Bicycle Touring England Sunday 24th-January-2016

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is bicycle touring in England on Sunday, the 24th-January-2016. Christchurch to Bognor Regis. 69 miles. It was a damp and murky start to the day but not cold, far from it. I almost wished I’d brought my shorts. Considering the sub-zero temperatures we had last week, it was a bit of a surprise. It was positively balmy today; it was a good 20 degrees warmer.

I left the hotel this morning, and again, I was undecided about where to go. I was thinking about going to the Isle of Wight. Cycling around the island’s southern side and then maybe stopping the night over there. Just so I could get more miles in, which was my main reason for going away in the first place, I was hoping it would relieve my back a bit. It’s not that I’m in a lot of pain; it just always feels better after a good cycle ride.

I reached Lymington, where I should have caught the ferry across to the Isle of Wight, but I wasn’t feeling good. I was really struggling; my back was aching, and my leg was causing me a lot of discomfort. So I decided that it was probably best to go home. The quickest way would have been via the Isle of Wight, but it’s quite a hilly route. So I decided to come home via the New Forest, even though it’s longer.

The Penny Drops

After struggling across the New Forest, through Southampton and Portsmouth, I was about 20 miles from home. When I suddenly realised why I was in a lot of discomfort and struggling so much, I’d forgotten to take my painkillers this morning. I was so excited at the thought of stuffing my face at the eat as much as you like breakfast buffet I’d forgotten all about them. I immediately took them.

A statue of a moose on a roof
House in the New Forest

Ten miles from home, the tablets kicked in, and I was feeling really good once again. If only I’d remembered to take them this morning. I could have gone to the Isle of Wight and not had to struggle so much today. Never mind, maybe I’ll go out somewhere tomorrow, provided I remember to take my medication, that is!!

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Cycle Touring England Saturday 23rd January. Bognor Regis to Christchurch (England). 73 miles.

Seeing as the weather’s fairly good at the moment I’ve decided to go away for a day or two. For the past few weekends I’ve been going out on rides and after getting so far I was wishing that I’d brought some overnight stuff so I could continue, so this weekend I did! I left home quite late this morning with no real plan of where I was going to go, all I knew was that I was going to head West into the wind so I had it on my back on my return! It wasn’t until I reached the pink ferry at Warsash that I decided I would continue on. After reaching Southampton and catching the Hythe ferry I decided to ride through the New Forest and head for Brockenhurst and stop there for the night. By the time I reached Brockenhurst it was starting to get dark, which was just about right as it’s never very nice cycling in the dark especially in the New Forest where there’s no lights and all you hear is rustling in the bushes along the side of the road, it’s only the New Forest Ponies but it does make you wonder and put you on edge a bit! Anyway after arriving in Brockenhurst I went to the Rose and Crown, the pub I intended to stay at only to find it was closed for a refit! I tried another hotel that I passed but that was full! Not being one for looking around to much, if I don’t pass somewhere I don’t bother so there was nothing else to do apart from continue on in the dark! The only trouble was that the batteries in my back light were flat so I had to buy some new ones which wasn’t a problem apart from when I stopped to get them my bike fell over spilling all the contents of my bar bag into the road! After picking all that up and changing the batteries I continued on my way in the dark and rain! It was only about another 10 miles or so to Christchurch where I am now, it just wasn’t a very pleasant ride in the dark and rain! Not too sure whether or not I’m going to continue on somewhere else tomorrow or go back home as I don’t have to be back until Tuesday, think I’ll decide in the morning!

Planning a Bicycle Tour

Books

Planning a bicycle tour, one of the questions I get asked a lot. So I thought I’d explain and put down in writing what I do. It might not be the best way, but it works for me!

The truth is, I don’t! All I do is look at a map of the country I want to tour. See if there’s a road going where I want to go. Roughly work out the mileage, which in the old days used to entail a piece of string, laid on a map! But these days things are a lot easier, and I tend to use Google maps.

Once I’ve worked out the mileage I just divide that by 80, which is the distance, I like to cover each day and go! Although that’s not strictly true if it’s a big tour involving several countries, I do put in a bit more time and effort in then! But if it’s just the one country or I’m travelling in Europe it is just a case of looking at a map, see how long I’ll be away for and go!

Planning A Longer Trip

Planning a bicycle tour that involves several countries, apart from checking the mileage, I always check on the visa requirements. Whether it’s visa on entry (where you obtain the visa at the border) or if it isn’t then what city do I need to pick one up from or do I get it before leaving home.

Passport stamps
Picture from an old passport

Getting a visa before leaving home is sometimes the easiest option. But it can be more expensive, involve a lot of time and require a lot of documents!

Although obtaining a visa before leaving isn’t a bad idea. It’s sometimes easier to get a visa on the road. Consulates in neighbouring countries tend to be a lot more accommodating and are pleased that you want to travel their country.

