Route Britannia, the Journey South: A Spontaneous Bicycle Ride through Every County in Britain
Page 26
I mulled over the coming weeks and months. I'd already learnt Britain was a truly wonderful place. It was just that it got progressively less wonderful, at least from a cycling perspective, the closer to the south-east I got. I really couldn't wait to put the M25 behind me, with its teeming roads, impatient drivers, mediocre scenery and wild expense. My positivity had been pushed past breaking point. I really didn't want to be here. The Mexican fleas had been great, but I needed more than a couple of bugs in fancy dress to keep my spirits up. Ahead of me lay better times: the Fens, the Peak District, the hills of North Yorkshire, Northumberland, the whole of Scotland and the Lake District. I would leave the crowds behind and roll into some of the most beautiful and sparsely populated areas of Europe. There would be days when I'd cycle twenty miles without passing a single settlement, when the rain would pour and the wind would howl and drivers coming in the opposite direction would see me from the safety of their steel wombs and look at me as though I'd gone mental. And I'd be happy again. Really, really happy.
And then I woke up early the next morning, turned on the radio and heard the news. Britain was leaving Europe. Oh bloody shit!
END OF PART ONE
The story concludes with part two Route Britannia – The Journey North
Appendix: My gear
Some readers are interested in a list of gear used by cyclists on rides like mine. Most aren't. That's why the list is tucked here at the back. This is what I took.
The Bike
My bike is a KTM, a manufacturer more famous for motorbikes, although now they've started to sell their bicycles in the UK. I bought mine in Austria back in 2001. I don't remember the name of the model and all the transfers that might have given me a clue have rubbed off over time. It's a great, light, strong bike that is very comfortable to ride and cost me somewhere around £800. It has 700C wheels and is made of aluminium, which means, given its age, it is soon to die. Everything except the frame, handlebars and mudguards has been replaced at least once. I can't remember how many cassettes and chains I've gone through. It has now done in excess of 35,000 miles despite living in a garage unused for eight years of its life.
The Bags
My rugged panniers are made by Carradice, two on the front and two on the back, and there's a handy bar bag for valuables. Despite being made of thick canvas and water-resistant, I always line them with plastic rubble sacks to keep the water out. They're very strong and durable.
The Home
The tent this time was a Decathlon Quickhiker. It is supposed to be a two-man tent but I wouldn't want to share it with anyone except an emaciated lover. In truth, it's a roomy one-man tent. My old German duck down sleeping bag became increasingly ineffective during the trip and so I bought a new, synthetic one that turned out to be way too hot, even during the cooler days of a British summer. The sleeping bag's stuff sack doubled as my pillow. After a few early days of freezing temperatures, my ground mat - one of those five quid foam jobbies – became two. While cycling, the sleeping bag lived in a front pannier but the tent and ground mat were encased in a rubble sack and bungeed to the back rack. Also bungeed to this was a little rucksack, which was very handy when strolling around town or going shopping.
The Kitchen
Once again I took my Trangia 27 meths-burning stove. My advice would be to avoid going near its pans with anything metal. For want of a plastic spoon I've now de-non-sticked two of them. I took a plastic bowl but mostly ending up eating straight from the pan. I also carried a plastic cup, a fork, a spoon and a penknife.
The Wardrobe
I took three tops that would suit cycling or around-town strolling and two fleeces, one thin, one thick. I had two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks, two pairs of cycling shorts, two around-town shorts, a sloppy pair for the campsite, two pairs of long, lightweight trousers and a rainproof jacket. I could have left behind one of the tops and one of the pairs of long trousers. Take as little as you can.
Once again, on my feet was, mostly, a great pair of super-durable Keen adventure sandals. After ten thousand miles they are now looking a bit shabby. This meant that, while the weather wasn't freezing, I could get away with no socks. I also had a pair of trainers for when it was cold or when walking around town in long trousers. I took a hat and gloves and, for the first, very cold weeks, a fleecy snood my mum gave me at the last minute turned out to be very useful.
The Bathroom
I took shower gel (for washing clothes too), deodorant, a toothbrush, toothpaste, Vaseline and a first aid kit.
The Tech
In order to save weight I took my little compact camera, which was a mistake because it packed up after a week and so I was limited to taking photos on my Samsung, and, for the most part, it was switched off to maintain batteries. As a result I don't have very many photos of this trip. I also had a rechargeable battery pack and a solar panel to recharge it. This time I also took an old Acer Aspire notebook. Its battery lasts a long time but it takes ages to charge. While waiting for it to reach 100% I was frequently forced to stay in the pub for a third pint. The horror!
Bike-related
I carried various tools, a puncture repair kit, two spare inner tubes and a folding tyre, none of which was needed. My front and rear lights were also never used. I had two 750 ml water bottles and occasionally filled an additional 1.5 litre pop bottle for extra water on hot days.
Everything Else
I had a passport, although I don't remember ever needing it, lots of blood pressure medication, a dismembered road atlas of the UK that was discarded as I finished each page, a separate, tiny map book of the UK on which I plotted where I'd been at the end of each day, a sewing kit, my notebook and a few pens, a head torch and a wallet that took a greater kicking the closer I got to the south-east.
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