Cycling England: Salisbury to Bognor Regis

My latest bicycle touring update: cycling in England, Salisbury to Bognor Regis. 87 miles. It was a cold, frosty start this morning. And despite being up at 4 o’clock, I didn’t leave camp for another four hours.

I was quite surprised this morning at how frosty it was. It was really white. And the tent and tarp were frozen solid, which is why it took me four hours to pack up. Once I’d released the frozen guy lines, I had to then peel the tarp from the tent. Trying to squeeze it into its small bag was impossible. It was too stiff and solid. After trying several times, I gave up and dragged it into the laundry room and left it to thaw out a bit. While I went to tackle the tent.

The tent was just as bad as the tarp. The tent was frozen to the poles. The poles were frozen together, and I had to hold each joint in my hand to defrost it. The tent was like a stiff board. But it was slightly easier to get in its bag as it wasn’t such a tight fit as my tarp. Finally, as I said earlier, I could get on the road four hours later.

Finally, On The Road

It was a slow start to my ride home. Many of the roads and cycle paths were ungritted and still slippery. Thankfully, it was a bright, sunny morning, which helped thaw the roads. And it was only the shaded spots that I had to worry about. Not that I’m complaining. But where did that sun come from? The forecast was for cold grey skies for the week, which is one of the reasons for coming home.

It was a hard ride home, but then every ride these days seems like hard work. Although I did have a headwind to contend with for most of the ride. It was another long day with ten and a half hours of peddling, and I finally walked into my house at six thirty. Total miles cycled in the past week: 340.

Ride Information:

• • Previously: The ride from the beginning
  • The route: View my journey
  • Videos: Check out my YouTube videos

Follow & Support

If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always support me by buying me a beer. Or subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. As a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.