For example, when I travelled to Kazakhastan, on my world tour, I got their visa while in England. But they would only give me a visa for 30 days, which had to be used within a 90-day slot! After reaching Azerbaijan, my last country before Kazakhstan. I realised I wouldn’t be able to cycle across Kazakhstan within my 90-day slot! As a result, I went to the Kazakhstan consulate in Baku, to apply for another visa. After an interview, with the ambassador, he asked how long I wanted? One month, two months or three!!

Border Crossings

Another point I always check when planning a bicycle tour is the entry and exit towns for a county, as not all borders are open to tourists. I couldn’t think of anything more annoying than to have spent a week or two riding across a country only to find that you couldn’t cross the border!

Man and women
At the Chinese Kazakhstan border in 2012

I also like to check either on route or before leaving home what the local currency is and make a note of the exchange rate. So when exchanging one countries currency to another with the inevitable touts you find at the border, I know how much I’m being ripped off by!

Gear To Take

Usually, my panniers are prepacked, and the only ones I need to pack are the ones containing toiletries, clothes and my sleeping bag (see gear and equipment post as to what I take)

Maps

I also always try and set off from home with all the maps I need or at least one per country, which covers the entire country just in case I can’t find any on-route. And because I tend to cover long distances is usually sufficient enough. The maps I use depends on the length of the tour. For an extended trip covering several countries, I use Michelin national maps. For shorter trips, I use Michelin regional maps.

Maps
Garry’s preferred range of maps

Another set of maps I’ve used are the German Reise range I find them clear and easy to follow. None of the maps I use has contours on them, to me the world is flat! Which suits me, I prefer not to know if a hill or mountain is coming up! I’ve found from experience that if I know, a climbs coming up at some point in the day, I spend all day thinking about how steep or long it might be!

Sometimes you can tell on the maps when it’s going to be hilly particularly the Michelin maps! The roads shaded with green signifying a scenic route which typically equates to it being hilly! The higher passes also get marked, but then I try and ignore them and pretend I didn’t see them!

Arriving In A New Country

When arriving in a new country be it by air, sea or land, it’s a good idea to have an address of a hotel. Most countries require you to fill out the address of where you’ll be staying on the landing or entry card. But from my experience, you don’t have to stop there! It seems to be more of a formality and the only time that I do stay at the address I’ve given is when I fly into a country! (See below)

Accommodation

Accommodation or any stops never get planned or pre-booked I never know where I’ll end up from one night to the next! Why waste time trying to find accommodation in advance? You may not reach that place, you may decide to stop early, or you may find another route that you want to explore. When I do arrive in a town, I tend to stay at the first place I see.

Usually, I prefer to camp, it keeps costs down and means I can stay away for longer! But if there’s no campsite around, I don’t wild camp anymore not unless I really have to! I’ll stop at the first available hotel, inn, guest house, hostel or whatever is available!

I’ve learnt through experience that you can cycle around a town for ages looking for accommodation and then be undecided as to which one to stay in! Generally, they are all the same and if it’s only the one night that your staying, does it matter what it’s like as long as they have room and bed. (A bar is also preferable!)

The exception to the rule is when I fly into a country, then I do pre-book a hotel. It saves a lot of aggravation trying to find somewhere after a long flight. It also means I can reassemble my bike in the hotel room or somewhere in the hotel. Assembling the bike at an airport is okay in Europe, but in Asia, you get a lot of attention and a large crowd!

At The End Of A Tour

When coming towards the end of a trip and I’ve got a flight to catch I usually check out a cities hotels before getting there. I still don’t pre-book anything I just like to have a rough idea of a western-style hotel that I can head for. It’s useful if the staff speak good English when trying to source materials for packing things away ready to fly. Read Garry’s post taking a bicycle on an aeroplane.

Packing

When packing away for a flight, I always get one big bag to put my panniers in. Usually, one of the chequered type that seems to be available in most countries. Their cheap, light, and don’t add any extra weight. Chances are you’re probably close to the weight limit as it is! The bags are not particularly strong, but you only want it to last that flight! If you’re worried about it surviving the trip, you can usually get it wrapped in cellophane at the airport.

For the bike, you can obtain a cardboard box from a local bicycle shop. They’re often quite grateful to give it to you for free, it saves them having to dispose of it! Although that’s not always the case. When I was trying to find one in Istanbul, they wouldn’t give me one unless I paid for it and as for China! Nobody would give me one for love nor money! And I had to make my own!

Chequered bag
One of the cheap chequered bags
Lose Excess Weight

Once I’ve sourced all the packing materials, I dismantle the bike and box that up. I then get rid of any excess weight! I’m always amazed at the end of a tour how much extra weight I’ve accumulated! Catching a flight for me is a good thing, it’s the only time I clear my bags out completely! As I do a lot of touring, in Europe that doesn’t involve a flight. I tend to leave my backs packed all the time. On a recent trip, when I cleared out my bags, I found that I’d accumulated six puncture repair kits and three loo rolls!

