Category Archives: Travel

Walk to recover.

Posted on by
Reply

19°C, bright sun building wind later.
I hiked with a medium pack:  Distance: 16.74km, time: 02:52:01, pace: 10:16min/km, speed: 5.84km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2114464646

The idea was to walk a few miles across farmland and practice DofE Bronze terrain navigation. Yesterday, I was all aching with a cold and it spread to my chest. Cycling was out of the question on this beautiful day.
Despite a few changed public rights of way, I made no navigation errors. Quite the opposite, the navigation was too easy really.
The ground is solid, soil is all hexagon cracks like in those pictures of deserts.
The route covered land formerly on a WWII airbase.fradBunker

This is some kind of bunker, it has a chimney but no windows or pill-box style slits of any kind. Inside was fairly fresh water full of duck-weed (or something similar).

The next bit involved crossing the old runways by a public right of way. However, something got in the way. There is a new housing estate being built. No signs of the path were visible nor were there notices on lampposts. I dropped in the housing office. The woman there didn’t know where the path was diverted to, but was adamant that I couldn’t pass through the building site. Obviously.
I knew that but she tried to divert me along a road. I didn’t want to do that, lie path must be somewhere. She then said ‘I’d have to say the path is closed’. No it can’t be, that would be illegal.
What home is it if you don’t know but prefer to say something that is wrong.
As it turned out, I found it behind a supermarket, against her advice.
The rest of the route map very nice. There were a few fallen massive trees to clamber by.

The day’s total milage amazed me. More than Ten miles. I had imagined about six. For 2,500 calories, I felt remarkably fresh despite feeling ill yesterday. What am excellent way to recover.

Three score and twelve miles.

Posted on by
Reply

14°C, mostly sunny with light wind.
I rode Racelite with MapMyRide+! Distance: 116.03km, time: 02:39:32, pace: 1:22min/km, speed: 43.64km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2099631971

​
The view from Bosworth Battlefield visitors centre. North is the village of Mkt Bosworth.
On the return leg, I happened upon this sign:​​

I sense some frustration in the people of Sheepy. It’s a straight road just off a fast A road. The boy racers probably tear around in their hot hatches while throwing a trail of MacDonald’s packaging out their windows. This time of year, the long narrow land-fill sites in our hedgerows are hidden by growing plants. The winter always looks the worst. Am I sounding grumpy? Okay, I better stop then.

Testing the kettles.

Posted on by
Reply

9°C, sunny with showers.
I’ve tested the new kettle today. The new one, with a heat-exchanger on the bottom promises faster boil times. Cold mornings can be a problem on a camp because the low temperature dramatically affects the time it takes to make breakfast. Maybe like me, you really want a coffee first thing to start the day.
To test these pots, I put 400ml of your at the same temperature. I timed each pot to the point when steam appeared when I hit Stop on the stopwatch. The stove is a Primus, the type with a hose and a loop of pipe that is pre-heated by the flames.
Here’s the results:

Plain kettle.
3’10”, 130g.

Heat-exchanger Kettle.
2’40”, 250g

Heat-exchanger Pot.
4’10”. 280g.

I’m a bit worried about the last result. The gas can chilled so much that it froze to the table. Gas pressure drops away dramatically when cold. This may have lengthened the boil time despite the heat sink.
Here is a close-up of the heat sink in case you’re wondering what it means. The idea is to increase the area in contact with the flames. This folded metal has a larger surface area and also channels the hot gas along the pot’s base.

In conclusion, I think the heat-exchange pots are worth having for the boil times. The only disadvantage is the extra weight.

Very muddy canal loop.

Posted on by
Reply

5° to 9°C, sunny and very muddy.
I rode with MapMyRide+! Distance: 28.44km, time: 01:52:56, pace: 3:58min/km, speed: 15.11km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2043054158​

Deep, Watery and sloppy mud. Hence the low average speed. Sometimes as low as 5mph. Even so, I still failed to fall off into the canal.
Bright spring sunshine made this a happy ride. The mud was a feature, but it was so watery that most of it didn’t stick to the bike.

Head noodles.

Posted on by
Reply

7°C, moderate W wind, dry & sunny.

I rode the Paddy Wagon with MapMyRide+! Distance: 94.45km, time: 04:03:27, pace: 2:35min/km, speed: 23.28km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2028737195

Hard work, just under 60 miles and I’m coming back from some loss of stamina this winter. Now the lighter mornings are here, and other stress has resolved, energy is coming back to me. Drinking both bottles twice still left me dehydrated though. I’m a little worried that my long distance stamina has started the year reduced compared to most years.

Kinder downfall

Posted on by
Reply

10.20am Grey start with hill fog visible above 400m. heavy rain later.kinderdownfall

Walked with Chris along the southern edge of Kinderscout plateau. Once on the plateau, we took a diversion to see a WWII crash site then returned to our main route.

The intention was to see Kinder downfall after a night of rain. We even considered the possibility that the downfall would blow upwards. The waterfall is at the head of quite an angular valley facing the oncoming wind. As it turned out, visibility was so poor, <50m, we could not see any water although heard it clearly.

Rain started around the time we descended becoming quite heavy as we popped out of the cloud base.
I had a flask of hot water waiting at the car. The choice was soup, coffee or tea in the form of sachets or infusion bags. the kit list was about right. I had normal walking trousers plus thermals under. Even when the rain started, I didn’t feel such a strong urge to put the waterproof overtrousers on.
Note for future: (1),this worked really well. the water had kept hot for 8 hours. If I were to take a flask on the walk, it should be a bit smaller than this one. I’ll keep it for sharing.
(2),I barely used my new camera, but it’s better to take a light camera and not use it rather than a heavy one and not use that. One problem, it has a strong magnetic field. It deflects the compass by a good 30°C. It’s awkward taking compass readings at arm’s length.

Metric Century.

Posted on by
Reply

11ºC, grey but not too dull. light SW breeze.

I rode Arrow; with MapMyRide+! Distance: 112.27km, time: 05:05:28,
pace: 2:43min/km, speed: 22.05km/h. That’s 68 miles to you. I should have done 2 more.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2017927079

Spring is tentatively poking its nose out of the opening in its sleeping bag. Here are yellow tips of these miniature daffodils. Today’s warm weather (11°C), is blowing up the southern approaches from tropical climes. For me, that means no cold feet on a long ride.

The returning 10 miles was really hard. I haven’t done many rides over 40 miles this year so perhaps it’s inevitable. Oh, and I rode yesterday, the day before and before that. Normally, Saturday used to be a rest day.

A usual Saturday.

Posted on by
Reply

7°C, cold SW breeze but it’s drying up.

I rode The Jake with MapMyRide+! Distance: 26.42km, time: 01:46:22, pace: 4:02min/km, speed: 14.90km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/2015532611​

The usual canal loop. The mud was deeper and more watery. However, that’s not so bad because the gloop fell off the bike more easily.
I saw fewer dog walkers than usual for a dry day. One commented ‘it’s probably easier to ride on the road’. True, but I want practice riding on mud, I can only get more skillful.

Mid-winter outing.

Posted on by
Reply

I rode Arrow with MapMyRide+! Distance: 57.97km, time: 02:34:39, pace: 2:40min/km, speed: 22.49km/h.

http://mapmyride.com/workout/1966783052​

Doing shorter rides in this cold weather. This morning was still icy so I waited. This gives me smaller slot to complete a ride before it becomes dark. The 19th of January is on average, the coldest day in the northern hemisphere. For now, some cold, foggy days.
Normally, I’d manage the cold by riding for about two hours then taking a cafe break to warm up. This week, I’m under pressure with work stress.