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Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 8 (Recap and Final Thoughts)2024-02-02T09:02:02+00:002024-02-02T09:02:02+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2024/02/02/gb-bike-tour-8<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 7 <a href="/blog/2023/08/17/gb-bike-tour-7/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, I reflect on what went well -- and what went not so well -- in our first big international bike tour. And to finish things off, I'll float some ideas about what might come next.</p>
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<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2024_02_02/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2024_02_02/1.png" alt="something that went well: carrying food on mandarb" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>something that went well: carrying food on mandarb</figcaption>
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<h2 id="what-went-well">What went well?</h2>
<p>We <strong>survived</strong>! That's a great place to start.</p>
<p>We <strong>spent a month on our bikes</strong> and walked away <em>still wanting to ride the bikes and spend time with each other</em>.</p>
<p><strong>We never got bored</strong>; the pressure of riding your bike to a new place was an excellent motivator to get up every morning, successfully holding ennui at bay.</p>
<p>We developed <strong>great tans</strong> and not-so-great <strong>sandal tan lines</strong>.</p>
<p>We tried <strong>a ton of great food, beer, cider, and coffee</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>My dynamo charger provided unlimited light when we needed it and enough power</strong> to keep my phone and our navigation unit fully charged, every day. If Meg equips Sully with a dynamo, we wouldn't ever need a charger.</p>
<p><strong>We successfully packed up our bikes, bags, and supplies</strong> into boxes, brought them to another country, reassembled everything, <strong>rode for hundreds of miles</strong> into two other countries, <strong>then put everything back into boxes and brought it home</strong>. The only thing we damaged? My front fender, which kinda sucked anyway.</p>
<p><strong>We routed (and repeatedly rerouted) successfully for hundreds of miles.</strong> We did plenty of advance planning, scoping out likely pubs, grocery stores, camping areas, coffee shops, and sights to see. But in the end we settled on a just-in-time strategy where we mapped out a major destination (usually a city) and routed our way there one day at a time to keep things manageable.</p>
<p><strong>Our Garmin Edge 840 bike computer worked magnificently</strong> in tandem with maps Meg created with RidewithGPS on her phone. The display is always on, it doesn't consume much power, it shows you elevation profiles (for better or for worse), and generally keeps you off of your phone by always showing your next turn. But for the love of all that is holy you should turn the beeps off (or at least down!).</p>
<p><strong>Flying into one airport and out of another is really expensive.</strong> We'd strongly prefer to do some kind of loop in the future when possible. One-way flights are an absolute ripoff and often end up <em>more expensive</em> than a two-way flight that includes the same one-way flight!</p>
<p><strong>We worried a lot about time and stressed a lot about hitting milestones.</strong> In the future, we'll just go at a comfortable pace and take public transit to our end goal if we truly run out of time. But there's no sense rushing through cool areas because you know you have a lot of riding in the future!</p>
<p><strong>We're glad we didn't bring cooking supplies for a touristy trip.</strong> It was nice to save the space in our bags, and we honestly enjoyed spending money at pubs and coffee shops since it was often the only money we spent each day.</p>
<p><strong>We saw three foreign countries in a way I have never before experienced</strong>. When you're on a bike, you slow down and actually see the place you're visiting instead of teleporting around in a car.</p>
<p>I proved that <strong>Bristol is indeed a very cool city</strong>, and not just the product of rose-tinted college glasses. And we discovered that Glasgow and Hackney are also excellent urban areas. I'll refrain from ranting about how much better a medium-sized walkable city in the UK is than literally any car-dependent city in the USA.</p>
<p><strong>And we did it all for a pretty affordable sticker price</strong> -- turns out accomodation is 90% of the cost of most vacations, and even when you pay for campsites, it comes out a lot cheaper than hotel rooms. We splurged on campsites, hotel rooms, beer, coffee, and food, but for a longer length tour we could cut 90% of that and travel internationally for... less than our average winter heating bill per month.</p>
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<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2024_02_02/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2024_02_02/1.png" alt="something that went not-so-well: carrying food on mandarb" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>something that went not-so-well: carrying food on mandarb</figcaption>
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<h2 id="what-went-not-so-well">What went not-so-well?</h2>
<p><strong>We should have spent more time in Scotland</strong>, which was the prettiest, wildest, and most fun of the entire trip. This would have given us a lot more opportunities to wild camp, too. If I did this trip again, I'd probably bike up into the highlands at the beginning of the trip and trim some days from London.</p>
<p><strong>We deviated a lot from our original route plan.</strong> I'm sure plenty of you could have expected this, but the definition of a "bikepacking route" varies a lot between countries. We've stitched together plenty of combined bikepacking and cycle touring routes in the USA, so we figured we could handle most portions of the GB Divide route, rerouting around the nastiest bits. Unfortunately, the route cuts through an awful lot of right-of-ways and bridle paths that just aren't rideable, even on a mountain bike. Too mushy, too overgrown, not fun. We wound up following the broad strokes of the GB Divide, but personally I think the people who designed it are kind of crazy. In the USA, we're "bikepacking people" because we enjoy dirt roads, abandoned roads, manageable singletrack, and anything else that keeps us off of main roads (and the giant scary cars that haunt them). In Europe, cars are less big, people are better at driving, and on-road bicycle paths are better, so we're much more in line with the average European bicycle tourer. Even the road-based bike routes around the UK often used railway paths, gravel roads, and forest roads -- exactly the kind of stuff folks in the USA tend to call bikepacking.</p>
<p><strong>Wild camping is hard.</strong> In Scotland, it's legal, but takes some getting used to. In England, it's illegal and uncomfortable. Most bike tourers and bikepackers walk a fine legal grey area; they prefer camping in deserted places and leave no trace, but sometimes ask local residents or authorities for camping suggestions when in a pinch. We tried wild camping, but because it's nice to have peace of mind that someone isn't going to show up and kick you out, we wound up paying for campsites most of the time.</p>
<p><strong>Booking a vehicle to transport you from a city to the airport is expensive and kind of shitty.</strong> I'd just rely on public transit next time, especially with a rail line to the airport. But that isn't an option everywhere, so it was good practice to try this out.</p>
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<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2024_02_02/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2024_02_02/1.png" alt="what's next: carrying food on mandarb" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>what's next: carrying food on mandarb</figcaption>
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<h2 id="where-next">Where next?</h2>
<p>For the next little while, we'll focus on shorter bike trips. Overnighters, day trips to explore national parks or particular pretty stretches of dirt roads, and long rides on our local trail systems. All of this keeps us in shape and scratches the "itch" of biking without the necessity of a monthlong vacation from work. We only managed a full month because I changed jobs and Meg earned a monthlong sabbatical after 3 years at her job (a program that has been discontinued since). But within the next couple of years I'm sure we'll start to feel the need for a longer trip. Here are a few of the ideas we're currently incubating:</p>
<p><strong>Unsupported bikepacking in the USA</strong> -- off the grid, singletrack, just camping, cooking for ourselves, swimming in rivers, and appreciating nature. The Great Divide and the New York section of the Eastern Divide are high on our list.</p>
<p><strong>Japan & South Korea</strong> have excellent bike infrastructure, well designed cities, polite drivers, a great climate, and are easily linked by ferry.</p>
<p><strong>Real Europe™</strong> is the OG of bicycle touring. We'd be happy doing a trip just about anywhere in Europe, though France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway are at the top of my list since there's not as much of a language barrier as there can be in other places. There are some excellent multi-country routes along the Mediterranean that look beautiful and pretty affordable to boot.</p>
<p><strong>The Scottish Highlands and the Hebridean Way</strong>, because we missed them on this trip. I travel to work in the UK semi-regularly now, so we could conceivably try this at some point after a work trip.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading along! We had a great time, and I hope this series of posts has helped you understand a tiny piece of why we love riding our bicycles so much. Maybe it's inspired you to try a longer bike ride yourself, or just to dig your old, neglected bicycle out of the garage and take it for a spin. You might be surprised at just how much fun you have on it.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 7 here. In this post, I reflect on what went well -- and what went not so well -- in our first big international bike tour. And to finish things off, I'll float some ideas about what might come next.Some Thoughts on Malazan Book of the Fallen2024-01-26T21:47:53+00:002024-01-26T21:47:53+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/techblog/2024/01/26/malazan<p>I just finished a very, very, very long read of Steven Erikson's <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen">Malazan Book of the Fallen</a></em> series. This is the second-longest series I have every read, second only to <em>The Wheel of Time</em>. But <em>Malazan</em> stands out as perhapas the most unusual, most unique, and most impactful series I have ever read. It has been a long time since a piece of writing made me think this much. Allow me to explain...</p>
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<h2 id="length">Length</h2>
<p>It's long. Hella long. 11,000 pages across 10 books. 3.4 million words (over three Harry Potters, 7 Lord of the Rings, and 0.8 Wheel of Times). And it's not just pulp fiction that allows you to churn through a book in a week if you have the time: it is dense. At my very fastest reading pace between jobs, with no commitments during a dark, rainy couple of weeks, I think I finished a book in three weeks. And it was <em>exhausting</em>. Fast readers might pull off a month per book, slower early on.</p>
<h2 id="style">Style</h2>
<p>It all starts with prose: Erikson might be an Ent. He rumbles along, describing characters, settings, historical events, personal backstories, historical events, and internal philosophical monologues almost in spite of the reader. You're along for the ride, but only if you run alongside the tracks, match the train's pace, and jump onto the caboose like some early 1900s vagabond. And you'll spend the next 11,000 pages fighting your way up to the engine, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer">Snowpiercer</a> style. The magic system, geography, races, names, cities, streets, command structures, transportation, and more all show up with the barest explanations. You will become a detective, figuring out what's going on almost purely through context clues. Upon writing that, I'm not sure that sounds that great, but trust me, if you love a rich fantasy universe or a reading challenge, it's an immensely satisfying way of digging deeper and constantly proving that Erikson really has thought all of this out.</p>
<h2 id="breadth">Breadth</h2>
<p>The sheer breadth of the magic system, civilizations, races, timespan, food, characters, major events, battles, gods, and realms of this series is genuinely breathtaking. As in you will run out of breath just trying to explain the breadth, let alone listing everything in any of those categories. At the end of each book, you assume that the series can't possibly sprawl any further, or tease another mystery, or expose another layer of complexity... until the next book does. And then the next book does it again. And again. Literally until you reach the final book. The breadth of <em>Malazan</em> makes the Silmarillion look like the Hobbit.</p>
<h2 id="execution">Execution</h2>
<p>I do not trust authors implicitly. This review, and of course the <em>Malazan</em> series itself, promises a lot. Enough that I mistrusted the author, even with the lofty recommendation of a close friend. I've read a lot of broken promises: A Song of Ice and Fire. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Wind">The Name of the Wind</a> (and the sequel). So I understand that sometimes authors bite off more than they can chew. The Wheel of Time (which I read partially as a shibboleth of commitment to epic fantasy series) doesn't break promises, but the original author <em>did</em> pass away before he could finish it and a lot of plot threads were severed or lubricated to make a clean ending.</p>
<p>So I naturally assumed that Erikson would cut some corners by the 8th, 9th, or 10th book. I thought loose ends would bother me at the end of <em>Malazan</em> the same way they did at the end of so many other series, where nitpicks and issues can easily tarnish my memory. Maybe it's the hundreds of hours and couple of years of reading time manifesting as some kind of sunk-cost Stockholm syndrome, but Malazan didn't cut corners. (I did take breaks with <em>The Expanse</em>, <em>Hyperion</em>, <em>The Broken Earth</em> Trilogy, and a whole bunch of history books, so it's not like I <em>only</em> read <em>Malazan</em> this whole time; doing that for two years might genuinely give you Stockholm syndrome)</p>
<p>But I can say that <em>Malazan</em> satisfied me in a way that few series ever have. The ending is not without its flaws; some plots end on a much happier note than I would ever have predicted, and not everything gets wrapped up in a neat bow. But I walked away form the second epilogue with a sense of content and finality I rarely get from a book series. It reminds me the most of finishing The Hobbit when my age still numbered in the single digits; I could barely believe just how <em>much</em> story, creativity, and universe I had just witnessed. And it reminds me of when I finished <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem">Anathem</a> in my early teens, a book whose invented language and philosophy represented a huge leap past the James Patterson pulp I'd been devouring throughout middle school (bonus points to young me for reading an ebook copy <em>that lacked the appendix</em> defining Stephenson's invented words).</p>
<p>This is the thing that really convinced me that Malazan is something special, something more than just another epic fantasy: I felt like I had just finished <em>literature</em>. Something at a higher level of writing than any other fantasy book or series I have ever read. I haven't read all of Infinite Jest, Finnegan's Wake, or Ulysses, but I suspect the feeling is similar.</p>
<h2 id="heart">Heart</h2>
<p>Empathy and compassion are deeply important to the core conflict of <em>Malazan</em>. You can tell how much Erikson believes in that core argument because of the sheer number of perspectives presented throughout the series: <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comments/ludjoj/how_many_povs/">according to highly reputable online source JaminJedi, 453 separate POV characters</a>.</p>
<p>Some characters seem interchangeable, such as the large number of soldier POVs that are used in aggregate to present battles, troop movements, and tensions. In these mosaic slice-of-life scenes, we bounce between different characters every few paragraphs, often spending less than a page per character. But the combined thoughts, words, and views of each character produces something richer than a commander going over a battle plan or even a single scene where one character moves around the troops. This feels like a new level of character writing I've never experienced before: instead of just writing individual characters (which Erikson absolutely does, don't worry), he's also characterizing <em>groups of characters</em>. And just wait until you get to the banter -- some of Erikson's best group writing happens in duos of two characters, be they friends, enemies, lovers, or all of those things combined.</p>
<p>Some characters show up early in the series and stick around for the full 10 books (don't worry, I won't spoil who). The grow, they change, and you find yourself rooting for them -- good or evil (not that anyone is truly evil in this series -- like ASoIaF, everything is about shades of grey).</p>
<p>Some characters provide a POV for a single scene, then disappear, never to be heard from again.</p>
<p>And sometimes you don't even know which character provided a perspective. Hard to imagine, I know. But it does happen (only occasionally -- and you can usually figure out who it was later on from context clues).</p>
<p>I've read a lot of books that use perspective to tell stories through more than just one set of eyes and ears (or one omniscient narrator's not-eyes and not-ears). But the empathy you develop for so many different characters across so many different cultures and worlds in this series is something else. And when you get scenes from the perspective of multiple characters, you're forced to reassess exactly what happened in the scene (if you've ever tried reading ASoIaF's <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/g7zksj/the_boiled_leather_reading_order_combining_a/">Boiled Leather reading order</a> and you gained a whole new perspective on Sam and Jon's interactions, you'll know a tiny bit of what I'm talking about -- that sort of thing happens a <em>lot</em> in <em>Malazan</em>).</p>
<p>The sheer number of POVs was a big challenge for me. It's hard to keep the characters straight when you jump between them so often. It's tough to get to know anyone individually, to build that emotional connection in just a few paragraphs. But don't worry: you have plenty of time to get used to it over 11,000 pages. One piece of advice? Try to read entire chapters at a time, they're almost always meant to be read all at once to convey a common theme and message. I know it's hard to believe that that's possible with so many POVs, and it's tough to keep reading the full chapter length if you're reading in bed and getting sleepy, but I promise, it's worth it. Remember that the scenes with the marines are almost always a big mosaic of what's happening in the entire military group and you'll wrap your head around it eventually.</p>
<p>Anyway, there's a huge amount of characters in these books. And they're somehow all unique, thoughtfully explored, and full of rich detail that helps expand the universe even further than you thought possible. You can write the coolest magic scenes and the most epic battles imaginable, but you need an emotional core of characters to grant weight to those scenes.</p>
<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
<p>So if you've made it this far and you love epic fantasy (or just great fiction), give <em>Malazan Book of the Fallen</em> a try. You may wonder what the hell the titles means; you'll figure it out (at least twice, if not three or four times) eventually. I promise that it is a good name for the series, and you'll probably like it too once you understand.</p>
<p>You will laugh. You will cry. You will get very frustrated about the things that Erikson doesn't explain in the first or second books (feel free to reach out for a low-spoiler magic explanation if this holds you back). I really think every fantasy fan should try this series. It is something truly new (if something written from 1999-2011 can be called <em>new</em>), truly delightful, and worthy of being called the first epic fantasy <em>literature</em> I have ever read.</p>
<p>Special shoutout to Tor for their AMAZING <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/malazan-reread-of-the-fallen/">Malazan Reread of the Fallen</a> blog series, which provides a spoiler free summary, first-time reader reaction, and re-reader reaction to every single chapter of every single book of the series. Bill and Amanda did a monumental amount of work with this series and really helped me get a grip on the series when I was confused early on (and made sure I didn't miss any subtle plot points later on!).</p>
<p><em>PS: But maybe read the other big fantasy series first -- I'm midway through Mistborn now, and even though I like it, it is hard to measure up to the writing and scope of Malazan and I fear I might have broken my fantasy-reading brain.</em></p>
