Sunday, May 31, 2009

Cornwall

I've had a four full days to recover since my adventure riding through Cornwall, and I am still not completely back up to speed. Cornwall is a beautiful place, and my ride in many ways was exactly what I wanted: a chance to test out my bike and gear in a place not too far from help and where people speak English. It turned out, however, to be quite a challenging ride. The hills were endless - there is not a bit of flat land until one walks into the ocean. It was windy - especially when riding in sight of the ocean. And it was rainy - the last day I rode through wind driven downpours that turned the edges of the roads into streams. The good news is I did survive, my bike held up well, my tent didn't leak, and my gear worked well. The only thing I will change when I leave for France in a couple of days is to double wrap my camping stove so that the gasoline fumes don't permeate my food and clothes.

Here are some pictures and a brief narration:


On Monday, I left Bere Alston and headed north to Gunnislake, the nearest crossing of the River Tamar. This picture was taken after I had climbed up out of the Tamar River Valley. It is a steep climb of several miles in which I had to stop several times. It was a cool and overcast day.



After stopping for a snack in Liskeard, I left the major roads and spent the rest of the day on narrow back roads like this. Nearly all smaller roads in Cornwall and Devon are lined with hedges. The hedges are made of stone, which one can see right after they have been trimmed. The impression is of riding through a green tunnel.


Even the smallest village has a church with a grave yard in front. This was taken at the end of the first day; I was about ready to lie down with the dead.


This is me and Will. We met outside a pub in Blisland, Cornwall. He was on the first day of a solo Land's End to John O' Groats ride. He is probably close to Scotland by now. Good luck Will!


Will and I set up our tents in a vacant sheep pasture near Blisland.


The sheep were next door and woke me up in the morning.


On Tuesday I rode through Bodmin Moor, a beautiful and barren land - except for the sheep and gorse plants.


Gorse: prickly with small yellow flowers.


Even rural areas are well signed.


In the afternoon I finally saw the ocean! This was my first glimpse. Next up: Tintagel. The legendary sea-side home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.


Not so formidable anymore. This is all that remains of the castle. Tintagel is quite the tourist trap now, although the coast is stunningly beautiful there.


Another remnant of the castle.


That afternoon's ride from Tintagel to Bude was some of the most beautiful riding I have ever done. I took back roads that hugged the coast. It was also some of the most hilly riding I have done.






I rode through many small villages situated next to the outlets of streams. These are often the only areas that one can easily access the ocean without climbing down a cliff.





Can someone explain to me in geological terms what I am looking at?





Sunset near my campsite in Bude. The town of Bude has a canal that terminates on the main beach. It is an impressive site to see a lock right next to a surfing beach.


Wednesday's weather was not good. I walk up to rain and heavy winds. Instead of going north to Exmoore like I had originally planned, I decided to take the most direct route back to Bere Alston. I discovered my waterproof pants are not actually waterproof.

This is a shot of a bridge over the River Tamar. I am back in Devon!

Monday, May 25, 2009

This morning I leave Bere Alston for four days of riding along the north Devon Coast. Should be a beautiful ride. The plan is to ride north-west from Bere Alston, through Bodmin Moor to the Cornish coast, then north along the Devon coast. On the third day I'll ride through another Moor - Exmore, then back to Bere Alston on Thursday. I'll try to get some good photos of the moors as they can be beautiful and haunting places.

Here are a couple of photos I took several days ago.


The road going down to a brook crossing. This is on the edge of Dartmoor.


This was taken from the edge of the road right outside Bere Alston.

It is supposed to rain hard this morning which will make for interesting riding. The rain combined with cool temperatures have me a bit worried that I don't have enough warm clothes. I may have to try off in whatever local pub I find.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

School Blues

My days of leisure were over sooner than I thought they would be. Five days in to my trip I went back to school... elementary school. With my Uncle Pete as the head teacher, I sat in on his class as well as enjoying two different physical education classes with other classes.


My uncle's students were in the middle of a unit on WWII.

My impression of this Plymouth public school was that it was well funded and well staffed. My uncle's class had an impressive complement of technology including a ceiling mounted projector with sound system. Pupils sat around tables in small groups and stored their supplies in cubbies instead of the desks I was used to. For a class of twenty nine students there were two and often three teachers or teacher's aids present at any given time. Students wore uniforms: black bottoms with white tops and blue sweatshirts (jumpers). Skirts for the girls were optional and even more optional for the boys.

Highlights of the day:

Morning Greeting -

My uncle, Mr. Walshe: Good morning Joey.
Joey: Good morning Mr. Walshe.
Mr. Walshe: Good morning Hannah.
Hannah: Good morning Mr. Walshe.

And so on, through 29 iterations of Good Morning Mr. Walshe. It ends with all the pupils joining together for a lilting high-pitched unison affirmation:

Good morning Mr. Walshe. Good Morning Mrs. Tomson. Good Morning Miss. Waring. Good Morning Mr. Seitz. Good Morning Everyone.

That made me smile.

Rounders Game -

Rounders is a baseball-like game with little of the beauty or subtlety of baseball. Standard equipment includes a tennis racquet, tennis ball, four plastic poles, and fifty excited school children. According to the Plymouth students, I am the best rounders player ever to walk on British soil. I hit two rounders (home runs) at two at-racquets, scoring one rounder for each team (to keep it fair).


Game of Rounders in a beautiful field outside the school.

Dinner with Ben and the Walshe Family -

My cousin Ben finished his course work and dissertation at Keele University and will graduate July 9! He and his friends stopped in Bere Alston on his way down to Cornwall. Pam cooked up enough home-made mac and cheese for a crew of nine which we washed down with beer and wine. It was great to catch up with Ben again. The last time we were together was a year ago at our grandfather's funeral.


My cousin Ben and me.

By the way, my bike arrived safely. Here are a couple of pictures of the little green.


Right out of the box.


Ready to ride.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Change of Plans - Now in Devon, England

I arrived in London on Tuesday morning after an uneventful, although largely sleepless flight. The first order of business was to figure out how to navigate the tube and bus system to reach my friend Ned and Connie's house. I must have been a sight: a dazed traveler with a huge bike box, two red panniers, and a large wheeled suitcase taking a deep breath and then flinging the bike box on to the top of an escalator, myself a step behind (and above), and my luggage a step or two behind me. Fortunately, uniformed attendants were kind enough to help me get my luggage off the escalator at the bottom. In all, five people helped me with my luggage, unasked, on the trip from Heathrow to the neighborhood I was staying at. One woman insisted on taking my panniers and then grabbed one end of the bike box to help me haul it up the stairs out of a tube stop.

I spent Tuesday with Ned and Connie Wakeman and their ten month old son, Sam. I had spent a couple of weeks with Ned in the summer of 2005. That was the summer he met Connie. Since then they married (in Maine) and of course now have a beautiful son. It was great to catch up with Ned again and to meet Connie for the first time. Below are pictures of me and Connie, and me and Ned.




Tuesday morning brought torrential downpours and the forecast of three more days of rain. With my bike still unpacked, I decided the sensible thing would be to take a bus to my aunt in uncle's house in Devon and set up the bike there. No London cycling in the rain for me!

The landscape of Devon is spectacular; I can't wait to get out on the bike. Below is a picture of the village of Bere Alston where my aunt Pam and uncle Pete live. Their house is painted pink on the right side of the street. It is called the Angler's Rest and at one time was the local village pub. The other photo was taken from the room I am staying in and looks out over the back garden.