Richard Dugdale

Pennyfarthing

Richard Dugdale

I am a retired engineer, born in 1945, who loves cycle touring. I started by riding Lands End John O Groats for charity. Followed by C2C, the Three Towers (Blackpool - London -Paris Blackpool), European section of North Sea Cycle Route (Rotterdam to Bergen, 3,500 km), several sportives and trips to Spain and the Alps, Slovenia, Albania, Macedonia, Turkey, Japan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu (India), Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Australia, including Tasmania and New Zealand. Kyushu Japan, USA, Republic of Ireland, Germany and Sicily. I ride two days every week with some retired riders and usually lead a group of the Clitheroe Bike Club each Saturday to keep my fitness up to an acceptable level.
In 2010 I became a CTC Holidays and Tours Manager and lead a family camping week in the Cotswolds.
2011 saw me lead a CTC tour of the Lakes and Dales, moving on each day with panniers and a family camping week in the Ribble Valley in August.
2012 saw a tour of the Western Isles of Scotland and a CTC tour to Yunnan Province in China in October. In 20I3 I ran a tour to Slovenia and have toured in Hokkaido, Japan. In 2014 I did another CTC tour of Lakes and Dales and a tour to Yellowstone Park in America in September. 2015 started off with a tour in Tasmania, Kyushu, Japan. In 2016 I led a tour on the Gt Ocean Road, Australia and Honshu Japan, followed by Shikoku Japan and the Republic of Ireland in 2017. 2018 started with a tour of Cambodia, Albania in May and doing Oregon, USA, in September. Cuba In January 2019, followed by two tours in Hokkaido Japan again in June. August saw a two week cycle tour of Shetland and Orkney. In February 2020 I led a second tour of the Great Ocean Road, Australia, returning just days before the government locked us down. In June 2021 after our release from Covid lockdowns and restrictions I led another successful tour of the English Lakes and Dales in brilliant sunshine.
After the demise of CTC Holidays and Tours I was a founder of Bikexplore, a not for profit business which continues in the footsteps of CTC holidays.
June and August 2022 saw me taking groups of 12 for Bikexplore to Ireland to travel the upper half of the Irish coastline from Galway round to Dublin.
In May 2023 during the hot spell of weather we had a European tour around the wonderful area of Bavaria in Germany with 12 clients for Bikexplore.



Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Nuremberg (aka Nürnberg) June 20th 2023

Bavaria Day 15 A full start to the day but warm, encountering some light showers mid morning. After a few kilometres along the valley I saw some gravel and thought the tarmac road alongside would eventually join the cycle path. I was mistaken and ended up quite a way from the planned route and ended up climbing into the hills and still encountered gravel, some if it quite loose in one ascent. It did mean that I passed several sawmills, which I have an interest in since I ran one for 25 years. A Veolia waste plant was also seen which was processing sawmill waste into compost and dealing with other smelly waste. Amazingly there were also a few vintage tractors hiding in sheds just waiting for me to pass by and photograph them. Coffee and ... read more
The mouser
Sawmill

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Kastl June 19th 2023

Bavaria Day 14 Regensburg was very busy yesterday and as we rode through this morning it was very quiet with cleaning up going on. A good breakfast at the Am Peterstor hotel which set us up for another day’s cycling on a warm day with a bit of light rain late morning, after our coffee and cake in Kallmunz, which made us put on our train jackets. The scenery and terrain was much different today with some small hills, much more tarmac and good cafes. We passed several sawmills with no one working and a few farmers strawing out their hay and straw in the fields ready for baling. No punctures today since the gravel roads were few and not too long, thankfully. We came across a few old tractors at a small outdoor museum along ... read more
Regensburg clean up
High water mark.
Danger of DEATH

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Regensburg June 18th 2023

Bavaria Day 13 Heading north west today following the Danube (Donau) as much as possible up to Regensburg. There were a few deviations caused by work on flood defences, although not currently since the river is very shallow in places. We stopped at about 30k for coffee and cake vans then a brief stop in a bus shelter for a snack at about 70k. There was a large tour boat sailing down the river and some jet skies and motor boats flying around. There was plenty of wildlife with swans,geese, dragonflies, herons and ducks in abundance. Unfortunately there was about 50% of the way was in white gravel roads which were often in a straight line and below the river bank so quite tedious. The last 30k was smooth tarmac so much better. As we rode ... read more
Cruise ship
One of the old gates