<p><em>PPS: If you try Gardens of the Moon and just find it too damn confusing because of the dozens of POVs, seriously consider picking up House of Chains. The first HALF of the book is all one single continuous POV of a new character in a new location so you won't hit any serious spoilers and you'll get to ease yourself into Erikson's style without fitting all those crazy characters and POVs in your head at the same time.</em></p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)I just finished a very, very, very long read of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. This is the second-longest series I have every read, second only to The Wheel of Time. But Malazan stands out as perhapas the most unusual, most unique, and most impactful series I have ever read. It has been a long time since a piece of writing made me think this much. Allow me to explain...Book Review: The Lost Cause2023-11-20T18:17:53+00:002023-11-20T18:17:53+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/techblog/2023/11/20/book-review-the-lost-cause<p>I recently finished reading <em>The Lost Cause</em>, by Cory Doctorow, which asks (and answers) the question: <em>Do some people seriously want to watch the world burn?</em>. Here are my thoughts on the book.</p>
<p><em>Warning: This post contains (minor) spoilers!</em></p>
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<p>It's no secret that the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/03/polycrisis-adam-tooze-historian-explains/">polycrisis</a> is on a lot of folks' minds right now. In the last year, I've already read two other books on the subject: Neal Stephenson's <em>Termination Shock</em> and Kim Stanley Robinson's <em>The Ministry for the Future</em>. Like a good glass of orange juice, <em>The Lost Cause</em> is both pulpier and more digestible than either; <em>Lost</em> has more optimism than <em>Termination</em> and more realism than <em>Ministry</em>. Both of those books talk a lot about fixing the climate crisis, but <em>Lost</em> is the first I've read where the protagonist physically does something about it.</p>
<p><em>The Lost Cause</em> takes place in the near, but not-too-near future; perhaps 2050. The world has moved far past coronavirus and Trumpian politics, but the scars are lasting. Politics is best represented as a triangle of ideologies:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Young <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal">Green New Deal</a>-inspired idealists fight for sustainability, fairness for those displaced by climate change, walkability, density, public transit, and an eco-conscious mode of living reminiscent of Becky Chambers' <a href="https://bookwyrm.social/book/248869/s/a-prayer-for-the-crown-shy">Monk and Robot</a> series.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Conservative landowners, referred to as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Great_Again">MAGAs</a>, advocate for exclusionary, stable politics -- freezing the world in the 1980s, refusing to make any lifestyle changes to the way they eat, transport themselves, or sleep.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Wealthy 'entrepreneur' <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy">plutocrats</a>, driven out of the United States during the 8-year reign of a highly progressive president, roam the seven seas in a flotilla of cruise ships and aircraft carriers, pitching 'free market solutions' that extract maximum profit from the climate crisis.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Our story unfolds from the perspective of a young <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burbank,_California">Burbanker</a>, Brooks. His (liberal Green New Deal-inspired) parents died in a grisly pandemic when he was young, forcing young Brooks to move in with his ornery Maga grandfather. In the 90s, this might have been a setup for a brilliant sitcom where an old conservative parent and a young progressive kid mutually enrich each other with valuable life lessons derived from very different worldviews. Today, it's a lot more depressing.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the tale, Brooks' world is shattered: he graduates high school, his grandfather passes away, he inherits a single family home in Burbank, and his grandfather's Maga friends start to pressure Brooks to conform to their politics. Soon, a group of climate refugees move into town, and Brooks joins the effort to house them.</p>
<p>Brooks befriends, falls in love with, cooks food with <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Food+Fantasies+in+George+R.+R.+Martin.-a0531977726">George R. R. Martin levels of recipe detail</a>, fights with, and makes up with his new group of idealistic friends. As time goes on, Brooks grows more and more radical, losing patience for the bureaucratic nightmare of modern politics that has utterly failed the Burbank refugees and the world at large. The young Green New Dealers take one step forward to help climate refugees or mitigate the effects of climate change, and the Magas force them two steps back, backed by the moneyed interests of the Flotilla plutocrats. Fights break out on social media and meatspace.</p>
<p>Our swashbuckling young hero has a few mental breakdowns and makes a few missteps as he learns how to best navigate his brave new world. Along the way, we learn about the best (and worst) ways to fight the Magas and the tech entrepreneurs of the Flotilla. Everything wraps up at the end with a big showdown that thankfully fizzles out in the shadow of Yet Another Climate Crisis.</p>
<p>Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's the first book in a while that I genuinely had a hard time putting down. Part of that stems from my general agreement with everything Doctorow stands for, but the other part stems from the fact that this is just a <em>really good read</em>. The characters all talk exactly like Cory Doctorow, but they all have rich personalities, strong backstories, and their actions make perfect sense given those foundations. Characters frequently disagree and (mostly politely) discuss their perspective about how best to solve problems. It's probably a shade too optimistic, but if the last 5 years of the real world has taught me anything, it's that <a href="https://time.com/5894565/interruptions-insults-presidential-debate/">discussions with impolite jerks are really really boring</a>.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed when Doctorow dives deep into oft-omitted mundane plot details like splitting a bill for croissants between a big group of people, finding a rental bike to ride across town, and the distinction between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrean_cuisine">Ethiopian and Eritrean food</a>. Those details may seem small, even boring, but when it comes to writing a book about the near future, I find them invaluable. Characters teleporting around town and eating takeout meals with no regard for expenses annoys me in pretty much all media, but it's unforgivable in a novel that asks us to imagine a better way of living. After all, that stuff is 50% of living!</p>
<p>Monopolies and oligarchies occupy a lot of my brainspace these days, and seem like an obvious cause of a lot of societal problems. While Doctorow doesn't focus <em>The Lost Cause</em> on the subject, he <em>does</em> drop a lot of hints about "Baby Googles" and "Baby Warners" that suggest a solution to an obvious current day problem. Plus, it's hard to not chuckle at "Duck Duck Google".</p>
<p>I do worry that Doctorow's characterization of Magas and tech entrepreneurs is a bit too simplistic. But my experience talking to people in the real world about those philosophies has always seemed awfully one dimensional, so perhaps he's not that far off from reality.</p>
<p>TL;DR: <em>The Lost Cause</em> gives me hope that we can move forward from the identity politics, monopolies, late stage capitalism, climate carelessness, and bureaucracy of the early 2000s. Some dialogue reads a bit like Doctorow sock-puppet philosophical theatre, but it's inspiring to read anything where characters actually solve a problem instead of playing political chess or shooting each other.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)I recently finished reading The Lost Cause, by Cory Doctorow, which asks (and answers) the question: Do some people seriously want to watch the world burn?. Here are my thoughts on the book. Warning: This post contains (minor) spoilers!Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 7 (Bristol, Bath, and London)2023-08-17T21:14:22+00:002023-08-17T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/17/gb-bike-tour-7<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 6 <a href="/blog/2023/08/14/gb-bike-tour-6/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, we'll cover our experiences in Bristol, Bath, London, and our journeys between those cities.</p>
<!-- readmore -->
<p>The final leg of the journey takes place mostly in cities. We didn't want to risk missing our flight or scrambling at the last minute because of a flat tire or poor distance estimation skills, so we wound up arriving in Bistol with about a week to burn before our flight. There isn't that much distance between Bristol in London, so we had ample time to explore London and revisit all my old favorite haunts in Bristol, where I studied abroad back in uni.</p>
<p>As is tradition with the city portions of this trip, I'll leave out the finer details and instead leave you with some recommendations and highlights of each population center.</p>
<p>Our Bristol favourites included:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/12P84CTwsnyn46MAA">The Scrandit</a> has a small but mighty beverage selection of excellent local beers and ciders, but the real secret is the food made by a rotation of local pop-up chefs. I wish this place was not thousands of miles from my home because I would come here <em>constantly</em> if I lived in the area. I also love the fact that you can sit downstairs at the bar, upstairs at a small table, or upstairs at a single very large community table depending on how social you want to be.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/1.png" alt="dinner at the scrandit our first night in bristol" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>dinner at the scrandit our first night in bristol</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.coffeeandbeer.co.uk/">Coffee + Beer</a> makes great coffee and pours great beer. In the same space. They source beans from some of the best roasters in the country and clearly source their pastries from some of the tastiest bakers in the city. Again, I wish this place was not thousands of miles from my home.</li>
<li><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/6XoZvEHW3ZUmMvHR9">The Cloakroom Cafe</a> made a fantastic chai latte, but the real attraction is the location. Which used to be a toilet. But a British toilet so it's not nasty, it's actually cool. I'm not entirely sure how the antique bicycle hanging from the ceiling fits in with the theme but it certainly looked cool.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/4.png" alt="what does this floating bicycle have to do with anything?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>what does this floating bicycle have to do with anything?</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/3.png" alt="meg checking out the uni campus" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg checking out the uni campus</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.everymancinema.com/venues-list/x0x3q-everyman-bristol/">Everyman Cinema</a> reminded me of my favourite movie theatres: Nighthawk in Brooklyn and The Lyric in Fort Collins. For those of us who don't enjoy being treated like cattle and served deeply overpriced candy, popcorn, and soda while we watch a movie. We bought a couple of tickets to watch Barbie in a very old, very beautiful theatre on a cosy sofa. The tickets and a (nice, French) bottle of wine cost less than the last movie I saw in a crappy US theatre.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/8.png" alt="note the couches for watching movies in an extra cosy way" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>note the couches for watching movies in an extra cosy way</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://thevietkitchencotham.com/">The Viet Kitchen</a> served up the largest bao buns I have ever set eyes upon in my entire life.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/7.png" alt="big bao buns, i cannot lie" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>big bao buns, i cannot lie</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/museums-parks-sports-and-culture/parks-and-open-spaces/parks-and-estates/brandon-hill">Cabot Tower</a> is free, fun to climb, and provides an amazing 360 degree view of the city.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/5.png" alt="meg at the tippy top of cabot tower in front of the cathedral" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg at the tippy top of cabot tower in front of the cathedral</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/6.png" alt="nate at the tippy top of cabot tower in front of the uni" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nate at the tippy top of cabot tower in front of the uni</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>I'm not really a cocktail bar kind of person but <a href="http://hydeand.co/">Hyde & Co</a> turned out to be a very fun speakeasy bar. As usual, the puzzles weren't really something you could "solve" without ordering half the menu, but the vibe was really unique and the service was extremely friendly.</li>
<li>Not only did <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/KgfsZo1M4eRZC2CSA">Baristas Coffee Collective</a> make me an excellent latte, they also made me one of the greatest breakfast sandwiches I have ever eaten. Halloumi, avocado, perfectly fried eggs, and what my journal describes as "sourdough like a bouncy castle, but in a good way".</li>
<li><a href="https://newcutcoffee.com/">New Cut Coffee</a> made me a latte with one of those tea-like natural proccess coffees that could convince just about anyone that "fruit notes" aren't just made-up sommelier shit. That's enough to make the list, but the real standout was their <em>banana walnut bread with espresso butter</em>, a pastry so good I had to order a second piece.</li>
<li><a href="https://grainbarge.com/">Grain Barge</a> seems like a perfectly adequate pub-with-a-schtick (and unlike The Apple, another floating pub, they actually refrigerate their cider). But as a recovering sailor, I had a fantastic time watching sailboat races in the floating harbor for an afternoon over a couple of beverages.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/10.png" alt="boat races; note that half the boats in this image are not racing" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>boat races; note that half the boats in this image are not racing</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/9.png" alt="skydiving along the floating harbour" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>skydiving along the floating harbour</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cryingwolf.co.uk/">Crying Wolf</a> makes a mean piña colada thanks to homemade coconut sherbet.</li>
<li><a href="https://bristol-cathedral.co.uk/">Bristol Cathedral</a> is a millenia old, entirely free, and full of interesting historical artifacts. I could have spent much more time here.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/2.png" alt="flowers in the cathedral garden" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>flowers in the cathedral garden</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The local burrito was adequate, but I am disappointed to report that the local arcade bar altogether lacks charm. But Burlington, Vermont; Rochester, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Portland, Maine have set the bar really high for arcade bars. I also tried <a href="https://www.woktowalk.com/uk/">Wok to Walk</a>, which turned out much better than I expected (but probably about as decent as you're imagining).</p>
<p>Before we knew it, our time was up in Bristol. We headed to Bath along the <a href="http://www.bristolbathrailwaypath.org.uk/home.shtml">rail trail</a>, whose antiquated website promises the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Each megabyte of a document will take around 1min 30secs to download on a 56kbps modem. For example, a 2MB file will take around 3mins to download on a 56kbps modem. For broadband users, downloads will take considerably less time.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thoughtful and true. Thanks, Bristol & Bath railway path!</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/11.png" alt="part of the railway path followed an antique railway" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>part of the railway path followed an antique railway</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rail trail turned out to be a very easy ride, full of runners, walkers, incredibly well-trained leashless dogs, and cyclists. But manners were generally very good, and instead of being annoying it turned out to be quite pleasant. The city thinned out, the luxury condos grew further and further apart, and before long we passed through the 0.3 mile Staple Hill Tunnel (which, despite online assurances, is not particularly well lit) and escaped into true countryside, surrounded by trees, cows, and fields.</p>
<p>After a brief navigation debate (fortunately, only a couple of cow gates and a public right-of-way separate the rail trail from <a href="https://parkfarm.co.uk/">The Bath Soft Cheese Co</a>), we enjoyed for a high quality blue cheese toasty, my favorite rarebit of the trip, and a fresh-outta-the-cow chocolate milkshake. The milking parlor and cheese room are mostly for kids, but it was genuinely very cool to watch someone separate cheese curds.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/12.png" alt="rarebit and cheese toasty" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rarebit and cheese toasty</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We returned to the railway path, but it wasn't long before we reached Bath. So we stopped at <a href="https://electricbearbrewing.com/">Electric Bear Brewing</a> to pad the day out a bit. And before we knew it, we were in Bath. We walked around, checked out historic buildings, parks, snacked on some local food and drink, and prepared for London. Bath is full of neat buildings, but when you measure it up to thriving cities like Bristol and London, it's a bit touristy.</p>
<p>The next morning, we got up, headed to the train station, and boarded a train to London. Unfortunately, despite making a bike reservation, the bike spaces were occupied. So we loitered in the handicap zone of the train with our bikes until the jerks who <em>didn't</em> have reservations left the train. Not the most fun way to travel, but better than riding through shoddy suburban bike infrastructure. And we had some lovely chat with other folks on the train.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/13.png" alt="eventually bike reservation-squatting jerks left and we secured the bikes" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>eventually bike reservation-squatting jerks left and we secured the bikes</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before long, we were at the end destination of our trip: London. But we weren't done biking. For our first night in the city, we planned to stay far north of the city centre -- near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham">Tottenham</a>. So we enjoyed a quick cheesy snack in Hyde Park, then embarked on our Great London Bike Ride, which took us past all of the big touristy things without fighting our way through massive crowds.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/14.png" alt="a quick cheese snack in hyde park. note my highly illegal knife" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a quick cheese snack in hyde park. note my highly illegal knife</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We cruised past Buckingham Palace, to Parliament, past Big Ben, along the Thames across from the London Eye, over to the City of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London. And that's just the old stuff. The bike infrastructure was incredible: that entire ride only required us to stop a single time, and make one or two turns. The bike lane was fully separated from both vehicle traffic and the sidewalk, and it was painted blue and well marked to make it obvious for folks who haven't biked it before.</p>
<p>After checking out the usual tourist attractions at a much more reasonable speed, we headed north towards Tottenham, up through Hackney. It wasn't long before we were out of the hustle and bustle of the city centre, casually riding along a canal through a residential neighborhood. And that's where Meg got her first flat of the ride thanks to a giant nail in the path.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/15.png" alt="eleventh hour first flat" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>eleventh hour first flat</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fortunately, we were extremely prepared, and fixed it in three minutes flat with one of several spare tubes and the bike pump I lugged in a pannier for the entire trip. The rest of our journey went smoothly, so we dropped our bikes off at the hotel and explored the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Most of our time in London was spent in and around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney,_London">Hackney</a>, the Brooklyn of London. Special thanks to my friend Dan for hanging out with us for a few days of London shenanigans.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/16.png" alt="obligatory touristy pic" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>obligatory touristy pic</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I won't bother recommending much in the city centre, but I think a lot of visitors overlook Hackey, so I wanted to highlight some places that are a little further off the beaten path (and some staples that I think are actually worthwhile):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/hackney/">Balfe's Bikes</a> supplied us with a couple of bike boxes to bring our bikes home -- THANK YOU!</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/17.png" alt="returning this bicycle to its ancestral home in wisconsin. not pictured: meg's box, nested inside mine" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>returning this bicycle to its ancestral home in wisconsin. not pictured: meg's box, nested inside mine</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/18.png" alt="sorting the bicycles into boxes" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>sorting the bicycles into boxes</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/PTky171Gd1zKZ7rd7">Bike Maniac</a> is exactly the hero we needed when my multitool and arms did not provide enough torque to remove our pedals (an essential part of packing your bike up into a box). 10/10 pedal wrench loan, and a very cool guy in general.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/19.png" alt="ty bike maniac" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ty bike maniac</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>We wandered into the <a href="https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/">Museum of the Home</a> and wound up pleasantly surprised by their selection of living rooms through the ages.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.weinobib.co.uk/pages/menu">Weino BIB</a> provided great wine, great olives, and a chill place to hang out.</li>
