Geoff Jones

Day 5 a whirlWINDY tour of Jersey on my 25,253 day.

What a wet and wild night that was, thank goodness it was only my bike outside. After a much better nights sleep, on a firmer bed I had a gorgeous scrambled egg breakfast and left The Village b&b to a windy but dry morning.

I freewheeled down the hill and biked to St Aubin to meet up with snowboarder Peter, my guide for the morning. When he arrived on a uber lightweight carbon bike, I knew I was in for a struggle especially when he started talking about 8min running miles 🙁 in ParkRuns

We shot off up the old railroad track to the lighthouse at Corbiere Point and met the full force of the huge westerly wind 🙁 It was really stunning scenery and I was glad of a breather :-). At the bottom of the hill Peter suggested a rough track around the hill although it meant carrying my heavyish bike up a flight of steps..

Once down at sea level again and along the bay we stopped at the Jersey Pearl shop for a much needed cream tea. 🙂

Then it was of again up a very steep hill appropriately named Mont du Vallette , after a rest at the top to admire the view and Peter”s old childhood haunts we biked on, a bit inland of the coast, to our next tea break at the Durrell Wildlife Park. Then it was time for Peter to do his domestic duties so he flew off. I continued at a more leisurely pace, even spotting my first red squirrel, around the island. It really is beautiful with well maintained roads and on the whole courteous drivers. With the ferry from Portsmouth it probably makes a decent long weekend trip from the UK.

Once in St Helier I make a quick recce of the seawater lido, looks promising for a dip! Instead of returning back to the b&b I started the circuit again this time dropping down to St. Brelade’s gorgeous sandy bay. However, The Crab Shack had closed for an afternoon nap so I discovered the Wayside Cafe for my crab salad instead.

Once back at the b&b I confidently started to book a ferry to St Malo for tomorrow. However, to continue a theme, no ferries run that way on Saturday 🙁 so it’s another night on Jersey for me! I’ve moved myself to a place in St Helier so I can use the lido etc.

A good day and it was great to have Peter, a local, to show me around. The Strava shows I did 44.7 miles and 2094 feet of climbing

My pictures of the day should be here on Dropbox:-

Trip Day 4 – Weymouth to St. Lawrence (Jersey). Life Day 25,252

A very grey & damp Jersey — A very grey; damp Jersey

After yesterdays faux pas of riding to Weymouth to find the ferry had moved to Poole. I escaped by taking the 7.23 train from Weymouth back to Poole, by the time the train arrived in Poole there were 15 bikes squeezed into our compartment!

Gmaps once again came up trumps to navigate the maze of cycleways from the station to the port in 15 minutes. I had a bit of a long wait for the ferry but chatted to a couple from CTC Nottingham on their flash bikes who are also touring around. The ferry itself was very efficient and we made the 150 mile crossing in just under 5 hours including stopping at Guernsey it clags along very smoothly at 40mph.

I had an awful night’s sleep at Seaspray, soft beds and sea sounds don’t suit me, the landlady was very helpful though, making me toast and coffee before I left. The triathletes were already bombing up and down the bay.

The weather in Jersey was pretty bad, overcast and drizzly. To get to The Village B&B it was uphill all the way to St Lawrence. The place itself is very organised but my poor bike has to stay outside 🙁 in the drizzle.

Tonight I met up with Peter at the neighbouring Saint Laurent pub which has only two beer taps, lager & ale! I met Peter from my luxury stay in Les Gets earlier in the year. Tomorrow he is taking me on a bit of a tour of the island on his bike.

Today’s exciting Strava shows 2.3 miles and 166 feet of climbing.

Day 3 Winchester to Weymouth – 25,251 days old and still pedalling

Oh boy what a glorious cock up today was 🙁 🙁

I arrived in Weymouth after 9 hours on the road to find no ferries have left here for over a year 🙁 They now run from Poole 🙁 🙁 where I was a few hours ago…….

The day started OK although starting of up a steepish narrow busy main road wasn’t ideal in fact once I found a spot to stop I decided to deviate from the route chosen by Strava to one created by GMaps which went very well picking up the old railway track around Poole, although it let me down grotesquely just after Winfrith Newburgh, where it decided a track across a field up onto a ridge was OK, it wasn’t 🙁 but it proved again The Galaxy is an OK mountain bike 🙂

Favourite spots of the day were the lovely village of Fordingbridge and of cause the cream tea in The New Forest. I enjoyed the converted railway track around Poole ending in The Costa at Upton which is where I should have dropped down to Poole Harbour. Plus of course my very reasonable Seaspray Guest House in Weymouth

Real problems with my gpx devices today with the ETREX20 deciding to close down half way, Strava app conking out and Memory Map failing too. However good old Moves came up trumps with th missing bits easily pulled out of Moves Export

Christopher came to the rescue by finding a train from Weymouth to Poole a quick 45min ride. So I’ve booked the 10.30 crossing to Jersey.

Todays Strava is in two parts here and here a total of 78.5 miles and 2,353 feet of climbing

Day2 Em’s Place to Winchester 25,250 days old

Phew what a scorcher as the tabloids used to say! with the temperature n the thirties, a bit like riding in South Africa / Cuba except for the traffic and awful state of the roads.

After a bad night’s sleep, the Turkish food did not agree with me leaving me with an urgent call to nature at 2.30am 🙁 I left with Em at 8am.

First stop was The Olive Tree cafe around the corner for some brekkie then it was a ride through the hilly capital with its disgusting road surfaces 🙁 except interestingly up millionaires row around Hampstead Heath. The ride through Richmond Park was gorgeous except for the obligatory hill 🙁

In Kingston I met up with Nigel & Margie friends from my Cavendish days in the 70’s for a drink and natter then I cycled past Pirbright and onto Farnham a town that has decided to gives its centre over to cars 🙁 After Farnham hill I entered open country for the first time where I was hoping to find a country pub to stay in. Alas it wasn’t to happen, the pubs not closed down were either full or didn’t do b&b.

Finally after 11 hours on the road I arrived in Winchester to find the hotels full 🙁 eventually I homed in on the Westgate Pub and its last available, expensive, room but at least the bike has slept in the pub overnight!

Strava made it 88.6 miles and 2415 feet of ascent, or though it seemed a lot more ascent than that! You can find it here