After losing the excess weight, I then proceed to pack my panniers into the bag. Usually, I manage to pack my tent, two front panniers and one of my rear panniers into the bag. Although sometimes I put the odd item into the bike box if I’m struggling to fit everything in the chequered bag. Or I’m worried about weight. I already have a rough idea of how much my gear weighs, as it’s weighed before leaving home. My last pannier is carried on as hand luggage with some of the heavier items in it. At the airport, the chequered bag gets checked in as hold luggage. The bike as sports equipment or oversize baggage and my last pannier is carried on as hand luggage.

December 2015 Update

The month started off the same as November had finished in Gran Canaria, unfortunately I never managed to source a bike as there was nowhere near us to hire one, in fact there was absolutely nothing near us apart from a couple of other hotels and a few shops selling a load of tourist tack, so most of the time was spent at the hotel!

Swimming pool
Looking down towards the beach from our hotel

The hotel was situated high up on a cliff/mountain in a purpose built tourist resort and to get to the beach and the few shops that there was involved a 30 minute walk down the mountain, which wasn’t too bad, however, the walk back up was very hard going and we only ventured down to the beach on one occasion!

We did manage to escape the hotel for a couple of days and caught a bus out to explore other parts of the island; once again though we had to walk down the mountain to the bus stop, although not quite as far as it was to go to the beach!

On our first venture out we went to the nearby port of Puerto de Mogan which had been completely over run by tourism with very little to see of the old fishing village at all, but it was a change of scenery and it was good to get out of the hotel!

The following day we decided to get the bus to Las Palmas the capital of the island which once again involved a walk down the mountain to the bus stop, whilst waiting at the bus stop with the other tourists a bus pulled up with Las Palmas written on the front of it so we hopped on and  asked for two tickets to Las Palmas to which the driver gave us a very strange look and started to explain in his broken English that this isn’t the direct bus and it takes longer to get to Las Palmas as it calls in at all the towns and villages on its way. We both looked at each other and decided that that would be ok as at least we wouldn’t be sitting at the bus stop we’d be moving and we’d also get to see a bit more of the island!

Well, there really wasn’t much else to see of the island, every town or village we came to just seemed to be overrun with either hotels or apartments, I don’t recall seeing anything even vaguely resembling a place that was maybe just with locals!

Well after two long hours of stopping and starting we were still sitting on the bus and by now Julie had decided that she needed the toilet and couldn’t wait any longer! After all, she had wanted to go for the past hour, I just kept saying that we’d be there soon just hang on, not really knowing myself how much further we had to go! But no that was it she had to go! So in the middle of the island near some huge retail park, we had to get off the bus and find the nearest toilet which luckily was located in a nearby McDonalds! After our forced pit stop we went back to the bus stop to wait for another bus, which eventually turned up after nearly an hour! We finally arrived in Las Palmas mid afternoon four hours after setting off from the hotel! Once again there wasn’t a lot to see in Las Palmas and it hardly seemed to be worth the effort it took us to get there but at least Julie found some shops to look around and it got us away from the hotel for another day. Needless to say, we didn’t get the same bus back we caught the express bus which got us back in less than half the time it took us to get there! It was late and dark by the time we arrived back at the hotel!

All in all, though it wasn’t a bad break and the food in the hotel was good and plentiful, the weather was nice and warm and Julie enjoyed being able to relax despite me trying to annoy her most of the time with the “I’m bored what can I do?” saying!

Not been out on the bike very much at all this past month, I’ve not been feeling that good for most of it, think I’d picked up some sort of flu bug (probably on the flight to Gran Canaria, there was a quite few people on the plane coughing and spluttering) which never fully came out but was annoying enough to stop me cycling too far, every time I went to go out on my bike I would just become breathless and start getting cold sweats! Although at the end of the month I’m now feeling much better.

Small dog
Wilson

The weathers not been particularly good either this month, with strong winds and rain nearly every day, however, I did manage to go on a short ride to Portsmouth about 25 miles away on my birthday but once again it was wet and windy and I ended up coming home on the train.

My babysitting duties were also called upon this month looking after my Vicky’s cat Toby whilst they were in Spain and also Julie’s daughter’s new puppy Wilson!

Christmas and New Year came and went with some lovely family meals cooked by Julie on Christmas day and Vicky and Paul on Boxing Day, I’ve had a rather easy Christmas and not had anybody around! Good to keep the spirit of Christmas alive in the McGivern household with no visitors, and no decorations or tree up, bah humbug!!

Family dinner
Boxing day at Vicky’s being photo bombed by Toby the cat
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