<li>The second level of every double decker bus in London (except the shitty tourist ones) turned out to be a great way to get around. On the second level, you can almost trick yourself that you're on a competent mode of public transportation (a train).</li>
<li><a href="https://www.table13london.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/T13-All-Menu.pdf">Table 13</a> made great coffee. I wish we'd found them during their wine shop and dinner hours.</li>
<li>
<p><a href="https://mikosgyros.com/">Mikos Gyros</a> makes for excellent guilty pleasure Greek street food.</p>
</li>
<li>The <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/">National Gallery</a>, like many state-run museums in London, is free. You'll recognize a lot of paintings. The building itself is gorgeous. If I had to visit just one museum in London, it would be this one. (yes, this is a subtle dig at Tate because I can't bear to look at modern art for more than 10 minutes at a stretch)</li>
<li>We stumbled upon <a href="http://www.violetcakes.com/">Violet Cakes</a> when I carried our bike boxes a couple of miles around london. Solid coffee, better baked goods.</li>
<li><a href="https://hackneychurchbrew.co/">Hackney Church Brew Co</a> makes good beer under a train line. Though I don't recommend ordering food here; we went on a not-that-busy night and it took them almost 2 hours to bring us our orders.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.batchbaby.co.uk/">Batch Baby</a> made a high quality toasty in a 60s retro setting. Excellent place to finish a book series and watch the neighborhood wake up.</li>
<li><a href="https://e5bakehouse.com/">e5 bakehouse</a> makes exquisite bread and top-tier coffee.</li>
<li><a href="https://myneighboursthedumplings.com/">My Neighbors the Dumplings</a>, despite the strange name, made the best dim sum I've ever had. Though admittedly I have not had <em>that</em> much dim sum. But Meg has had a lot more and she thought it was high quality, too.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/20.png" alt="the neighborhood around dumplings provided excellent catspotting" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the neighborhood around dumplings provided excellent catspotting</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Park,_London">Victoria Park</a> is gorgeous. It's a park.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/21.png" alt="meg, killin the game in the park in her thrifted formal wear" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg, killin the game in the park in her thrifted formal wear</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://www.thedustyknuckle.com/">Dusty Knuckle</a> became a breakfast staple thanks to their signature feta honey fennel bun. All of their baked goods were extremely good -- except for the toast, which was unevenly toasted. Relieving to discover that they're not good at <em>everything</em> because goddamn was that feta honey fennel bun delicious.</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/22.png" alt="feta honey fennel bun..." loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>feta honey fennel bun...</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_17/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_17/23.png" alt="so distracting, i missed the joke" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>so distracting, i missed the joke</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our final day arrived all too soon. We considered taking the tube with our bike boxes, but the trip from Hackney to Heathrow required a couple of transfers and nothing is simple when a couple of 50lb bike boxes are involved. So we booked a van (whose driver only stole <em>some</em> of our money when he didn't make change) and revelled in the shame of private internal combustion engine transportation to the airport. Next time I will take public transport.</p>
<p>But this isn't the end of my GB Bike tour blog series. In <a href="/blog/2024/02/02/gb-bike-tour-8/">Part 8</a>, I'll reflect on what went right (and what went wrong!) across the entire journey. And I'll leave you with some hopes and dreams for what Meg and I might do next.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 6 here. In this post, we'll cover our experiences in Bristol, Bath, London, and our journeys between those cities.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 6 (Tiny Horses to Bristol)2023-08-14T21:14:22+00:002023-08-14T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/14/gb-bike-tour-6<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 5 <a href="/blog/2023/08/12/gb-bike-tour-5/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, we'll travel from some tiny horses we met in Wales all the way back into England, to Bristol. We found the bicycle infrastructure between Cardiff and Bristol... wanting, though we were pleased to discover a very large bicycle path on a very large bridge. More on that later.</p>
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<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/24.png" alt="wales is pretty sometimes" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>wales is pretty sometimes</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/2.png" alt="setting the scene in the labyrinthian roadside hedges of wales" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>setting the scene in the labyrinthian roadside hedges of wales</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our journey resumes right at the top of a brutal hill. Our heroes, Nate and Meg, were almost without hope. Their bicycles were squeaking. Their legs were aching. Their palms were sweaty. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/30/style/moms-spaghetti-eminem-detroit.html">Mom's spaghetti</a>. Wait, no, that's not right. We just stumbled upon some very cute tiny horses, had a quick snack, and drank some water.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/1.png" alt="i'm not about to let you forget about these tiny horses" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>i'm not about to let you forget about these tiny horses</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then it turned out we were at the top of a very long uphill, so we cruised downhill through a very pleasant breeze, with some great views of the Brecon Beacons, to lunch at the <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/SCjN3rgodapdeKSp6">Brecon Tap</a>. We had a refreshing pint, a life-replenishing pie, and something that the menu <em>called</em> a salad that I'm not sure legally conforms to that description. But it was all very tasty, and the rest was much needed. Then we popped over to a Costa Coffee for a caffeine pick-me-up and a quick phone charge while we scouted out a campsite.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/3.png" alt="life-replenishing pie and pint" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>life-replenishing pie and pint</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/4.png" alt="a stop at battery-replenishing costa coffee" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a stop at battery-replenishing costa coffee</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found a decent campsite with <em>prominent quiet hours</em> and a lot of impressive-sounding awards. A short shopping trip to the co-op for local cider, then a couple hours of easy mild uphill riding later, we arrived at our campsite with plenty of time to spare before sunset.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/5.png" alt="moss intensifies" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>moss intensifies</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/6.png" alt="riding along willy wonka's chocolate river" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>riding along willy wonka's chocolate river</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/7.png" alt="peepin some narrow boats and dogs" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>peepin some narrow boats and dogs</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/8.png" alt="obligatory churchyard, since we passed about a billion of them" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>obligatory churchyard, since we passed about a billion of them</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/9.png" alt="meg for scale between the hedges. this is a two-way road." loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg for scale between the hedges. this is a two-way road.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/10.png" alt="flowers along the chocolate river were impressive" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>flowers along the chocolate river were impressive</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We showered, set up the tent, enjoyed a refreshing beverage, and passed out due to lack of sleep well before the sun went down. I am happy to report that the quiet hours were absolutely followed, though it probably helped that we camped as far away from other people as possible after the previous night's trauma.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/11.png" alt="a very quiet campsite" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a very quiet campsite</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next day, we woke up early -- I'm pretty sure our tent was fully packed up and we were riding out of the camping area before the sun had a chance to peek over the horizon. Our ride continued similarly to the previous afternoon's ride, and felt <em>very</em> easy after getting an adequate night's sleep. The hills were foggy, the hedges continued to need a good trimming, but the traffic was nonexistent and the skies above the fog were as blue as can be.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/12.png" alt="froggy morning" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>froggy morning</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/15.png" alt="dam" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>dam</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before long, we wound up at a dam on a mountain lake with some very impressive views. We crossed the dam and found ourselves riding on a rail trail. Huzzah! For those who don't know, rail trails are the <em>best</em> way to cross a range of mountains by bike. The grade usually can't exceed 3%, which can be grueling if you're stuck riding that way for hours, but is much much easier than the 20% grades we typically see on unmaintained mountain roads designed for cars or horses.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/13.png" alt="meg contemplating just how fortuitous this rail trail grade is" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg contemplating just how fortuitous this rail trail grade is</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/14.png" alt="can u spot the hidden meg?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>can u spot the hidden meg?</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/16.png" alt="rail trail action nate" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rail trail action nate</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We pushed our way up the rail trail in record time, and before we knew it we were at the highest point of our day's ride. Hours ahead of our hoped schedule, well before noon. And we spotted a trailhead for a hike that we strongly suspected we could see the top of. With the strength of a good night's sleep and an unexpectedly easy climb coursing through our veins, we locked up the bikes and started our first UK hike.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/17.png" alt="hyped hiking meg" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>hyped hiking meg</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/18.png" alt="unexpected waterfall" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>unexpected waterfall</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/19.png" alt="we came to the WRONG neighborhood" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>we came to the WRONG neighborhood</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/20.png" alt="'i dont know nate maybe a hike in the middle of this ride is a bad idea-'" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>'i dont know nate maybe a hike in the middle of this ride is a bad idea-'</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/21.png" alt="nah, jk, it's a great idea" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nah, jk, it's a great idea</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It turned out to be beautiful. But I'm fairly certain I'm one of very few people who has ever completed that hike wearing sandals. If only because a lot of sheep roam the Beacons, and they leave behind a lot of shit. When wearing sandals, you really have to watch your step. But it was very worth it for the views at the top of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwlch_y_Ddwyallt">Bwlch y Ddwyallt</a>.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/22.png" alt="bwlch y ddwyallt (or did i just smash keys randomly on my keyboard?)" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bwlch y ddwyallt (or did i just smash keys randomly on my keyboard?)</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/23.png" alt="only bikes at the trailhead" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>only bikes at the trailhead</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/25.png" alt="brought to u by bedrock sandals, loljk we dont have sponsors" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>brought to u by bedrock sandals, loljk we dont have sponsors</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So we completed our surprise hike, saw some waterfalls, chatted with some folks near the top, took a picture, and then climbed back down. All in all, the surprise hike took up just one hour of our time.</p>
<p>The trailhead was located on a paved road that seems to be the only way over the peak of the pass (seems like the railroad used to use a tunnel that has been abandoned for decades), but we only ended up riding on pavement for a mile or so before we found a windy gravel route that seemed to roughly parallel the paved downhill route. So of course we took a risk and rode the gravel trail. It turned out to be brilliant, with some really cool views of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_(landform)">burns</a> with tiny waterfalls and bright red rock formations.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/26.png" alt="ANOTHER dam" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ANOTHER dam</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We crossed another neat stone dam, then wound up on yet another rail trail. We sped downhill with hope in our hearts and plenty of energy for whatever challenges might pop up next.</p>
<p>We were not entirely mentally prepared for what, for the number of times it appears on road signs in Wales, seems to be the unofficial state motto: gwyriad. AKA <em>diversion</em>. Or for you Americans out there, <em>detour</em>. For the rest of the ride to Cardiff, I'm pretty sure we rode nothing but diversions. There was some kind of massive bridge construction taking place in the next town, with a deeply convoluted path to a pedestrian bridge that only cost us 30 minutes of stress. Special thanks to the shirtless man drinking a beer in his front yard who provided surprisingly comprehensive and completely correct instructions to get to the rail trail from a section of town where the diversion just... ended. And what was the town called? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pant,_Merthyr_Tydfil">Pant</a>. It was really pants.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/27.png" alt="pants" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>pants</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/28.png" alt="gwyriad" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>gwyriad</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/30.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/30.png" alt="unofficial motto of wales" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>unofficial motto of wales</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Slowly but surely, we made our way through a combination of diversions and functional rail trail bits all the way to Cardiff. My favorite section of the trail featured 25% grades, an unmarked intersection, and not one, but two heavily graffitied tunnels under a motorway that, naturally, only had steps. Fortunately, we were only aggressively passed by a couple of dirt bikes on the trail.</p>
<p>Once we made it to the outskirts of Cardiff, the city's infrastructure kicked in and bicycle travel was really easy. Just kidding; we got even more confused. Special points to the bike paths that go through the middle of a cloverleaf motorway interchange in Pantmawr; while I'm fairly certain it technically counts as bicycle infrastructure, because we were able to get through it, I also suspect it's the first infrastructure I've ever seen that qualifies as <em>both</em> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malicious_compliance">malicious compliance</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_architecture">hostile architecture</a>.</p>
<p>Anyway, we finally made our way into Cardiff a bit before sunset, and managed to find an absolutely amazing place for dinner: <a href="https://matsudai.co.uk/pages/ramenshopcdf">Matsudai Ramen</a>. Absolutely perfect ramen and karage chicken. We bopped around town, checked out the castle, walked around in the park, got immediately very bored with the soulless mall-like downtown, and eventually ended the evening in a very cute wine bar called Nighthawks with some very cute art of the silly gargoyles on the nearby castle. But one afternoon in Cardiff was enough; we shortened our hotel stay to a single night, and decided to spend more time in Bristol, instead.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/29.png" alt="ramen and chicken in cardiff" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ramen and chicken in cardiff</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/31.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/31.png" alt="silly gargoyles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>silly gargoyles</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/32.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/32.png" alt="castles are also kind of silly" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>castles are also kind of silly</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our travel to Bristol started off strong, with a visit to <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/TxbaNvbmWqyig3oZ9">Sparrow Coffee House</a>. Unfortunately there wasn't a decent place to lock up our bikes, but the employees were very accomodating of our desire to sit right at the window, by the door, with eyes on our locked-together bicycles at all times. The coffee was excellent and the pastries were both fresh and well-made. A fine coffee shop.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the "bike route" we followed out of Cardiff was a truly pathetic example of failed urban infrastructure. We fought our way over broken sidewalks, through gutter "bike lanes" full of trash, onto sharrows on the side of 4-lane highways, and past many, many fast food drive thrus full of hungry, distracted people with poor visibility. Eventually, the horrors petered out into sidewalkless business parks and we made it to the heavily irrigated flatlands surrounding Newport, which a placard informed us are actually extremely interesting and known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldicot_and_Wentloog_Levels">Gwent Levels</a>.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/33.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/33.png" alt="central ny or wales? you decide" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>central ny or wales? you decide</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/34.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/34.png" alt="who designs this shit" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>who designs this shit</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the flatlands, the bike route got a little safer, but somehow less interesting. We passed through a few sad, publess towns, and past a lot of farmland and farmhouses that looked suspiciously similar to the poorly tended rural landscapes of Central NY. It's all very flat, very rural, and very full of ditches, which distribute water collected in 2000-year-old "reens" built by Roman military engineers. Much like Central NY, the placards and wikipedia entries are much more interesting than the experience.</p>