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Deggendorf June 17th 2023

Bavaria Day 12 After a good breakfast at the Michel hotel in the beautiful town of Landshut we headed north again following the Isar River, which might sound nice but was a bit (actually a lot) tedious there were locks about every 10k and 50% of the way was gravel and in the woods, so not that interesting. My chain coming off was quite a welcome distraction. There was the odd sculpture and best of all the sighting of a Kingfisher taking its dinner in the river. Sadly no old tractors today, just some Porsche 911’s razzing up the Main Street in Plattling where we had our last break. The first break was at Dingolfing where I sampled a strawberry tart just to see if they were delicious or not. After Plattling the last 10k was ... read more
Heron

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Landshut June 16th 2023

Bavaria Day 11 Good breakfast again at the Star G Hotel. Everything is good about the hotel except the desk system. It could not cope with several bookings made in my name. It took 1/2 hr to check-in two days ago and 20 min to attempt to pay for the breakfasts. The system would not cope and hands were thrown into the air with no accurate resolution. The weather is still excellent for cycling and we headed through town to the English Garden and then joined the gravel cycle path which follows the river Isar for over 40km. It swaps sides on occasion, which made it more interesting riding that is apart from Shirley’s blowout on her tubeless tyre,caused by running over a stick. The grunge was wiped out and we fitted a tube in double ... read more
White Roads
Tyre repair

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Munich June 15th 2023

Bavaria D10 A so called rest day but first a comment on last night when we went to the local Italian restaurant L’angolo. It was understaffed run by just two women. No one came near us for 15 minutes or more and then the drinks came another 20 mins later and the food another 15. To be fair the food was very good, apart from one dish which had unknown peppers in which stripped the skin from a couple of throats. It was a reminder of how good Faulty Towers was as the woman in charge said on several occasions that she didn’t care, like when she brought a beer with no glass and a request for one was made. At the end she threw a fit when we wanted to pay our own bills. Mine ... read more
Gas Chamber
Furnace
Curried Bratwurst and Pommes

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Munich June 14th 2023

Bavaria D9 Last night’s Bavarian restaurant was very good and I had a very nice Deer Stew. The squares were very busy with people eating and drinking even when darkness fell. There are a few impressive buildings and churches around the centre. Once again, good to be out of the city and across rolling fields again. The villages are now pretty nondescript compared with the ones earlier on which had very pretty houses with exposed timbers and multi storied. They do though have loads of crosses with Jesus on them In their gardens and village greens. There are a number of old, small tractors still in use on the village farms with small trailers behind, some of which are converted muck spreaders. I went past a farm which smelt of hens so now I know where ... read more

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Augsburg June 13th 2023

Bavaria D8 Good breakfast across the road before setting off around 9am into a steady headwind across typical farmland and villages with fancy Maypoles with tinsel etc hanging from them. Passing through a village I found a shed full of beef cattle eating green grass, which must have been freshly cut. There was another farmer walking a calf across his yard to its cubicle. Today we spent more time alongside busy roads but we also had some stony tracks, which unfortunately decided to gain height as we approached. Not allowed. There are many hunters huts in the fields where the hunters look for their prey. There is also much winter timber supply by most houses in the country, which is pretty alien to us. Perhaps we should consider this for when they turn off our electricity ... read more
Golden Traube entrances
Electric paper towel dispenser.

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Nuremberg (aka Nürnberg) June 13th 2023

Bavaria D1 An uneventful drive in glorious weather across to Hull, apart from a suicidal deer leaping across the road in front of us, which we missed by approximately 36mm, before driving straight onto the overnight ferry. All you can eat evening meal and breakfast which was good and plenty of choice for increasing the waistline. I was cheated overnight since it said breakfast at 6.30 not knowing that it was 6.30 local time, and as this was 1 hr in front it meant getting up at 4.30. No wonder I am yawning. The motorways out of Rotterdam are very boring in flat country with modern industrial buildings and chemical works. Lorries account for about 25% of the traffic as we enter into farming country with dairy farms, grain crops and vegetables plus the odd large ... read more
The old wall in Nuremberg
Some of the group in Thai restaurant

Europe » Germany » Bavaria » Augsburg June 12th 2023

Bavaria D7 Breakfast was planned for 8am at by the hotel but I went down and they were ready for 7.30 so we got off to an earlier start on a longer day of 93k and 1000m of ascent. The weather was mid twenties again and an easterly wind which was not too bad a problem since we were heading south. Within 15k we came across a road blocked due to resurfacing but were able to travel on the open field for a way to get past them. The terrain was still arable but saw a few sheep, cows and horses in the fields today. The countryside was more rolling this far south with a few stiff climbs and levelling out towards our destination of Augsburg, where we crossed the Danube. Tomorrow we head east and ... read more
The road menders.




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