End2End
David Toft Joined: June 23rd 2006
Logged in: November 16th 2008
Logged in: November 16th 2008
Travel Blog Posts
the fab four
And so here I am in Dublin. But before I recount any tales from this city, the journey here must be described. Leaving Cousin Steve and the hard-working, hard-playing Soundsaver's crew in Lancaster, I struck out along a lovely stretch of smoothly tarmaced cycle path, which took me to a supermarket and then disappeared. Many of the cycle paths I've been on seem to be secret, only to be discovered by accident and when they are found there is no indication of where they are leading other than away from where I am coming from. I stocked up on cinnamon rolls, bananas and orange juice at the supermarket then headed for the sea, because I knew that when I found that I needed to turn right. Having found the sea and cycling along the front to ... read more
the McBeaths
This is a bonus blog dedicated to some of the people I have met on my travels. The McBeath father and son van driving team who took my bike and me from Inverness to Wick. I was supposed to be catching the train on to Thurso, but John pointed out that Wick was closer to John O'Groats than Thurso and offered to take me along with him and his son in the van. I was happy to go along for the ride since it got me closer to the start line and lessened my journey time. The trip up to Wick was entertaining and informative, John proving to be a mine of information on the area we were passing through. He was born an Orcadian and has spent the bulk of his life in the north ... read more
away ye go!
this trite and anodyne maxim was the greeting I received from a piece of plastic stuck up beside the road as I made my way into Lancaster, drawing to a close the first leg of this journey. In the past nine days on the road, i spent a total of 48 hours in the saddle, covering around 900 kilometres. Within hours of arriving in Lancaster, I was luxuriating in a hot bath back at Cousin Steve's, my aching muscles relaxing with every passing second. An unfortunate side effect of long distance cycling has been a loss of strength in the fingers of my left hand, most likely due to the constant gripping of the handlebars. It has meant that I have been unable to play the guitar to even my normal paltry standard. There is a ... read more
here i am
Well, after a train journey from swansea to inverness and a van ride the rest of the way to wick I got underway on wednesday morning. A bang on night's sleep at John's harbour B&B and the use of his laminating machine to make a durable poster advising drivers considering knocking me off that I am doing the ride for charity and not just to get in their way and generally piss them off and I was on my way. 28k to John O'Groats and then the journey proper started. The first day I pushed hard and ended up in Betty Hill. Plenty of spectacular scenery and a tail wind made for a beautiful days ride. I stopped off at Dounreay nuclear power station and had a good jaw with the ladies in the information centre. ... read more
Cycled from Bettyhill to Lairg - 76km. Total distance from JOG 161km. Met some dutchies and a fellow cyclist who fancied a couple of drinks. My right knee is aching, but the beer is helping. Found out here that there is a Toft tarten - Och aye the noo!! Follow daves progress here: Daves Progress... read more
Travelled from Wick to John O Groats today, where I had my picture taken, then rode to Betty Hill. Managed 84km.... read more
I left swansea at 5.45am and arrived in Wick at 8.00pm. I haven't got onto my bike yet. I managed to catch a lift with John and Ross McBeath a very friendly father and son who bundled my bike into their van and drove me from Inverness to Wick. It was a very pleaant and informative journey. I'm now going to sit down to a chinese meal before heading to an early bed for the big off tomorrow. Haven't found any deep fried Mars bars yet. The search continues...... read more
my first black eye
The first real test of the man/bike/trailer machine was passed successfully last week, with all three of us covering the 70 odd kilometres between Swansea and Cilycwm, the site of the Small nations festival in the encouraging time of 3 hours 45 minutes (and one second). The only two problems I noticed were the tendency of the clamp attaching the trailer to the frame of the bike to slip and the bulging sides of the full to the brim trailer rubbing against the trailer's tyres. The first has been resolved with the help of the resourceful Paul from Schmoos in Swansea, who suggested attaching a piece of tyre rubber to the frame with cable ties, providing an attachment point for the trailer; the second was temporarily fixed by a visit to a garden centre en-route to ... read more
the long road ahead
Since it is my birthday, I have decided to treat myself (and you) to the delights of tight fitting clothing. The get-up you see me in in these photos is what I will be wearing for the cycle ride. I have a dark blue top as well, but all my shorts are tight, black lycra. I took the trailer for a test run to Lidls yesterday, to stock up on cycling essentials like cheap red wine and dried fruit. In the course of a 10 minute journey I got two "Gis a lift, mate" shouted at me. I replied, "sure pal, hop in" both times. Unfortunately, this lacks wit, so I will gratefully receive any suggestions as to what I can shout back to the roadside gisalifters. Short, sharp and pithy ideally, I won't have time ... read more
mumbles lectures
Now the weather has got back on track in proper summer style, me and the old girl are enjoying the ups and downs that Swansea has to offer. Yesterday we took a trip up to Dunvant, which involved a couple of steep, battery acid in the leg inducing climbs, followed by the joy of free wheeling down to the front, overtaking cars all the way. Then along to the Mumbles, before taking on the slow and steady climb up to Newton, where I stopped off for much needed liquid intake at Auntie Chris' hill top residence. And so finally to JCS, the uni bar, to enjoy a hard earned pint. A big up to the hard working staff of JCS, for their tireless efforts to provide the student hordes with veritable lakes of booze, all provided ... read more