<p>But we didn't stay in the flatlands forever. Between Cardiff and Bristol lies two distinct obstacles: the city of Newport and the very large estuary of the River Severn. The city of Newport turned out to be a brutal obstacle, forcing us to reroute against traffic on a nonexistent sidewalk along a very busy road to cross the River Usk over an alternate bridge because the bridge on the route is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Transporter_Bridge">kind of crazy</a> and we honestly couldn't tell if it was operational. Fortunately, the alternate bridge had an adequate bicycle lane and we managed to cross the river.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/35.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/35.png" alt="a very interesting, very confusing 'bridge'" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a very interesting, very confusing 'bridge'</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/36.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/36.png" alt="an entirely adequate sidewalk that did not at all suck when we diverted from said bridge" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>an entirely adequate sidewalk that did not at all suck when we diverted from said bridge</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/37.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/37.png" alt="small bridge has a bike lane, 9/10" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>small bridge has a bike lane, 9/10</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So we eventually made it through Newport, passed through more flatlands on the way to Caldicot, passed through even more flatlands on the way to Hardwick, and made mincemeat of the supposedly fiercer obstacle thanks to the help of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Bridge">Wye and Severn Bridges</a>. It was both the best and only 3 miles of bridge walkway bike riding I have ever done. The view was truly spectacular. And of course it was deeply pleasing to find a giant bridge that connects two countries that <em>has a large and entirely adequate bicycle and pedestrian lane</em>. The Queensboro Bridge in NYC should be ashamed of itself.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/38.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/38.png" alt="massive bridges deserve massive bike lanes, 10/10" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>massive bridges deserve massive bike lanes, 10/10</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We entered England via the bridge and were immediately trapped in Aust. I'm not even kidding: the only way into and out of the town was motorway. The road (and the rest of bicycle route 4) south of town was completely closed for a construction project. So Meg and I stopped at a pub in Aust to figure things out. But only after we crossed 4 lanes of incredibly fast, incredibly loud, incredibly scary highway traffic a few times trying to figure out just how on earth to get out of the area.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/40.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/40.png" alt="purgatory has good pie" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>purgatory has good pie</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So we stopped for a pint and a pie, to figure things out. And we couldn't. We kept looking around on our maps, trying to find an alternate path. But nothing worked, and everything that did eventually led back to the same closed bicycle route and road. As far as I can tell, Aust is either purgatory or somehow linked to the Bermuda Triangle. We followed detour signs, and they seemed to just lead in a goddamned circle. We tried a tiny side road, but it ended in a locked gate by an entirely different motorway. We headed back into town, prepared to buy a house and settle down in Aust for good, because there was no way we were heading back to Wales. And that's when Meg saw it: an alternate pedestrian route using right-of-ways through fields. Clearly not exactly what we wanted, but we didn't have much choice. So we set out into the fields.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/39.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/39.png" alt="if u build the detour we will come" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>if u build the detour we will come</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/41.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/41.png" alt="seriously who builds this shit" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>seriously who builds this shit</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/42.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/42.png" alt="proof that i am slightly smarter than a cow" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>proof that i am slightly smarter than a cow</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pedestrian route started tame enough, with a pleasant walk on a canal path or sorts alongside a drainage ditch. Then, we managed to take a wrong turn, continuing down the canal path until it dead ended. And we realized that the actual route, indicated on the map back in the town center, walked us right through a ton of tall grass in a giant cow pie-strewn field, on a footpath that only arguably existed. So we did that. Through close to a dozen fields. Past the cow pies, into the tall grass, through the spiky weeds, over many a blackberry-thorn-surrounded-cattle gate (that were usually the circular kind, too small for the bikes, even without our bags, so I got a serious upper body workout). Sometimes there were bridges. We occasionally met some cows (thankfully no bulls). And then, after at least an hour of bushwhacking, we popped out a cattle gate right into a churchyard. Thankfully the churchyard gate was unlocked, so we ate a celebratory digestive and hopped back on the bikes for the final stretch to Bristol.</p>
<p>The rest of the ride to Bristol was quite nice. We found ourselves on a mixture of brand new cycleways, very quiet backroads, and several cycleways that <em>used</em> to be roads but were now entirely closed to car traffic. We passed a motorway and what looked like an Amazon warehouse, hopped on a bike lane on a somewhat busy (but slow moving) urban road, and wham, we found ourselves in Durdham and Clifton Downs, suddenly in the walkable core of Bristol. Since the Downs are at the top of one of the largest hills in the city, we enjoyed a speedy and scenic downhill ride into the city centre and stumbled upon the brand new and very impressive <a href="https://www.banhwagon.co.uk/">Bahn Wagon</a> eatery for a quick bite. Once we took a second to adjust to being in a city (instead of surrounded by cows in a field with no people in sight), we dropped the bikes off at a hotel and started exploring the city.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_14/43.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_14/43.png" alt="a hint of upcoming bristol exploration" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a hint of upcoming bristol exploration</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thanks for reading! Tune in next time to find out our favorite parts of Bristol, our ride to Bath, and the thrilling conclusion to our journey in London.</p>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 7 <a href="/blog/2023/08/17/gb-bike-tour-7/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 5 here. In this post, we'll travel from some tiny horses we met in Wales all the way back into England, to Bristol. We found the bicycle infrastructure between Cardiff and Bristol... wanting, though we were pleased to discover a very large bicycle path on a very large bridge. More on that later.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 5 (Manchester to Tiny Horses)2023-08-12T21:14:22+00:002023-08-12T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/12/gb-bike-tour-5<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 4 <a href="/blog/2023/08/08/gb-bike-tour-4/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, we'll travel from Manchester, England to some tiny horses we met in Wales. We took a bit of a shortcut from Manchester to Wales, but all is fair in love and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroad">stroads</a>.</p>
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<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/3.png" alt="you're only officially old if you no longer have fun with puddles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>you're only officially old if you no longer have fun with puddles</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our next chapter begins in Manchester. We arrived here after a harrowing morning on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Canal">Rochdale Canal</a>, where we only narrowly escaped the dastardly clutches of Canadian Geese (how do they get to the UK, anyway?). But, never fear: we quickly checked into our hotel room, ditched the bikes, and set to exploring Manchester.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/1.png" alt="a nice place for a nice beer" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a nice place for a nice beer</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/2.png" alt="another nice place for another nice beer" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>another nice place for another nice beer</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manchester was a fun time. I'm not really sure how to blog about walking around a major city, since things happen in much less time, mud, and sweat than they do in the countryside. So I'll be kind of lazy about it and just list a few of our favorite stops:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://craftbeer.my.canva.site/pelicannq">Pelican Beer Bar</a> had a nice chill atmosphere with a few too many Edison bulbs. Their excellent draft list brought us back a second time.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.northstardeli.com/cafe-home/">North Star Piccadilly</a> is a generic hip city coffee shop, but one that made an A+ sourdough waffle and a couple of great coffee drinks. A very welcome change from the parade of mediocre coffees we'd endured for the previous couple of days.</li>
<li>The wine at <a href="https://www.kerb.wine/">KERB</a> was nothing short of excellent. The olives were exactly the light, delicious snack we needed to recharge on our rest day. And the servers were some of the friendliest people we met the entire trip. I wish I could go back here without flying all the way to England!</li>
</ul>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/4.png" alt="they specialise in pie" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>they specialise in pie</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A special shoutout to <a href="https://blacksheepcoffee.vmos.io">Black Sheep Coffee</a>, who have apparently replaced their entire ordering experience (and the baristas who rang you up) with tablets. Super efficient, except for the fact that the (presumably understaffed) baristas have to make everyone's food and drink AND help people order on the tablets because the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sale">POS</a> is, well, a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/piece_of_shit#English">POS</a>. So do yourself a favor and, if you ever consider going to a Black Sheep Coffee... <a href="https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/badblood.html">just don't</a>.</p>
<p>Anyway, we wined and dined and pied our way around Manchester for a day. The next day, we got up bright and early to continue our bicycle journey. Unlike the brutally small elevators in Edinburgh and Glasgow, this one was large enough for both of the bikes (and both of us) to ride down at the same time.</p>
<p>Our ride into Manchester helped make a tough decision: we did not feel like bicycling out of Manchester. Riding into the city wasn't great. But crawling back out for a full day through dozens of miles of sprawling suburbs, fighting our way through stroads and parking lots to find a non-chain place for dinner, then scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a mediocre place to camp in one day's biking distance of the city? Not our cup of tea. And there was a very hilly section devoid of decent pubs and campsites immediately after that. So we made the judgment call to fast-forward to the best part of Wales with the help of a train.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/5.png" alt="outside picadilly station in manchester" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>outside picadilly station in manchester</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The train journey was surprisingly good. Manchester Picadilly station was just a couple of blocks from our hotel room, and had plenty of space for the bikes while we waited for our train. The ride was less than 4 hours total, with just one transfer in Shrewsbury. Totally adequate facilities to park our bikes in the bike storage; I didn't even have to remove one of my panniers! The whole journey went smoothly, except for a couple weird interactions with characters aboard the train. But that mostly just gave us something to laugh about afterward.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/6.png" alt="bikes cosily sorted onto the train" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bikes cosily sorted onto the train</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately, the train reservation system in the UK is far from a perfect one, for a couple of reasons. For one, you have to call on the phone to make the reservation. There is no way to make the reservation at the same time as your book your ticket unless you book it all on the phone, a painful, lengthy and arduous process (when was the last time you read your credit card information out loud to someone?). But the bigger problem... is that nobody polices the bicycle storage section. Sometimes it's shared with handicap and large luggage storage. But there's one big problem: if you show up with a bike reservation, you have to put your bike <em>somewhere</em>. Immediately. And if anyone else decides to use the bike storage, whether or not they have a right to it, there's very little you can do about it, encumbered by a train and your luggage, with other passengers squeezing by you and mumbling obscenities under their breath at you.</p>
<p>Fortunately that wouldn't be a problem this time (stay tuned for more on that). We made it to Machynlleth (Mack-in-leth, roughly), Wales, at the correct time, all in one piece, without any mumbled obscenities. Then we hopped right on the bikes and headed over to lunch. And what a lunch! I can honestly say that I expected very little from <em>Y Llew Coch - Mach</em> (The Red Lion Machynlleth Town). Meg and I just wanted a pint and maybe a snack before we picked up supplies and headed over to our campsite. But the owner turned out to be super friendly and the food was absolutely fantastic. The best stir fry and katsu I've ever had in the UK.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/7.png" alt="lunch" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>lunch</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the Red Lion, we headed over to the local co-op for snacks, cheese, and other supplies, narrowly missing their insane 4PM Sunday closing time. We filled all available gaps in our bags with snacks, then took a very scenic road over to our campsite. Meg and I both appreciated seeing a golf course where the sheep pitch in to trim the grass.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/8.png" alt="gainfully employed sheep" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>gainfully employed sheep</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We then rested and relaxed for the rest of the day at my absolute favorite campsite of the entire trip: <a href="https://www.stayatllwyn.co.uk/">Llwyn Lodgings</a>. Beautiful views, only one other camper (who we had a great conversation with), and some of the nicest bathroom facilities of the entire journey. No marked campsites, with no access for vehicles, keeping out the loud partying camping crowd. Plenty of outlets to charge your phone and battery banks from. A spacious and clean sink to wash items in. A nice big gazebo to prep your food and relax in. I would very much like to return to try the local bakery's sourdough pizza, which they make on only the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. It's always satisfying to find such a nice place on a bike tour, but it's even better when it's better priced than most campsites! To make matters even better, we had blue skies and a very comfortable temperature for most of the day. It wasn't until the sun set that the rain started.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/9.png" alt="the best campsite of the entire trip" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the best campsite of the entire trip</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We woke up the next morning to find slugs. And water. And more slugs. And more water. Meg was not enthused. But I was feeling sprightly, so I packed up the tent and our sleeping gear, only barely convincing Meg to get out before I rolled the tent up.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/10.png" alt="slugs on slugs on slugs" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>slugs on slugs on slugs</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first 10 miles were brutally uphill. And the rain was absolutely pouring down on us. But the road was quiet, and the views were good, and our rain jackets held up perfectly. We looked like dorks, and we didn't go fast. But it was brilliant.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/11.png" alt="views" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>views</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/12.png" alt="climbs" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>climbs</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/13.png" alt="dorks" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>dorks</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And before we knew it, we were over the mountain pass, heading downhill. We stopped to take pictures at a scenic spot, and saw our first bikepacker of the trip (probably doing the GB Divide Grand Depart, which started around the same time we did). As I've come to expect from the hardo bikepacker crowd, they didn't have time (or energy) to say hello, wave, or acknowledge us in any way. But that's OK, I prefer bicycle tourers anyway. On the bright side, the rain let up.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/14.png" alt="only bikepackers would pass up this sick view and a chance to chat over a snack" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>only bikepackers would pass up this sick view and a chance to chat over a snack</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The day slipped by in a blur of cute tiny stone towns, rolling hills, giant trees, gianter hills, green, brief rain showers, and gorgeous mountain views. I kept taking my rain jacket on and off, oscillating between "too hot" and "that cloud looks awfully dark". We met a couple of groups of cycle tourers going the opposite direction, and stopped for a nice chat with both groups. I wished good luck to the group who planned on going all the way up to Bangor: they had a lot of steep riding through Snowdonia before they reached their destination. We stopped every once in a while for snacks to keep ourselves going; trailheads provided an abundant source of beautiful views, picnic tables, bathroom facilities, and informational placards to keep us entertained.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/15.png" alt="ridin" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ridin</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/16.png" alt="eatin" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>eatin</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/17.png" alt="rockin" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rockin</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/18.png" alt="snackin" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>snackin</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before long, it was time for lunch. Or maybe brunch. We stopped at the <a href="https://thelostarc.co.uk/">Lost ARC</a> in Rhayader for coffee and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_rarebit">Welsh rarebit</a>. The bread and red onion marmalade jam were top tier. But I was disappointed to learn that the town of Rhayader has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Goose_(novella)">nothing to do</a> with my favorite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Goose_(album)">Camel album</a>.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/19.png" alt="a shortcut to mushrooms" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a shortcut to mushrooms</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/20.png" alt="probably better to eat this rarebit instead of those mushrooms tho" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>probably better to eat this rarebit instead of those mushrooms tho</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pub in town seemed a good spot to scope out camping and dinner opportunities, so we took the hit and ordered a pint. Fueled up with coffee, beer, and food, we continued along to Builth Wells. We finally hit the "offroad" bits the other cycle tourers had warned us about. They turned out to be brilliant fun.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/21.png" alt="meg was very excited about recycling" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg was very excited about recycling</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/22.png" alt="chasing sheep" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>chasing sheep</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/23.png" alt="fluffy tailed boi" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fluffy tailed boi</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/24.png" alt="fun mud and gates" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fun mud and gates</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/29.png" alt="many fluffy bois" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>many fluffy bois</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/30.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/30.png" alt="fluffy amidst the ferns" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fluffy amidst the ferns</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The landscape shifted from rocky mountains and grass to tall trees, enormous ferns, and raging rivers. And we started to see sheep with long, fluffy tails. We fought our way up a lot of uphill slopes, but were eventually rewarded with a speedy downhill ride into town.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/25.png" alt="the uk has some seriously huge slugs" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the uk has some seriously huge slugs</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/26.png" alt="sullied sully photoshoot" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>sullied sully photoshoot</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/27.png" alt="surprisingly clean mandarb photoshoot" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>surprisingly clean mandarb photoshoot</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/28.png" alt="obligatory phone booth shot. disclaimer: not actually england, but wales" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>obligatory phone booth shot. disclaimer: not actually england, but wales</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And then it turned out that we did a crappy job of scoping out dinner and camping spots over a pint.</p>
