got tent up just as it was starting to get dark.
Day 2 – continue along Union Canal Tow Path to Edinburgh (with a wee detour to Halfords to buy a new high-vis jacket), on to Pentcaitland to meet my friend Dawn for lunch and then on to The Old Mill Caravan Site, West Kyloe Farm – approx 86 miles
Manage to drop the plug to charge my phone into the Union Canal while taking this photo – discover that plug floats but too far away for me to reach it, even when I tried to guddle for it with my helmet. Set off again with plug still bobbing away – big apologies to the fishes and swans for littering the canal.
Fabby lunch with my friend Dawn – I’ve still got cable so I plug my phone in to charge and Dawn gives me a spare plug to take with me. Arrive at Old Mill Campsite at West Kyloe Farm, as the sun is going down – amazing sunset but unfortunately no pictures. Wait patiently for family of 4 who are hogging all the plugs so that I can charge my phone (again!) – realise that I have plug and phone but the cable is still plugged in at Dawn’s house – bugger.
Day 3 – was meant to go along the lines of cycle to St Mary’s lighthouse, Whitley Bay – about 62 miles – get there in time to fit in with tide times (as it is on a causeway) and the opening times of the lighthouse and then cycle a further 10 miles to my friend Chris’s house – she had kindly left me the keys so that I could stay there. Left in plenty of time – didn’t record my route so no idea where I went wrong but swear that I cycled much more than 62 miles and got to the lighthouse much much later than planned and it was all locked up for the day – still worth seeing though – and then things went a bit tits-up.
Phone has next to no charge and I need to navigate to Chris’s house – phone goes completely flat but I am able to get directions from people I ask and find my way to the WRONG house – in fact I find myself at a flat with no chickens in the back garden – there should have been chickens!! Phone box nearby is out of action (no surprise there) and nearby pub doesn’t have a phone. End up at local police station – which was surprisingly quite for a Saturday night – and they are able to charge my phone for me (I still need to get a charging cable for my phone) – very nice police lady figures out where I have gone wrong – me (muppet brain) had looked up address on google map but had not entered the postcode and had not noticed that there was more than one of the same street name and of course I have gone to the wrong one! Another 5 miles / approx 1/2 an hour later I find my way to the right address – Big Thank You Chris for roof over my head, fabby shower and the tin of cider.
Day 4 – lots of lighthouse and a wee ferry crossing across the River Tyne
After ticking off lighthouses, buying a replacement cable for my phone and having lunch I headed south west towards Darlington and stayed at Westholme Campsite – and for the first time this trip I actually arrived somewhere in daylight.
Day 5 – no photos today – rained quite a lot and I was gubbed – what possessed me to cycle through some of Yorkshire – knew it was going to be hillier – knew it was going to be tougher – but this had me beat and had to push a well laden Bertie up some of the hills.
One of the downhill nearly got me too – steep and slippy and I wasn’t sure my cycling ability or brakes were up to the job – panicked and veered up the slightly uphill drive of a posh house to try and lose momentum and it worked and both me and Bertie were still upright.
Dark and very wet by the time I arrived at today’s campsite – Ghyll House Campsite – the “cycle route” takes you over a narrow footbridge – with a few steps at one end and lots of steps and a steepish path at the other end – the alternative was an extra 6 miles on the road – I took the bridge and shuttled the bike and panniers across it in 2 trips. I had to push Bertie up the last long uphill and when I finally arrived in the pouring rain I wondered where I had taken us to, as I walked through a grave yard of rusting tractors, trailers and other farm equipment – however just beyond is a lovely basic campsite and in the morning I got brief views of the surrounding hills. The fellow who runs the campsite is lovely – he also drives a cattle truck and knows the markets at Stirling and Dingwall – he wasn’t bothered by the rain at all while we chatted but I was now soaked to the skin. Into dry clothes and an early night for me as I had another tough day ahead of me.
Day 6 – Rain was off when I got up but very misty – every now and again the sky cleared and I got some views from the campsite as I packed a very wet tent – I’d like to come back to this campsite again and explore the area – hopefully in better weather though.
Downhill to start and the sun trying to come out led me into a false sense of security. 10 miles further on I should have skirted passed Haworth (famous for the Bronte Sisters) – instead I took a wrong turn and a great ride as I flew down into Haworth, realised my mistake and then had to push Bertie up a very steep street to re-join the main road.
Another 8 or so miles took me to Hebden Bridge – hot and sweaty on the uphill and chilly on the downhills and the rain was on again – stopped in a cafe and pondered life over a bacon butty and a mug of hot water and wondered what the hell I was doing and why wasn’t I on a beach in Ibiza and delayed leaving for as long as possible.
When I did leave I had another 50 miles to go to my proposed campsite for that night and it was going to be a hilly route in places – the first stretch saw me on a canal tow path, a canal tow path with signs that indicated that it went to Manchester and Manchester was only 23 miles away and canal paths are dead easy to cycle on (aren’t they) – and Manchester is on the way to my Sisters where I was aiming for the following day – a plan was brewed – cancel spot at campsite and book bed in hostel in Manchester. This definitely made for a shorter and easier day but not as easy as I expected – not all canal towpaths are the same! I’ve cycled the Union Canal and the Forth and Clyde canal a number of time – both have well maintained paths and gain very little height and are easy peasy to cycle. The Rochdale Canal is well maintained but has more height gain and therefore more locks – this in itself is not a problem but there are a number of short but steep cobbled ups and down to allow for water to run into the canal (I think) and these were tricky on a laden bike and I passed one poor gentleman who had fallen off his bike and if he hadn’t broken his noise he was certainly very bruised and bleeding but luckily being attended to – I decided it was safer to dismount the bike and push these bit. Definitely glad that I had changed my route to Manchester though and had a good night’s sleep at the Rahman Hostel.
Day 7 – cycle to Waterhouses, Stoke on Trent to stay with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew – googlemaps says it is just over 40 miles – I think it lied. A right mix of cycling today. First 3 or so miles on Manchester City’s fantastic cycle lanes – proper designated cycle lanes and not one that you have to share with pedestrians – this is not meant to be offensive to pedestrians – it’s much better for both cyclists and pedestrians if they are seperate. Then another few miles of completely useless cycle lanes – completely useless because there are cars parked on them. Finally away from the suburbs of Manchester and onto nice quiet back roads and then onto the shared track at Rudyard Lake (Staffordshire) – sun was out and I was glad to see that the wee steam train was running. Last 10 or miles back on road to Emma’s house and time to air tent and sleeping bag and make good use of the washing machine before putting my feet up.
Next 4 days it was festival time – good music, grub and company and a different mode of transport – Daisy the Campervan – although nobody was willing to swap place and I was still sleeping in the tent.
Part 2- Cycle Home via The Isle of Man, to follow
Lucy's Old Blog - Blonde Bird on a Bike 
Great to hear about your recent trip Lucy – always inspiring. Its also reassuring to hear the cock-ups as well as the loveliness of it all. Have to agree about Yorkshire though – I struggled to find a flat road on my tour back from there earlier this year.
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