A bit of a long and exhausting day starting at 05.50 leaving home and finishing at 23.26 arriving at the Hostal Nirvana in Ponferrada with a side trip to Porto for lunch.
According to the Pedometer app I managed 8.5 miles and 28 stairs.
It all went very smoothly apart from losing my hat at Stansted Airport necessitating a quick trip to Decathlon in Porto to buy a replacement and a set of walking poles. Could have been worse as I thought I had put my bag in the ‘secure’ lockers at the airport, however on my return the door was wide open 🙁 but very fortunately, the bag was still intact. 😉
I met up with my new found walking pals in the airport OK although the other Geoff is struggling with his Achilles so will he walk or not?
The restaurant Colin recommended in Porto, A Grada, was excellent and I chatted to a couple, an Irish lady and Greek man who had met when they were tour operators ages ago, a holiday romance that lasted.
I managed to sleep in due to the room being in total darkness with the shutters closed, others were moaning about the AC not working but I was zonked out all night!
Tomorrow I jet off to start my third Camino. This time rather than on my own or with Sally, but with two other guys Colin and another Geoff. Should be interesting as I’ve never met or spoke to either of them before 🙂 plus Colin has done all the organisation! another first for me.
This is the route and planned stopping points:
A total of 160 miles and 20,000 feet of climbing! Maybe more suitable for Nick to run it 🙂 but at least there are buses and trains to take the strain for my old legs if need be.
2019 has got off to a slow start for me cycling wise 🙁 My mileage is currently way down from the 3013km at this point last year, in fact, it currently is only 1647 km plus I’m finding myself much slower up the hills which could be due to the additional 1.5kg I’ve accrued 🙁 since this last time last year.
So with the fine weather forecast and a northerly wind today to help me get to Harwich I decided to do a mini tour to Europe 🙂 Unfortunately I’ve come a bit underdressed without a proper jacket 🙁 so by the time I arrived at 8 pm it was getting a bit parky especially since boarding doesn’t start till 10 pm.
It’s also the first time the Genesis has been touring, today I left with it weighing in at 21 kg with all my baggage. The bike seems very stable with the Carradice bag although still getting problems changing the front derailleur although nothing that can’t be solved with a tug on the cable 🙂
Here is my Strava for the afternoon ride at 13.6 mph:-
Not sure where I will end up in the next few days but hoping to go down the coast to Calais or beyond with perhaps a quick train trip to Koblenz 🙂
I’m now the rather proud owner of my first Audax award one of only 819 folks in the UK 🙂 The award is given for completing at least a 200km Audax on twelve consecutive months hence its name “Randonneurs Round the Year” or RRtY.
A very welcome McDonalds in the pouring rain!
My first ride of my series was the Santa Special in December 2017 notable for my water bottle being totally frozen by the time I reached the start in Great Bromley! The first half was below freezing which then quickly changed to torrential rain for the second half 🙁 a pretty challenging 129 miles! Thanks Alex Nigel & others for the support.
Sunrise at Dullingham
The second ride in January was a DIY due to the dearth of events but with Marks words of encouragement & his excellent notes I was able to create and submit a 127 mile route starting from my front door 🙂 and where I could start at 6am. The first 40 miles was 3 degrees below freezing but then rose to a balmy 6 degrees 🙂 but a pleasant ride via Bury & March all the same.
By February I was getting fed up with the cold and so decided to experiment taking the bike on the train to South Spain and completing my first continental 200 Audax the blog post can be found here all done in positive temperatures 🙂
Felixstowe docks
In March I decided to do my first Permanent these are predefined routes, many from previous calendar events, which can be ridden at any time this removes the need to create your own route fortunately for me Nick Wilkinson has made several which pass within one mile of my house. The worse aspect is the tediousness of collecting receipts as prove of passage whereas on DIY’s you just submit the completed gps file. I chose The Shipping Lanes one which involved getting to the mouth of The Orwell & back. A lovely route apart from the shocking road condition and below freezing for the first few miles!
Sally’s Pork Pie
In April Sally joined me on The Georgian event which unfortunately I DNF’d due to getting a puncture in atrocious wet & cold conditions. However, we salvaged the situation by doing another one of Nick’s Permanents The Infamous Pork Pie with its over 5,000 feet of climbing which also enabled Sally to see her brother in Oundle.
Sally enjoying the half way point
May saw me doing a cheeky 200km DIY as a one way run, downhill with a tail wind from my sons house in Buxton plus later in the month we managed The Grand Tour de Stour Event a bit wet to begin with but later a lovely sunny & windy day.
In June I decided to be bold and do my first 300km event another Nick Permanent the Cambridge East Anglia Tour it turned into a very enjoyable ride and amazing how much ground you cover in 200 miles taking in Ipswich, Norwich, Downham and the dull bit around Chatteris. Somewhat spoilt by having to collect so many receipts 🙁
Sally of roading
July we did the 5 Counties Ride organised by Sally’s friends which we converted into a DIY Audax a tremendously hot day, at one point the Wahoo recorded 40 degrees which really took it out of me especially with the of road sections.
The Woburn Deer
August saw me doing another one of Nicks Permanents this time the delightful 4 Counties 200 Km taking me over to the West through Woburn Park and even a pleasant bit through Milton Keynes what really made the day though was having an Easterly pushing me out and then conveniently turning into a Westerly to bring me home! Later in the month with Sally, I did my second 300 The Mildenhall Festival which I found tiring although quite delightful in the dark from Swaffham.
On the first day of September Sally and I did the Chris Negus Memorial 200+ taking the train to Audley End and starting in Wendens Ambo another very hilly and convoluted route neither of which enamour me 🙁 especially since it came in at 230km.
Mallorcan Sun Rise
October saw us in Spain again, this time a DIY circumnavigating Mallorca the roads were pretty busy so it didn’t quite turn out as good as we hoped but at least it gave us another 200km ride in decent weather 🙂
The final ride for my RRtY was in November to celebrate I did two the first one to get approved was a Permanent by Phil Whitehurst called The Four Minute Mile which is a very hilly ride crossing the Chilterns from Stevenage to Oxford and return this I did with Sally, Nigel & Yasmin from the Cambridge CTC a lovely route although navigating lanes and rickety cycle paths in the dark is not the best experience. I did another 200 Permanent earlier in the month Nicks Diss’d Clare Permanent but still waiting for that to be processed 🙁
So there it is my first and probably my last 12 months of riding a 200km every month, it gets quite stressful as if you miss a month you have to start all over again. Personally I’m staggered how some guys get up to 10 years of them! but then there seem to be plenty of audacious folks out there 🙂
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