<p>Dinner was disappointing. Almost every restaurant in town was closed, so we ended up eating at a pub that looked like the evil offspring of a central NY diner and an Applebee's. The beer was bad, the decor was tasteless, and the service was slow. But the bartender was friendly enough and, once our food arrived, it turned out to be slightly above average. We'll write it off as a win.</p>
<p>The camping situation was sneakier. We chose a combined camping and glamping facility a little bit out of town. We showed up, found our campsite, and things seemed awesome. There were other bicycle tourers there! They had a lot of cute fairy lights up around the campsites so you could get up and walk around at night without a torch. The common area had games, plugs to charge at, bathrooms with free showers, toilets with water, an air hocket table, a kitchen, and apparently a pool. They even sold a few goods from local merchants, including a very cute handmade frog made from local wool that I snuck into my bag as a Meg gift at a later date.</p>
<p>We set up our tent, charged our devices, showered, ate some dinner, had a beer, and socialised with a very nice family traveling around the country on holiday. It was lovely. Then the sun went down, we washed up, and returned to our campsite. I read my book a bit, and finally started to get sleepy. And then the loudest, most obnoxious group of campers crawled back from whatever hellhole they spawned from. They started a fire (loudly). They let their dogs run all over the campsite, including right up to the edge of our tent. They dug wine and liquor bottles out of their tents. And they generally kept anyone else in the tent camping area from sleeping at all for the next 4 or 5 hours.</p>
<p>As someone who doesn't enjoy confrontation, particularly with drunk people, I put passive noise cancelling headphones in and tried to sleep. I think I slept a little. But eventually around 1AM some hero came by and asked them to quiet down, so they went to the common area to socialise instead. I think I managed another 30 minutes of sleep before they returned at 3AM to annoy us some more.</p>
<p>Lesson learned: quiet hours are very, very, very important. And even more important? Enforcement of quiet hours.</p>
<p>Around 7AM we woke up from our crappy night of sleep. We packed up and politely escaped from conversation with the Impolites, who seemed unhealthily interested in our marital status. We headed down into town for a crappy gas station 'cappucino' and a couple of <a href="https://www.food.com/recipe/scottish-baps-soft-morning-bread-rolls-302697">bap</a> sandwiches. Then we rode along a very large road that was thankfully pretty empty for a few miles. Being on such a busy road, we discovered a valuable way to increase our speed on the bikes: fear. There were a lot of hedges that somebody really ought to trim on the sides of the road. The landscape filled with more and more trees. We stopped in a boring touristy town with a really awful ice cream shop, and ended up getting ice cream anyway because... well, where else were we going to go for ice cream?</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/31.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/31.png" alt="muggy roads" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>muggy roads</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/32.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/32.png" alt="the best thing about the crappy town was this post box man" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the best thing about the crappy town was this post box man</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The humidity rose. Our spirits fell. The hills kept on going. We were really tired. We climbed a ginormous hill that took forever because we had no energy left, even with the ice cream fueling us. Hope was dwindling. We couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And then we found tiny horses! And honestly, tiny horses kinda make everything alright.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/33.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/33.png" alt="a glimmer of hope" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a glimmer of hope</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_12/34.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_12/34.png" alt="chillin wit da tiny horses" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>chillin wit da tiny horses</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thanks for reading! Tune in next time to find out about our journey south to Cardiff and our escape from Wales back to England.</p>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 6 <a href="/blog/2023/08/14/gb-bike-tour-6/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 4 here. In this post, we'll travel from Manchester, England to some tiny horses we met in Wales. We took a bit of a shortcut from Manchester to Wales, but all is fair in love and stroads.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 4 (A Way Through the Pennines)2023-08-08T21:14:22+00:002023-08-08T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/08/gb-bike-tour-4<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 3 <a href="/blog/2023/08/06/gb-bike-tour-3/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, we'll ramble around the countryside of England in the vague vicinity of Northumberland and the Yorkshire Dales. This leg of the journey begins at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_Tree">Sycamore Gap</a> in Hadrian's Wall and finishes in Manchester.</p>
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<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/7.png" alt="winding thru the small roads" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>winding thru the small roads</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our journey began with a speedy couple of miles downhill to the village of Haltwhistle, self-proclaimed "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_points_of_the_United_Kingdom">center of Britain</a>." Haltwhistle was a wonderful first stop of the day thanks to the excellent flat white, tea, and breakfast sandwiches at <a href="https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/23998036.brew-bar-haltwhistle-wins-mps-small-business-year-competition/">Brew Bar</a>. My only regret: it was still too early in the day to try their draft list!</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/1.png" alt="speedy downhill through a cute hamlet" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>speedy downhill through a cute hamlet</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/8.png" alt="sheep" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>sheep</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We departed Haltwhistle not by road, but by rail trail. Specifically, the <a href="https://www.northpennines.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/South-Tyne-Trail.pdf">South Tyne Trail</a>. There were an awful lot of livestock gates, but the grade was easy, the views were beautiful, and the trail was largely in decent shape. Sadly, you can no longer ride your bike over the very long, very high viaduct (without lugging your bike up a very rough hill, at least) because an old rail station at one end of the viaduct is now a private home, blocking the easiest graded access to the viaduct. This not only deprives bicyclists of a <a href="https://bikepacking.com/routes/gb-divide/">lovely view</a>, but also forces riders onto a series of steeply graded, narrow roads shared with cars. But hey, at least you get a nice view of the viaduct from the giant hill you're forced to climb.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/2.png" alt="cool bridges on the rail trail" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cool bridges on the rail trail</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/3.png" alt="the viaduct taunts us from afar" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the viaduct taunts us from afar</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/4.png" alt="meg loves a bridge covered in wildflowers" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg loves a bridge covered in wildflowers</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/5.png" alt="a gate under an old bridge above the railway. classic" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a gate under an old bridge above the railway. classic</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/6.png" alt="a very polite sign" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a very polite sign</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We continued down the rail trail, across old rail bridges and over many a sheep field, until we reached Alston, "England's highest market town". After a quick quiche at the local bakery and a quick pint at the local pub, we headed up a huge hill and found ourselves ascending <a href="https://www.visitcumbria.com/evnp/hartside-pass/">Hartside Pass</a>, which peaks at 1904 feet with sweeping views of the surrounding countryside and the distant Lake District. The road was long, somewhat busy, and windy, but there's something special about the feeling of climbing a massive pass.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/9.png" alt="stone walls: a convenient place to rest" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>stone walls: a convenient place to rest</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/10.png" alt="somehow our first highland cow spotting" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>somehow our first highland cow spotting</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the top of the pass, we met some other (exhausted looking, despite a much leaner kit of supplies) bicyclists. They were taking a much shorter (but still very lovely looking) route called the <a href="https://www.visitcumbria.com/sea-to-sea-cycle-route/">Sea to Summit</a>, and provided us with one of the first pictures of just Meg and myself from the entire trip! As usual, they were intrigued by our alt bars, our steel bikes, and the fact that I'm using a drivetrain that isn't exactly intended for touring. We had a lovely chat, snagged some pics of the views, and then headed down a long, relaxing, well-earned downhill.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/11.png" alt="nate and meg after a successful mountain pass ascent" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nate and meg after a successful mountain pass ascent</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we don't optimize for smooth downhills for long -- they get boring! Soon we switched onto a windy dirt road chock full of loose gravel and puddles not quite deep enough to swallow our bicycles. The Lake District towered in the distance, the only sun-draped mountains in an otherwise mundane, cloudy sprawl of farmland. The views had us strongly considering a spot reroute into the Lake District, but we had a more important immediate goal: finding a campsite. We ended up camping at a caravan park in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dufton">Dufton</a> a convenient 3 minute walk from <a href="https://thestagdufton.co.uk/">The Stag</a>, one of the finest local pubs I've ever had dinner at. Our mushroom pasta and chicken risotto were speedily prepared and absolutely delicious. We had a couple of post-dinner pints at the pub, then headed back to the campsite, where we started a tradition we would follow at many campsites for the rest of the trip: closing out the night drinking a pint and chatting with a stranger who just couldn't get over how cool bicycle touring is. We had such a nice time chatting that we were (lightly) chastised by another stranger that our conversation was too loud after dark!</p>
<p>We woke up early in the morning, thanks to the obnoxious population of local birds. We quickly packed up and headed to breakfast in the small town of Appleby-in-Westmorland. Unfortunately, we had the worst breakfast experience of my life at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/people/Eden-River-Cafe/100063623740988/">Eden River Cafe</a>, whose Facebook page I've linked because their official site appears to be full of viruses. The service was incredibly slow. They forgot our drinks, even though that was the <em>only thing we ordered</em> for the first 20 minutes in the shop. The fire alarm kept going off. The food was oversalted, yet tasteless. We somehow wasted more than an hour and an absurd amount of money for a couple of eggs, sausages, and some canned beans. But at least we got food and plenty of motivation to ride on for the day towards a better lunch.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/12.png" alt="meg is skeptical of high grades" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg is skeptical of high grades</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The morning was hot, humid, and stank of manure. Lots of ups and downs on tiny little country roads. A cute waterfall. Steep grades in both directions, But we eventually climbed our way out of the humid low country into a breeze. There, on the top of a plateau, surrounded by sheep and rocks, we enjoyed a much tastier second breakfast of granola bars. Then one of my rim brake pads fell off; fortunately, Meg has super vision and super hearing, so she heard it fall off and spotted it within a minute. We re-attached the pad, I thanked Meg for her incredible detective skills, and we continued on towards lunch.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/13.png" alt="this guy knows where the good breezes are at" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>this guy knows where the good breezes are at</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/14.png" alt="...and meg knows where the good granola bars are at" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>...and meg knows where the good granola bars are at</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our journey towards food took us down a gorgeous valley that has thankfully not been totally ruined by the nearby A683 motorway. We passed quaint little farms, said hi to plenty of sheep, zoomed our way down (and then back up) some well-designed roads, and generally had a lovely time. This area had some of the loveliest views of our whole trip: brilliant blue skies, rolling green not-quite-mountain hills, and a sun that was a little too warm at times.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/15.png" alt="nothing like a nice 1000-year-old restored building to stop at for a snack" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nothing like a nice 1000-year-old restored building to stop at for a snack</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/16.png" alt="a meg-approved pair of bridges" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a meg-approved pair of bridges</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/17.png" alt="seriously beautiful country" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>seriously beautiful country</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once we reached Sedbergh, we had lunch at the <a href="https://thedalesman.co.uk/">Dalesman Country Inn</a>. This place made one of the greatest hand pies Meg has ever eaten, and a great selection of pints.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/18.png" alt="a truly great hand pie" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a truly great hand pie</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We walked around the very cute town to find some post-lunch ice cream, then headed to the local co-op for snacks and supplies. A quick jaunt through the lovely boarding school grounds in the center of town wasn't enough to cool us down, so we made a quick stop at the River Rawthey to pour water over our heads.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/19.png" alt="a good day for ice cream" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a good day for ice cream</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/20.png" alt="nothing like sunburn in england" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nothing like sunburn in england</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After Sedbergh, the day got even hotter. So when we passed <a href="https://www.sedberghgolfclub.com/golf/tee-time-bookings">Sedbergh Golf Club</a>, we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a(nother) pint. The deck turned out to be a lovely place to cool down and prepare ourselves for the upcoming massive ascent.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/21.png" alt="a pint along the green" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a pint along the green</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next hill was big. But the views were beautiful. We climbed. We thought were were almost done.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/22.png" alt="then this guy said hello" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>then this guy said hello</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then we climbed some more. Eventually we reached Gastack Beck Waterfall, a very cool natural waterfall into a stone swimming hole, where we briefly stopped for another cooldown.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/24.png" alt="a very confused family at gastack beck waterfall" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a very confused family at gastack beck waterfall</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/23.png" alt="then i took this sick shot" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>then i took this sick shot</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And then we climbed some more. But eventually we reached the top, and the descent was nothing short of glorious. A long downhill later, we grabbed a surprisingly fancy, but reasonably-priced dinner at the <a href="https://martonarms.co.uk/">Marton Arms</a>, then set up camp at <a href="https://www.meadowfalls.co.uk/">Meadow Falls</a>, where we struck up conversation with a Timothy Dalton-lookalike bicycle touring enthusiast before bed. When James Bond recommends touring the Welsh Borders, you ought to do it.</p>
