Back in England and I've bought a tent - albeit a tiny one. It fits one (thin) man and weighs 1.5kg. Carrying a sleeping bag too. This means that I have fitted panniers to my bike, which I hate, but is a necessary evil. Hostels were proving too expensive and unreliable. Camping gives me the freedom to carry on cycling until dusk and stop where I want. On Wednesday night I camped wild for the first time. Well, it was kind of wild, on the boundary of a cricket pitch in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. I always imagine camping as a liberating [View Full Entry]

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Rushing back to England in time for the first game against Paraguay on Saturday. Due to my Argentina cycling top the Welsh assume I'm from South America. It's made for some confusion. Had a glorious week of cycling and climbing high mountains in some of the most beautiful areas of the UK: Snowdonia, the Cambrians, Pembokeshire and Brecon Beacons. Apart from a stupid 87-mile day in blazing sun, ending in sunstroke and dehydration, all has gone smoothly. Only recently it was been discovered that Fan Foel, the highest point in Carmathenshire, was also the burial site of a 12-year-old girl. [View Full Entry]

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Climbed Snowdon, the highest mountain in England and Wales, in the most glorious sunny weather. Started from the Pen y Pass youth hostel, where George Mallory of Everest fame stayed in 1913, up the Pyg track and down the Miner's route. The top was blanketed in mist and full of people who had just stepped off the mountain railway. Reached 1,000 miles on the bike yesterday in Anglesey. Had to ride to the NW tip to tackle Holyhead Mountain, a 220 metre chunk of granite overlooking the sea on three sides. Back via that crazy Welsh named village Llanfairpwthgwyngyth..... Wales is [View Full Entry]

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So far: 799 miles in 13 days, at an average of 61 miles per day. And more than 14,000 metres of climbing - just on the bike - that's approaching twice up Everest. According to the Daily Mail it is set to be the wettest May on record. I can vouch for that. It has rained every day sometimes all day. At times it has been soul-destroying and incredibly frustrating. Now done 19 hills - adding Gloucestershire (Cleeve Hill) and Worcestershire (Worcestershire Beacon) to the list on Friday and Saturday. Weather on Cleeve Hill was awful. I've walked all over the [View Full Entry]

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In the last two days my bike has imploded. Having had no punctures for 600 miles I've had four in 50 miles and a ripped tire. Coupled with the atrocious weather it's been a tad frustrating. Especially when a Brum, while nicking my milk, starts telling me that she doesn't understand why cyclists moan about the rain. Apparently it cools us off. Probably a bluenose. In a line from Cambridgeshire to Bristol I climbed seven county tops - Beds, Bucks, Herts, Wilts, Hants, Berks and Oxon. The last one - Milk Hill in Wiltshire - in a hailstorm. Was going to [View Full Entry]

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Making storming progress despite the rain. Cycled 86 miles yesterday from Saffron Walden in Cambridgeshire to Beaconsfield and scampered up three hills, including the lovely Dunstable Downs, in between. So that takes the current grand total to 13 in nine days. Plan to be in Bristol by Tuesday which will make 17 in 11 days - so good going. That pace will slow though in the north, Wales and Scotland as the hills become mountains and the distances in between grow. [View Full Entry]

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The highest point in Middlesex is a covered reservoir near right on the current border of Hertfordshire. Three Valleys Water own the land so I had to persuade one of their manager's to let me go up there. Reluctantly he did and showed me around the site - it was as glamorous as a covered reservoir sounds. When I started this I didn't thing high points would be found in back gardens and on covered reservoirs so it adds some entertainment to the day. [View Full Entry]

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London...six days on the road. 350 miles and seven county tops. Betsom's Hill, top of Kent, was situated in some chap's garden. He kindly allowed me onto his land. Couldn't see much because yet again it was raining. Staying with a friend in London tonight so managed to wash my clothes. Heading to Middlesex, then flats in East Anglia and Home Counties next week. Stayed in a hostel with 25 Austrians last night in deepest Surrey. One invited me to Salzburg where "'we can have fun". So was relieved to set off this morning. Few near misses with juggernauts en route [View Full Entry]

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So far so good: DAY 1 - Bodmin to Okehampton - 56m - Brown Willy (Cornwall) DAY 2 - Okehampton to Exford - 44m - High Willhays (Devon) & Dunkery Beacon (Somerset) DAY 3 - Exford to Litton Cheney - 79m - Lewesdon Hill (Dorset) TODAY - Litton Cheney to Salisbury - 60m To be honest, it's been extremely hard work, particularly the first few days. To be truthful I thought about packing it all in - but I knew I'd never forgive myself. It can be lonely out there on the road on your own and it's all the more [View Full Entry]

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Conquering the highest point in every British county. [View Full Entry]

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