Author: Garry

Garry McGivern’s East England bicycle-tour Tuesday 10th-March-2015. Bognor Regis to London, Victoria by train. Then London Victoria railway station to Gravesend cycling. 33 miles. I had my hydrotherapy yesterday, which is why I returned home on Saturday. I quite enjoy hydrotherapy as I feel it is doing me some good. But as it’s only once a week, I’ve decided to come away as planned and continue my ride around the East coast of England, so I’m now in Gravesend.

The day started with me jumping on the first available train from Bognor, or maybe not the first but the first cheap train, which was just after ten o’clock. The train ride was okay until we reached Horsham, about midway between Bognor and London. A young woman got on the train with her baby, which was fine. I don’t have a problem with that at all. The trouble was this woman felt the need to constantly talk to the baby in that stupid way that some people do, i.e., “look at the little doggy woggy or let’s take a selfie welfie and send it to daddy waddy!” It was a running commentary on everything she did or what anybody else did! It was driving me mad. Fair enough, talk to the baby but talk properly! Luckily she was only on there for a few stops.

Once I arrived in London, I had a nightmare on the roads. There were a lot of road closures, causing more traffic jams than usual. And because I’m so wide, that’s the bike, not me. I can’t just nip between the traffic. In the end, I gave up, got on the pavement, and pushed my bike. It was a lot faster. Mind you, once I could ride, I had my normal difficulty finding my way out of London. I eventually found the right road, although I’ve not done as many miles as I’d hoped. But then I do seem to be struggling quite a bit lately!

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Garry-McGivern East-England Bicycle-Tour Saturday 7th-March-2015. Maidstone to London then train to Bognor. 42 miles. After yesterday’s day of indecision, I was pretty good today and made my mind up what I was doing and stuck to it! A lot of my dithering today was down to the wind direction. I was umming and ahing as to whether I should cycle home or not. But as there was a stiff southwesterly wind to ride against, I decided to give it a miss. I seem to be struggling enough as it is! Instead, I decided to cycle into London and get the train home. I have to be home on Monday for a hospital appointment anyway.

The ride into London, for the most part, was pretty good. I followed the A20, which was good, although I did have a rather big climb over the North Downs. All was going well until the road turned into a three-lane highway with no hard shoulder! It was entirely my own fault, I’ve driven along that road so many times in the past, and I could see on the map that it was a dual carriageway classed as a motorway! And surprisingly, it was! I was just hoping that it wasn’t going to be! After about three miles, I came off and found the cycle route into London.

There’s always a good feeling about London, and I always enjoy going there. After a brief ride around, I went to London Victoria railway station and caught a train home. I’m hoping to continue this ride next week (and maybe get a few more miles in, this week’s effort has been pretty feeble) after my hydrotherapy appointment on Monday. It depends on how I feel. After last week’s appointment, I didn’t feel too good at all. Still, you know what they say “no pain, no gain.”

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Garry-McGivern East-England Bicycle-Tour Friday 6th-March-2015. Sandwich to Maidstone. 46 miles. Thankfully, I slept a lot better last night and didn’t wake up until five! And despite getting a good night’s sleep, it’s been a pretty abysmal effort on my part today! What with not even being able to cycle 50 miles!

For some reason, today, it took me until near lunchtime to reach Canterbury. It was only about 15 miles! Then when I got there, I managed to just ride straight through it without seeing anything! I did have a puncture, but that didn’t take me that long to sort out. Maybe it was because I was taking the cycle route, which passed through loads of small villages, and I wasn’t really riding. I was more sightseeing, or what I think is probably the real reason. I didn’t know which direction I wanted to go in! So I spent most of my time looking at the map! Even now I’ve finished for the day I’m not too sure which way to go!

More Dithering

I prefer my normal riding style where I have a clear target to cycle to, albeit Australia or wherever! After I’d managed to cycle straight through Canterbury, I followed another cycle path along the River Stour, which was rather pleasant despite having quite a strong headwind. After a while, I left the river. I stopped in a small village Chartham to look at my map (still undecided on my route!) when a motorbike pulled up alongside me and asked me where I was looking for. When I explained that, I wasn’t sure which way I wanted to go. Jo, the girl on the motorbike, invited me into her place for a cup of tea. Her house was just 100 yards away.

Jo was an artist. Her paintings were all over the walls of her house. She explained that she doesn’t sell any but teaches others to paint. Jo also explained that she too had a cycle tour planned from Bangor in Wales back to her home in Chartham. After chatting for a while and getting advice from Jo about which way to go, I decided to leave. I wished her luck on her tour and left still undecided on which way to go!

In the end, I’ve made it here to Maidstone, and I’m hoping that after a good night’s sleep, I’ll be able to decide on where to go! Very much a day of indecision!

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