<p>We woke up to stormy skies, but I was strongly motivated by the day's breakfast option: <a href="https://www.seasonsbakery.co.uk/">Seasons Bakery</a>. They made a fantastic breakfast sandwich, and their coffee was exactly as adequate as I expected from a place that makes amazing bread. Their sausage rolls kept us going for most of the day!</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/25.png" alt="a stormy sausage roll-fueled morning" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a stormy sausage roll-fueled morning</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/26.png" alt="eventually it cleared up" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>eventually it cleared up</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It wasn't long before we found ourselves in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Dales_National_Park">Yorkshire Dales National Park</a>, which was beautiful but quite windy. Meg had a wonderful scone at <a href="https://www.3peakscycles.com/">3 Peaks Cycles</a> in Settle, but I was a little disappointed that the gearhead working the counter couldn't give me a dab of grease to fix up my brakes. Fortunately, I didn't need my brakes much on the massive 15% grade hill right out of town.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/27.png" alt="a contentious and ungreased second breakfast" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a contentious and ungreased second breakfast</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/28.png" alt="steep" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>steep</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was here that we noticed a change in driver behaviour: so far in our journey, cars really hadn't bothered us at all. But starting in Settle, we started to see too many cars, going too fast. But the roads weren't any bigger than before, so drivers started to feel entitled to pass us even when it wasn't 100% safe. And for some reason even the scenic spots were covered in trash. And the motorcyclists, instead of giving a friendly wave, started to heckle us and tell us to "get one of these" (I strongly considered repeating the same advice when we passed him going downhill 10 minutes later while he was stuck sweating in leathers in traffic). But, despite the rude drivers, we slowly wound our way across the hills to our destination for the day: Hepton Bridge.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/29.png" alt="but at least there were cows" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>but at least there were cows</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/30.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/30.png" alt="fueling with the aforementioned sausage rolls" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fueling with the aforementioned sausage rolls</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/31.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/31.png" alt="who designs this shit" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>who designs this shit</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/32.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/32.png" alt="nothing like a sharp cheese on some tortilla to keep you riding dozens of miles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nothing like a sharp cheese on some tortilla to keep you riding dozens of miles</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/33.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/33.png" alt="don't zoom in too close, or you'll see the trash" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>don't zoom in too close, or you'll see the trash</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I won't say much about Hepton Bridge. We went to a nice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chip_shop">chippy</a>. It was largely full of drunk young people. Riding our bikes into town felt a lot like the establishing shots of Tortuga in Pirates of the Caribbean. But we ended up finding a decent campsite at <a href="https://www.oldchambercamping.com/">Old Chamber Camping</a> just 500 feet of ascent on 20% graded cobblestone above town. The showers were adequate. The quiet hours were kinda sorta followed. The views were beautiful. The midges weren't too annoying. Our beer and digestives were even better. And the distance dulled the sounds of drunken revelry emanating from the valley below.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/34.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/34.png" alt="a fine view of tortuga" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a fine view of tortuga</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This leg of our journey wraps up with a bike ride down most of the length of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_Canal">Rochdale Canal</a> into downtown Manchester. There were a lot of cobblestones, locks, weird street crossings, odd diversions, trash, cider-drinking miscreants, geese, cramped bridges, canal boats, and confused pedestrian dog owners. We started in a cute rural valley, made our way through a series of small farming towns in rolling countryside, and eventually made it all the way into strip mall hell. And then we pushed our way through the wasteland into the centre of Manchester, which turned out to be clean, cute, and interesting.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_08/35.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_08/35.png" alt="i promise this is actually a bike path into manch" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>i promise this is actually a bike path into manch</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Thanks for reading! Join us next time to learn about our journey in Wales.</p>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 5 <a href="/blog/2023/08/12/gb-bike-tour-5/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 3 here. In this post, we'll ramble around the countryside of England in the vague vicinity of Northumberland and the Yorkshire Dales. This leg of the journey begins at Sycamore Gap in Hadrian's Wall and finishes in Manchester.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 3 (English Border to Hadrian's Wall)2023-08-07T21:14:22+00:002023-08-07T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/07/gb-bike-tour-3<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 2 <a href="/blog/2023/08/06/gb-bike-tour-2/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, I'll cover our journey from the English border to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall">Hadrian's Wall</a>. Did you think Hadrian's Wall was located <em>on</em> the border with England? You thought wrong! Enjoy a bunch of words and photos proving just how much land exists between those two things.</p>
<!-- readmore -->
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/22.png" alt="this image sums up the scottish border perfectly" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>this image sums up the scottish border perfectly</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/23.png" alt="...this image sums up our trip perfectly" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>...this image sums up our trip perfectly</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We resume our journey at the England-Scotland border: an unassuming field and a sign indicating the border from each direction along a quiet, narrow country lane. We stopped briefly for photos, and continued on our way toward <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kielder_Forest">Kielder Forest</a>. We initially thought we'd have to ride on the side of a large but completely empty rural road, but after stopping by a scenic view of the nearby reservoir, we discovered that the national cycle route actually follows a dirt path along the side of the water. Excited at the notion of escaping the (nonexistent) cars and seeing more of the reservoir, we quickly rerouted and followed the path.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/1.png" alt="many doors in kielder forest" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>many doors in kielder forest</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <em>Lakeside Way</em> turned out to be a very pleasant experience. It largely keeps its distance from the water, so it is by no means flat -- I was very surprised at how much time I spent in my lowest gear during this section of the ride. But the views were nice, there wasn't much foot or cycle traffic out, we seized an opportunity for a snack and a half pint along the way, and we overall had a very pleasant time. A few sections of the path, routed through old forest, made for particularly zoomy downhills. I only have one criticism: the signage, while quaint and artsy, is very poor for <em>actually routing yourself along the path</em>.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/2.png" alt="quaint but confusing signage" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>quaint but confusing signage</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We ended up at quite a few intersections where vague signage confused us, we stopped, debated, and then proceeded with our gut instinct; ultimately, we would have been better off without most of the signs.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/3.png" alt="how it actually looks to bike around england as nate" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>how it actually looks to bike around england as nate</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/4.png" alt="dam gurl" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>dam gurl</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/5.png" alt="podzol paths routing between the trees" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>podzol paths routing between the trees</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/6.png" alt="ghosts of tree harvests past" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ghosts of tree harvests past</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the reservoir, we took a brief but scenic ride over the dam, then routed onto a "closed" road. Knowing just how contextual that "closed" sign can be in the UK -- and having no option other than following the cycleway to the next town -- we proceeded along a very pleasant, barely maintained (but perfectly adequate for bikes) dirt path. I am happy to report that it was <em>not</em> closed at all, and we shortly found ourselves enjoying a coffee at <a href="https://www.falstonetearooms.com/">Falstone Tearooms</a>, a historic schoolhouse that has been wonderfully restored into a cute little cafe. I am also happy to report that we had a more pleasant experience than the students in the 1700s in this building, who looked downright grim in the informational photos along the wall.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/7.png" alt="no photo of the grim students, here's warm bulk eggs instead" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>no photo of the grim students, here's warm bulk eggs instead</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After Falstone, the cycleway took us through my favorite series of valleys and ridges yet. There was a lot of up and a lot of down, but the roads were built such that our downhill speed frequently zoomed us up (most of) the subsequent uphill.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/8.png" alt="meg v tractor: who will win?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg v tractor: who will win?</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/9.png" alt="note: not a unicorn" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>note: not a unicorn</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/10.png" alt="mr ed, is that you?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>mr ed, is that you?</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The day got sunnier and sunnier as we rode past many, many cows in the low valley.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/17.png" alt="cows and flowers in the low valley" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cows and flowers in the low valley</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, we made our way up a very steep, very long, very treeless, very sheep-filled hill. The breeze picked up, and refreshed us enough to push on.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/11.png" alt="step, long, treeless, sheep" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>step, long, treeless, sheep</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/12.png" alt="meg ft sheep and hill" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg ft sheep and hill</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/13.png" alt="nothing as satisfying as closing a gate" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nothing as satisfying as closing a gate</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/14.png" alt="green hills for days" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>green hills for days</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One memorable curve required us to navigate between a large number of cows who seemed especially interested in bicycles; I am happy to report that they were happy to observe us and did not request to ride the bicycles or otherwise interact with them directly.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/18.png" alt="meg rides among the cows" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg rides among the cows</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/19.png" alt="among the cows pt 2" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>among the cows pt 2</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/15.png" alt="footpaths through the trees" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>footpaths through the trees</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/16.png" alt="goopy snax" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>goopy snax</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We soon started passing a lot of significant stone walls. It was at this point that I realized that, despite reading a great deal about it in history books, I didn't actually know what Hadrian's Wall looks like beyond "ancient stone wall."</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/20.png" alt="happy despite the long uphill" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>happy despite the long uphill</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/21.png" alt="happy despite the looming long uphill" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>happy despite the looming long uphill</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/24.png" alt="meg, do you feel like we're being watched?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg, do you feel like we're being watched?</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/31.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/31.png" alt="i think we're being watched" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>i think we're being watched</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/25.png" alt="meg in front of not hadrian's wall" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg in front of not hadrian's wall</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I was soon distracted by a lovely stretch of gravel road on cycleway 68 that I could easily have mistaken for a Vermont Category 4 road. At moments like this, I felt very fortunate that our bicycles both sport 2" tires!</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/26.png" alt="grinding some chonky gravel" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>grinding some chonky gravel</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/28.png" alt="hills on the chonk" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>hills on the chonk</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/29.png" alt="suitable for unmotorized vehicles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>suitable for unmotorized vehicles</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/30.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/30.png" alt="probably taking another photo of not hardrian's wall" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>probably taking another photo of not hardrian's wall</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now at a pretty high altitude, and with considerably less up and downhill to deal with, we made our way past wall after wall. I took photos of several, thinking "if it <em>is</em> Hadrian's Wall, I don't want to <em>not</em> take a photo." But in the end, we passed one of the most scenic spots in the entire span of Hadrian's Wall, near Crag Lough and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Gap_Tree">Sycamore Gap</a> (note: this is now the Sycamore Gap <em>Stump</em>). It was beautiful and fortunately very obviously Hadrian's Wall.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/27.png" alt="obviously hardrians wall" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>obviously hardrians wall</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There were still a few hours left in the day, but we decided to stop at a convenient place to eat: <a href="https://www.twicebrewedinn.co.uk/">Twice Brewed</a>, which was awfully expensive but serviceable. We stopped just down the road at <a href="https://www.winshieldscampsite.co.uk/">Winshields</a> for camping, and I am happy to report that their field only had a few midges, the bathrooms were both clean and ample, and the kitchen could have saved us a lot of money if we wanted to feed ourselves.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/32.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/32.png" alt="bulking up among the campsite midges" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bulking up among the campsite midges</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/33.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/33.png" alt="crazy clouds at the campsite" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>crazy clouds at the campsite</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Naturally, I biked over to Twice Brewed while Meg set up the tent for some cans of quality beer. We enjoyed some beverages while a fellow from Bristol, a lady from Birmingham, and a lady from Amsterdam (who speaks 7 languages!) tried to convince us that carrying bags <em>on your back</em> somehow makes sense when God clearly made bicycles to save us from that kind of pain.</p>
<p>We chatted the last of the daylight away, and fell asleep on a clear, chilly night with a great view of the stars and a front-row seat to the local Sheep Baa Symphony. Our highly nutritious breakfast the next day was well-earned.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_07/34.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_07/34.png" alt="breakfast. for those of you who know about digestives, don't think about this too hard" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>breakfast. for those of you who know about digestives, don't think about this too hard</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 4 <a href="/blog/2023/08/08/gb-bike-tour-4/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 2 here. In this post, I'll cover our journey from the English border to Hadrian's Wall. Did you think Hadrian's Wall was located on the border with England? You thought wrong! Enjoy a bunch of words and photos proving just how much land exists between those two things.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 2 (Glasgow to England)2023-08-06T21:14:22+00:002023-08-06T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/06/gb-bike-tour-2<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 1 <a href="/blog/2023/08/02/gb-bike-tour-1/">here</a>.</p>
<p>In this post, I'll cover our journey from Glasgow, Scotland, to the English border across quite a few miles of breathtaking, sheep-filled Scotland countryside.</p>
<!-- readmore -->
<p>After the serious upper body workout of moving two fully loaded bicycles down 3 flights of stairs in our hotel, I was rewarded with a well-steamed flat white and a very filling (and unexpectably photogenic) breakfast burrito at <a href="https://www.spitfireespresso.com/">Spitfire Espresso</a>.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/0.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/0.png" alt="burrito" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>burrito</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After loading up with breakfast, we backtracked east on cycle route 75 out of the city centre, then turned south on cycle route 74 to start making our way up through the hills and high country into England. We cycled on, spurred by fantastic weather and increasingly lumpy landscapes.</p>
<p>We saw a weird building.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/pns.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/pns.png" alt="interpretation of this photo is left as an exercise for the reader" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>interpretation of this photo is left as an exercise for the reader</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We stumbled upon a very cute farmers market, and picked up a collection of savory pies (haggis, steak, curry chicken, and mushroom) to keep us fueled on the route.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/1.png" alt="farmer's market hand pies" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>farmer's market hand pies</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/2.png" alt="loading up our haul of pies" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>loading up our haul of pies</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We stopped for a pie break next to a very cool gazebo with a gorgeous view of a defunct rail bridge.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/3.png" alt="rail bridge, everybody pie" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rail bridge, everybody pie</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We debated stopping for milk at a fully automated milk dispenser... but decided we didn't know what we'd do with a giant, heavy glass bottle.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/4.png" alt="missed milk moment" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>missed milk moment</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We fueled up with calorie-dense necessities and snacks, since we decided not to bring our cooking equipment on this trip to save weight.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/5.png" alt="fuel" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fuel</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We (politely!) passed some horses on the cycle path.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/6.png" alt="rolling hills" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rolling hills</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/7.png" alt="can you count all of these sheeps" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>can you count all of these sheeps</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/8.png" alt="a crop, or a meadow? you be the judge" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a crop, or a meadow? you be the judge</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We creatively dealt with roadwork and diversions.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/9.png" alt="creativity..." loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>creativity...</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/10.png" alt="when faced with challenges" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>when faced with challenges</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We spotted a tiny horse.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/11.png" alt="lil sebastian" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>lil sebastian</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before long, we deviated from the cycle route toward Biggar, following <a href="https://bikepacking.com/routes/gb-divide/">Bikepacking.com's "Great British Divide"</a> route. This was our second, and perhaps most major mistake of the entire trip: trusting the creator of that route.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/12.png" alt="more sheep hills" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>more sheep hills</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/13.png" alt="climbing the sheep hills" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>climbing the sheep hills</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/14.png" alt="sheep mountains" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>sheep mountains</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meg enjoyed her first glass of cold <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennent_Caledonian">Tennents</a>. Unfortunately the tasty-looking Cross Keys Kitchen was shut down, but we ended up going to the Crown Inn instead. The classic pub fare of fish & chips and a katsu curry didn't disappoint.</p>
<p>The GB Divide started out fine, maybe better: after Biggar, we wound our way through the most beautiful valley yet, with sweeping views of rivers, sheep, mountains, sheep, hills, sheep, and sheep. There were next to no cars on the road, a small number of cute farmhouses, and hopes were high. But we soon turned down (or up?) a path that our bike computer called an "alley" but that I would generously call a "driveway to a random farmer's house." The path didn't really continue; instead, a meandering sheep path continued into a very overgrown sheep field whose 20% grades resembled the sides of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. On the plus side, it wasn't very muddy, so the only substance smeared on our sandaled feet was sheep poop. Better than <a href="/blog/2021/09/12/horse-trail-fairy-tale.html">horse poop</a>, in my experience.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/15.png" alt="driveway to a random farmer's house" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>driveway to a random farmer's house</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/16.png" alt="maybe a sheep path" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>maybe a sheep path</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/17.png" alt="not even a sheep path" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>not even a sheep path</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/18.png" alt="nice views" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nice views</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the minus side, the trail quickly petered out, and we found ourselves pushing our bikes uphill through tall grass, thorny weeds, and occasional stream crossings with only the general direction provided by the bike computer as a guide. All of that would have been fine, if not for the flies. The infernal flies. Have you ever had flies attempt to enter every orifice of your body simultaneously (mouth, eyes, ears, they're crafty creatures)? Have you ever so many flies cling to your bicycle helmet and every bead of sweat on your body that you could <em>feel their weight</em>? Have you ever had so many flies cling to your body that other flies were forced to circle your head like flights waiting to land at an overloaded airport runway? Me neither, because the experience was so miserable I've blocked out the trauma.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/19.png" alt="my god, it's full of flies" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>my god, it's full of flies</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the flies and bushwacking couldn't last forever. After what felt like years (but likely didn't last more than 20 minutes at our pace), we passed through a gate. To give you an idea of what happened to the flies, I'll point you to the end of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e22yxe2iyZM">the flying keys scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone</a>.</p>
<p>What awaited us on the other side of the gate? What used to be a forest.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/20.png" alt="what used to be a forest" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>what used to be a forest</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And was now... half a forest. Clearly something was amiss. With the sun slowly setting behind us, we descended through the gravel forestry roads only to discover, facing away from us, a series of signs warning passerby of the DANGER and IMMINENT DEATH and FALLING TREES that inevitably awaited anyone stupid enough to ignore the signs. Of course, there weren't any signs on the gate we passed through. Or perhaps we missed the signs while zooming downhill to lose the few flies that continued to cling to us after the gate. Anyway, we decided that we didn't want to wild camp in the IMMINENT DEATH zone, so we proceeded further downhill to find a wild camping site.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the route downhill led through some mud that I can only compare to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Fsyld7YD0">Fire Swamp quicksand from Princess Bride</a>. Exhausted, our GB Divide dreams in tatters, an even bigger climb through an even steeper sheep field first thing on our route in the morning, we decided to make camp on the side of the gravel forestry road. I am happy to report that there were just enough nonpoisonous plants to clean the muck and mud from my feet before bed (but not enough to clean the deep muck from Meg's riding shoes). It wasn't the sexiest campsite, but it was both legal and free.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/21.png" alt="a campsite that is not full of imminent death" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a campsite that is not full of imminent death</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We awoke from fitful sleep (for Meg -- I slept like a rock) early the next morning, anxious to reroute away from the dreaded GB divide "paths". Fortunately, before continuing straight up the side of a steep, unmarked, sheep-covered mountain, our path crossed a cycle route. That cycle route connected in just a few miles to a town named Peebles -- a town our friend Allison had already recommended as a cute mountain town worth stopping in if you get the chance. We'd had enough of offroading in Scotland, and had already been more than impressed by the cycle routes in the UK, so we decided to reroute to Peebles, grab breakfast, and do some more extensive rerouting to avoid the GB Divide's creative "shortcuts" through fly-infested sheep fields. After all, if you can't ride your bike on the shortcuts, what's the point? We loved the cycle routes already, and they weren't those boring shoulder-of-the-highway routes you're stuck with in most of the US: instead, these routes weaved their way through the centers of towns, over ancient bridges, along rail paths, gravel roads, 'dead roads' closed to cars, and occasionally through residential culs-de-sac. They were plenty interesting, very safe, and even had some offroad segments to keep things interesting.</p>
<p>Along the way to Peebles, the morning dew and a nearby stream provided perfect opportunities to clean (most of) the mud and metaphorical bad decisions off of our feet, shoes, sandals, and bicycles.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/22.png" alt="views of the logging operation we passed through last night" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>views of the logging operation we passed through last night</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/23.png" alt="BEWARE" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>BEWARE</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/24.png" alt="PNW vibes" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>PNW vibes</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/25.png" alt="there's a lot more cattle grids where this came from" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>there's a lot more cattle grids where this came from</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Along the way, we appreciated the mushrooms and wild rabbits of the moors.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/26.png" alt="mushroom appreciation post" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>mushroom appreciation post</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/27.png" alt="can you spot the monty python white rabbit?" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>can you spot the monty python white rabbit?</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And so, at a Costa Coffee in Peebles, we made the decision to route ourselves along traditional cycle routes, instead of the GB Divide.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/28.png" alt="pedestrian bridge to peebles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>pedestrian bridge to peebles</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>!!! BIKE RANT BEGIN !!!</strong></p>
<p>One last word I'd like to have on the GB Divide: it seems like a really cool route. For a mountain bike. Unfortunately, the GB Divide description on bikepacking.com says the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’ll want a setup that rolls well but can handle the rough stuff… an adventure/gravel bike with 700c x 40mm tyres would be ideal</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We can reassure you that most of the route is rideable but you will be pushing the bike from time to time</p>
</blockquote>
<p>40mm tires are not ideal; both of our setups use tires over 2" (51mm) and we felt underbiked on the offroad bits. I would also argue that a giant steep field with no proper marked path isn't close to "rideable" and barely qualifies as "pushing the bike". And one final word: two of the most attractive sections of the trail -- riding over the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambley_Viaduct">Lambley Viaduct</a> and riding over the <a href="https://bikepacking.com/plog/wayfarer-centenary-weekend/">Wayfarer's Traverse</a> aren't even rideable anymore. And the Viaduct hasn't been thru-rideable since 2004. So <a href="https://bikepacking.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/GB-Divide_Gruber_22.jpg">the title image</a> of the entire route is a lie, because Miles climbed up that viaduct for a photo, then back down to route around the closed viaduct.</p>
<p>We've done some intense routes and roads in Vermont, but there is a difference between "type 2 fun" riding on category 4 roads and singletrack and... cutting your way through unrideable countryside. Kudos to folks who enjoy the latter, but it seems we prefer the former. Fortunately, the UK's <a href="https://explore.osmaps.com/?lat=51.641136&lon=-2.923634&zoom=8.4445&style=Standard&type=2d&overlays=os-ncn-layer">National Cycle Network</a> is both ubiquitous and much better designed than the maligned US equivalent.</p>
<p><strong>!!! BIKE RANT OVER !!!</strong></p>
<p>From Peebles, we whizzed our way along a cycle route and rail trail to Interleithen, where we stopped at <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/rK1v2kqzMnG4bwak8">No1 Peebles Road</a> for coffee and (you guessed it) a breakfast burrito.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/29.png" alt="rail trail to interleithen passes straight through a golf course" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>rail trail to interleithen passes straight through a golf course</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The coffee (a perfectly executed flat white and a long black) was excellent; the breakfast burrito was even better. And it was made from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haggis">haggis</a>, inadvertently checking the box of "try local food staples." From Interleithen, we made the choice to deviate from the cycle route network on a (heavily bicycle trafficked) backroad through sheep fields. The result? A nicely paced, not-too-steep uphill incline with gorgeous views, a pleasant breeze, plenty of sheep, and opportunities to wash our feet and bicycles in a mountain stream.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/30.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/30.png" alt="stream washing" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>stream washing</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our day proceeded swimmingly. The backroads we routed along turned out to be beautiful and incredibly low traffic.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/31.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/31.png" alt="shrubby hills have colorado vibes" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>shrubby hills have colorado vibes</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/32.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/32.png" alt="tree farm" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>tree farm</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/33.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/33.png" alt="cresting our biggest ascent of the day" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cresting our biggest ascent of the day</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/34.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/34.png" alt="the view at the top of the hill" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the view at the top of the hill</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/35.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/35.png" alt="a reservoir" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a reservoir</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We continued routing along quiet back roads until we reached Hawick, a town I'm pretty sure <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425112/">hides a terrible secret</a>. It was very pretty, there were workers out literally masoning bricks onto pedestrian bridges as we rode through, and there were plenty of parks and businesses. But it was one of those unfortunate towns where every single business, without fail, kind of sucked. Nothing abysmally bad, just a lot of mediocrity. So many children in the park that it was a little stressful. But the museum in the park <em>did</em> have a nice bathroom, so it wasn't all a loss.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/36.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/36.png" alt="snacking and/or threatening children in the park" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>snacking and/or threatening children in the park</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After Hawick, we got a taste of some of the worst roads of our entire route. They weren't bad or especially dangerous, just a little faster and busier than we liked (which, I suppose, goes to show just how good most of the cycleways were on our route). Fortunately, we soon passed a farm absolutely <em>crawling</em> with hundreds of fresh outta the womb piglets, and all of the sins of the busy road were forgotten.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/37.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/37.png" alt="fresh out' da womb piglets" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fresh out' da womb piglets</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Soon we broke out of the trees and found ourselves yet again on an empty sheep road. A farmer (and his trusty dog) herded hundreds of sheep through the very same field we were passing through.</p>
<p>Eventually we made it to our campsite: a simple, but cheap and quiet caravan park. Next door, we found the <a href="https://www.horseandhoundbonchesterbridge.com/">Horse & Hound</a> pub, where we enjoyed steak & ale pie, a chickpea & sweet potato curry, finished off with a fantastic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_toffee_pudding">sticky toffee pudding</a>. With a bathroom nearby and conducive conditions for sleep, we both woke up rested and ready for another day of biking.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/38.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/38.png" alt="simple, cheap, effective campsite, 10/10" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>simple, cheap, effective campsite, 10/10</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next morning, we traveled up some steep (but quiet) roads through yet more stunning hills. At the top, a parking area (with special accommodation for camper vans) offered a nice opportunity for a snack break.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/39.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/39.png" alt="peak views" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>peak views</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the best part was the descent: at least 5 miles of long, rolling, relaxing downhill, and next to no traffic.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/40.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/40.png" alt="this, but for 5 miles" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>this, but for 5 miles</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the big descent, we wound through some more low (but treeless) valleys, one of which had a bit more traffic -- including a driver who seemed determined to kill <em>both</em> us and the oncoming motorcycle in the opposite lane. I guess they were in a hurry. But the traffic quickly evaporated and we had a nice chat with a farmer and his very excited farmdog, who repeatedly jumped off the back of his ATV, flopped onto the ground, approached us, and then got scared and ran away. Sad that we didn't get to enjoy any pats, but at least Peg was a cute dog, and her owner was very intrigued by our bicycle tour.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/41.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/41.png" alt="the land of peg" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the land of peg</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then we entered a stand of trees, and when we emerged back into fields... we were in England! We were stunned to discover that even on a random backroad, England and Scotland have bothered to build substantial signs for photo ops.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/42.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/42.png" alt="ENG" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>ENG</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_06/43.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_06/43.png" alt="LAND" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>LAND</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tune in next time to find out what happens once we leave Scotland and enter Her Majesty's realm. Will we be imprisoned in the Tower of London? Will the surveillance state get us down? Will infrastructure continue to impress us? You'll have to read on to find out.</p>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 3 <a href="/blog/2023/08/07/gb-bike-tour-3/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. If you missed the previous post, you can find Part 1 here. In this post, I'll cover our journey from Glasgow, Scotland, to the English border across quite a few miles of breathtaking, sheep-filled Scotland countryside.Great Britain Bike Tour: Part 1 (Chittenango to Glasgow)2023-08-02T21:14:22+00:002023-08-02T21:14:22+00:00https://www.lambdalatitudinarians.org/blog/2023/08/02/gb-bike-tour-1<p>A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep.</p>
<p>In this post, I'll cover our journey from Syracuse, NY, where we boxed up our bikes and hopped on a plane, to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we unboxed our bikes and rode right out of the airport to our hotel, to Glasgow, Scotland, where an old friend saved us a lot of time and effort by showing us around the city.</p>
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<p>Our story begins on a brutally rainy Sunday. We drove through sheets of torrential rain to <a href="https://www.mellovelobicycles.com/">Mello Vello</a>, the excellent local bike shop in Syracuse. Our car ended up parked in a large (temporary) pond due to the intensity of the rain. We sprinted through the pouring rain, and the employees produced our prize: two massive bike boxes, just under the airline's limit for total bicycle checked "bag" size. Then we stalled for a solid half hour, wandering around the bike shop, buying some small items, praying for the rain to abate.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_box.jpg" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_box.jpg" alt="successful swearing, unloading, and loading" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>successful swearing, unloading, and loading</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately it did not. But after a lot of swearing and unloading and loading and wet cardboard and breaking down one box, we ended up with two bicycle boxes in the back of our Crosstrek. We headed home, and started the exciting process of disassembling the bikes and arranging the parts and 90% of our camping supplies, clothes and equipment into boxes below United's 70lb maximum weight limit. After lots of swearing and unloading and loading, we ended up with two loaded bike boxes vaguely likely to make it to the UK in the hold of a plane.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_boxing.jpg" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_boxing.jpg" alt="seems easy enough to put in a box..." loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>seems easy enough to put in a box...</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_boxed.jpg" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/gb01_bike_boxed.jpg" alt="harder to get to this point than it looks" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>harder to get to this point than it looks</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The next step: getting to the airport. Thanks to the (enormous) size of Melo Velo's boxes, we ended up using two cars to ferry the two of us along with two bicycle boxes to the airport. Special thanks to Meg's parents for volunteering to give us a ride! Despite a lot of worrying and finger-crossing on my part, the United front desk attendant coolly and calmly accepted our boxes for the (not entirely unreasonable) hefty sum of United's <em>old</em> bicycle box policy, which waives the oversize box fee, but still charges extra for luggage over 50lb. Fair is fair, we paid the troll toll and found our way to an airport bar to calm our nerves with a refreshing beverage. We eventually watched them load our bicycles into a tiny tiny United Express plane (there was also finger-crossing and worrying involved as we prayed the boxes would actually fit into the hold), then boarded ourselves in a timely fashion. What seemed like 5 minutes later, we descended to Washington DC's Dulles airport.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/1.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/1.png" alt="fingers crossed the boxes fit in the hold..." loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>fingers crossed the boxes fit in the hold...</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/2.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/2.png" alt="meg, nate, mandarb, and sully fully loaded on our flight" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>meg, nate, mandarb, and sully fully loaded on our flight</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dulles airport was more interesting than anticipated. First, we enjoyed the spacious and clean Concourse A. Then we rode the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_lounge">mobile lounge</a> to Concourse C. Unfortunately, Concourse C (and the other side of the same terminal, Concourse D) was a goddamned garbage fire. Narrow, tiny, claustrophobic aisles. Not nearly enough space for the passengers at each gate. Spooky, flickery, surprisingly dark 90s fluorescent lighting. A downright awful selection of food vendors. Fortunately, it was only a couple of hours before we escaped on our flight to Edinburgh, where we lucked out and got a whole 3 seat block to ourselves. Score!</p>
<p>One long international flight, a mediocre dinner, a decent movie, and a mediocre breakfast later, we emerged from our pressurized cocoon into Edinburgh airport. Customs was a surprisingly speedy ordeal, with a quick line and a fully computerized passport scan. Unfortunately, Meg didn't end up with a passport stamp, so her passport still appears naked. Sorry about that! Then we waited at the baggage carousel for our bicycle boxes.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/3.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/3.png" alt="our first taste of cool UK bridges" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>our first taste of cool UK bridges</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We assumed our bicycle boxes would take a long time to show up in the baggage pickup area; after all, they're overweight, oversized luggage. But I didn't bargain on the fact that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Cycliste_Internationale">Union Cycliste Internationale</a> 2023 World Championship was taking place in Glasgow just a couple of days after our arrival in Edinburgh. The two cities are only 60 miles apart, and EDI is the cheaper, more popular airport. So you can imagine my surprise when both our flight and the adjacent flight in baggage claim had a LOT of bicycle boxes and bags. Easily the most I've ever seen on a single flight -- imagine the ski baggage on a flight to Aspen in January. And of course most of those boxes and bags don't quite fit on the luggage carousel, so they all jammed up at the end of the carousel where it wraps around back to the staff-only portion of the airport. So I ended up playing the good samaritan, unloading dozens of bicycle boxes and bags trapped at the end of the carousel.</p>
<p>Eventually our boxes showed up, and we escorted (read: hideously dragged to the point of structural failure) our boxes to a forgotten corner of the departures section of the airport. There, we assembled the bikes and I monkeyed with my brakes for a good half hour until we were back to a semi-functional state. And then we were off on our brief 10 mile bike ride into Edinburgh.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/4.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/4.png" alt="some assembly required" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>some assembly required</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/5.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/5.png" alt="i didn't spend my childhood assembling lego sets for nothing" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>i didn't spend my childhood assembling lego sets for nothing</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ride started out a bit rough: we were both tired and somewhat sleepy, and not yet used to riding on the left-hand side of the road. So we walked our bikes out of the airport loop and across the first roundabout. But we quickly got the hang of the infrastructure and within a mile we were whizzing our way down the shared bicycle/pedestrian path along the side of the motorway. With our (relatively) new bicycle computer as a guide, we zoomed through <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cul-de-sac">culs-de-sac</a>, along bike paths, and sometimes down bike lanes until we reached Edinburgh city centre. We only got stuck at one point where the <a href="https://www.waterofleith.org.uk/walkway/">Water of Leith</a> path appears to turn into a pedestrian trail (via a long staircase, what a statement!) near the city centre. And in all fairness, we saw an even more confused French bicycle tourist at the same spot, so it's not a unique point of confusion.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/6.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/6.png" alt="bike & ped lane almost as big as the road!" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bike & ped lane almost as big as the road!</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Edinburgh city centre was a hell of a sight to behold. A massive castle, stadium, and an ancient cathedral loom over a sprawling park and meat-packed pedestrian strip with significant bus, bicycle, and tram traffic. Bicycle hipsters much cooler than us cruise around comfortably without a care in the world for the bicyclist's eternal nemesis: embedded tram tracks. We (nervously) tailed those hipsters until we turned down a side road to access our hotel. The hotel turned out to be located on an entirely pedestrianised road: for this, I award Edinburgh 17 UKpoints. (Stay tuned to find out which UK city earns the most UKpoints.)</p>
<p>Once we arrived at the hotel, it turned out that we had to wait 30 minutes to avoid paying the early checkin fee. Since we're miserly and enjoy adult beverages, we spent the £10 early checkin fee on a couple of pints at the hotel bar, and killed the 30 minutes staring at our bicycles -- which were parked in the lobby -- and strategising about where to walk for dinner.</p>
<p>Our room turned out to be quite snug, but very clean and well-finished. We especially appreciated Premier Inn's signature purple light bar on the bed's headboard, a feature we enjoyed in all but two of the hotel rooms we utilized during our trip. Once we got the bikes secured and a post-international-flight shower in, we set out across Edinburgh for the first city exploration of the trip.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/7.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/7.png" alt="the first and snuggest of our (small number of) UK hotel rooms" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>the first and snuggest of our (small number of) UK hotel rooms</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First stop: the castle! Edinburgh castle is... well, it's a castle. Meg's first real castle (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boldt_Castle">Boldt Castle</a> doesn't count). We walked around. Lots of people asked us to attend their free comedy shows, thanks to the soon-to-begin <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Festival_Fringe">Fringe Festival</a>.</p>
<p>There were a lot of food carts; we should have stopped at one. We walked around some more. Took lots of pictures of old buildings, cute pedestrianised spaces, and even older buildings. Cobblestone streets. Pedestrian plazas. Pedestrian bridges. Oversized, ancient trees. Cute stone buildings. Lots and lots of tourist trap businesses.</p>
<p>It wasn't long before we got hungry enough to steer toward the first pub of the trip: <a href="https://www.cloistersbar.com/">Cloisters Bar</a>. We began our food & drink journey with a cider, a cask pour, and Mediterranean loaded fries. When those proved worthwhile, we decided to sample the UK staples of bangers & mash and fish & chips, along with some 'high risk, high reward' pints. We also realised that the kitchen is in the <em>basement</em> and sends food orders up using a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbwaiter">dumbwaiter</a>. I give serious props to Cloisters Bar for creative reuse of a historic building, great food, chill atmosphere, and a smashing tap list.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/8.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/8.png" alt="cathedral" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cathedral</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/9.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/9.png" alt="bangers & mash & fish & chips & pint & pint" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bangers & mash & fish & chips & pint & pint</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/10.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/10.png" alt="living clock" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>living clock</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/11.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/11.png" alt="hilltop stadium" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>hilltop stadium</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/12.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/12.png" alt="castle" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>castle</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After Cloisters Bar, we were ready for a walk around town. So we walked back through the castle, observed a remarkable volume of buses carting across town (the purpose of dozens of empty buses remains a mystery; this phenomena attracts study from bus experts across the world), checked out some of the parks -- and pristine park bathrooms -- and eventually made our way to another very local-looking pub. Unfortunately our travel fatigue had finally caught up with us and the combination of revelry sounds emanating from within and opaque Scottish accents spooked us from trying out <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/P974vsnTSwBRA1x56">Kay's Bar</a>. I'm sure it's an excellent little spot, so please send me a review the next time you're in Edinburgh so we can vicariously experience this missed opportunity.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/13.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/13.png" alt="dog with a twin in san diego" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>dog with a twin in san diego</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After striking out at Kay's Bar, we wandered around the aptly-named Comely Bank neighbourhood and promptly gravitated to one of the cutest wine bars I've ever visited: <a href="https://www.goodbrotherswine.com/">Good Brothers Wine Cellars</a>. I enjoyed the juiciest, tastiest Pinot Noir I've ever had, and Meg sampled their collection of European Reislings (conclusion: <em>nearly</em> as refreshing as the finest the Finger Lakes has to offer, and quite affordable in the UK). Their cheese (a central European Manchego) did not disappoint, either. After some tasty wine, we were ready to turn in for the night, so we headed back to our hotel.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to rest for long before the fire alarm went off in the building and we were forced to evacuate. Since the alarm didn't seem likely to turn off any time soon, we headed to the nearest pub, and made our first major mistake of the trip: stepping inside the vile tourist trap that is <a href="https://www.elementedinburgh.co.uk/menus/">Element</a>. Let me summarise this repulsive institution with a few bullet points to keep things brief:</p>
<ul>
<li>TARTAN CHAIRS BECAUSE WE'RE IN SCOTLAND RIGHT?</li>
<li>dreadful tap list of the most sugary ciders, because tourists don't want to drink anything authentic</li>
<li>underpaid local artist singing exclusively American top 100 songs from the 90s to keep the Boomers happy</li>
<li>surprisingly competent staff</li>
<li>a functional bathroom</li>
</ul>
<p>I would award Element 2.5 out of 5 stars. The 1/2 star is entirely thanks to the underpaid local artist, who really did the best job he possibly could with his audience.</p>
<p>Almost one drink later (Inches cider isn't worth finishing), we headed back to the hotel to rest for the night. On our way, we spotted the lights from a musical performance up in the hilltop stadium -- a very impressive sight, projected onto the adjacent castle. But a different light show awaited us back in our hotel room: the <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13806064/boy-celebrates-birthday-premier-inn/">purple glow of our Premier headboard</a>.</p>
<p>We rose early the next morning, knowing we had almost 70 miles of biking between us and Glasgow. We took the <a href="https://www.waterofleith.org.uk/">Water of Leith</a> path back out of the city, a decision which unfortunately deprived us of a sample of the Edinburgh coffee scene, since the only coffee cart on the path was closed when we passed it. But the path was overall an excellent way to ride out of the city: no street crossings, a beautiful river and, for a stretch, a beautiful canal. There was even a (slightly sketchily narrow) section on an aqueduct.</p>
<p>But even in a country with decent bike infrastructure, maintenance happens, and we eventually reached a section of the path that was under construction. A quick reroute through a residential neighbourhood later, we were back on the path. We rode over bridges underneath viaducts, a number of pedestrian bridges -- some very very old, some new -- and a number of "dead roads" that have been demoted to mere bike paths as we slowly meandered our way from Scotland's East coast to the West coast.</p>
<p>My personal favourite section was quite close to the Glasgow-Edinburgh light rail, a nice stretch of very wide, well-paved bike path with sweeping views of cows, sheep, and some breathtaking lakes and cliffs. We picked up a couple of toasties in a small town about halfway between the cities, and enjoyed them on what used to be a sidewalk next to one of the aforementioned "dead roads". There were an <em>absurd</em> number of blackberries on the path, but we only tried a couple each because it's not usually a good idea to eat random plants on the side of the road in foreign countries.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/14.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/14.png" alt="cliffs" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cliffs</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/15.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/15.png" alt="bridge" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>bridge</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/16.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/16.png" alt="more bridge" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>more bridge</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/17.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/17.png" alt="train" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>train</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/18.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/18.png" alt="nice bike path" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>nice bike path</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/19.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/19.png" alt="a 'dead road'" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>a 'dead road'</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/20.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/20.png" alt="streets closed just for us" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>streets closed just for us</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As seems to be the usual case in the UK, the bike path made it very difficult to determine when we were "in Glasgow". We just kind of pedalled along the river, through trees and hedges, until at some point we popped out smack dab in the middle of the city centre. From there, our ride was incredibly easy, because the <a href="https://www.uci.org/">UCI</a> 2023 World Cup was happening the very next day, which shut down basically all streets in the city centre. We checked into our hotel (slightly more spacious than the last Premier Inn, but the elevator literally couldn't fit either of our bikes -- thank goodness we were only on the 2nd (American 3rd) floor!) and met up with our old friend Allison for a (couple of) pints and dinner.</p>
<p>The next day was a full day of exploring Glasgow. We began the day at Barras Market (unfortunately, we couldn't find any souvenirs light enough to haul over the next 800 miles of Great Britain bicycling) and enjoyed a (couple of) great coffees at <a href="https://usvthem.coffee/">Us V Them</a>. We checked out the UCI BMX competition from afar, then we headed over to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/outlier.gla/">OUTLIER</a> for <em>another</em> coffee and perhaps the best focaccia Meg has ever tasted (This focaccia earns Glasgow 9 UKpoints). As we got closer and closer to the road racing circuit in town, it became more and more obvious that half the patrons at every business were UCI World Cup competitors; if the matching lycra country uniforms weren't enough to tip us off, the giant piles of carbon road bikes outside of every establishment confirmed our suspicions.</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/21.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/21.png" alt="clocktower in glasgow" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>clocktower in glasgow</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/22.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/22.png" alt="peepin at the bmx world cup" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>peepin at the bmx world cup</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/23.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/23.png" alt="road races" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>road races</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/24.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/24.png" alt="cool pub" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>cool pub</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/25.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/25.png" alt="botanic garden" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>botanic garden</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/26.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/26.png" alt="old subway" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>old subway</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/27.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/27.png" alt="new subway" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>new subway</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rest of the day, we bopped around town. We watched some of the road race. We visited the local parks. We investigated a <a href="https://www.inndeep.com/">pub with very unique digs</a>. We walked along the river Clyde. We saw the botanic gardens. We ogled the <a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/glasgows-secret-train-stations-lost-subways-abandoned-spaces-88186">abandoned subway stations of Glasgow</a>. We rode the very cute, very short, very circular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Subway">Glasgow Subway</a> (the incredibly short, also circular traincar shape earns Glasgow an additional 6 UKpoints). And we even got to do a tiny bit of unloaded bicycle riding around the greater Glasgow area. Thanks for showing us around, Allison!</p>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/28.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/28.png" alt="city bike ride ft. allison" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>city bike ride ft. allison</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/reasonable-images/2023_08_02/29.png" target="_blank" class="nohover"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main/thumbnails/images/2023_08_02/29.png" alt="our only rainy bike ride in scotland" loading="lazy" /></a>
<figcaption>our only rainy bike ride in scotland</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In what seemed like the blink of an eye, we were back in our hotel, readying the bikes for our next great adventure: our bike ride to England. We loved our time in the two largest cities in Scotland (I'm not sure we ever fully adapted to the accents), but we both felt ready to ride our bikes many miles into the hills and pitch a tent on scenic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam">right to roam</a> land. Tune in next time to find out the ups and downs (and subsequent ups, downs, and ups, and downs -- Great Britain is <em>very</em> hilly) of our wildest segment of the trip.</p>
<p>When I get around to posting it, you can find Part 2 <a href="/blog/2023/08/06/gb-bike-tour-2/">here</a>.</p>Nathan Contino (ncontino[at]lambdalatitudinarians[dot]org)A month on our bicycles, unsupported, spanning the entire isle of Great Britain. Three countries. Five major cities. Tens of thousands of feet of incline. 800ish miles. Literally millions of sheep. In this post, I'll cover our journey from Syracuse, NY, where we boxed up our bikes and hopped on a plane, to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we unboxed our bikes and rode right out of the airport to our hotel, to Glasgow, Scotland, where an old friend saved us a lot of time and effort by showing us around the city.