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Published: April 7th 2013
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Jim, Karen, Kit, Kathy
Cross-training for the ride on snowshoes, Mt Tahoma trails, April 4. We think we are ready. (photo by Julie Bolt) Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye- So priketh hem Nature in hir corages- Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ... If our lives are a repeating cycle, like the seasons, then the springtime of life can happen more than once. The four of us: Kathy, Kit, Jim, and Karen, are experiencing new energy as we leave the world of full time jobs and discover (or invent) active retirements. Our ages span the first half of the 60s, a time of life, we are learning, that is characterized by a
hubris similar to that of people 40 years younger. The best thing about this age is that you are more likely to have the abilty to finance your dreams than
Jim, Kathy, and Kit
Looking west to Mount Adams on an earlier bike trip (May 2012) when you were just as consumed by wanderlust, but much poorer, in your 20s. The biggest challenge is to maintain your body so that it can act out those dreams. Pretty sure that we have both sufficient money and physical stamina (there's that
hubris), we are setting off to ride bicycles from one end of England to the other end of Scotland. Then we plan to see Scotland's Orkney and Outer Hebrides island groups by bicycle as well.
While our journey will not include Canterbury, we're planning to go through much of the rest of England. The general route is from Land's End to Bath, Oxford, York, and then to the North Sea coast and up to Scotland. The plan there is to pass through Edinburgh and Inverness, north through the center of the country and then along the northern coast east to John O'Groats at the northeast corner. Our planned route is about 1100 miles long, or about 25%!g(MISSING)reater than the typical cycling route taken by end-to-enders. But then again, we are planning to take a much longer time than the 10-day rapid end-to-end tours that many working people do. We are obviously determined to take advantage
Jim and Karen
Crossing Dungeness River on Olympic Discovery Trail bridge on another earlier bike trip (Sep 2011) of being free of having to work our adventures around job duties and annual leave. And, then there will be the excursion to the Orkneys (where the principal island is called "Mainland") and the linear tour of the Outer Hebrides to finish things off. Or, so we are planning.
So, how will this pilgrimage unfold? As we did in our 2011 trip to China, the four of us intend to take turns telling the story in this blog. Hopefully there will also be good photos, both taken with the regular camera and with my cool new GoPro (thanks Allan and Kimberly) that will be mounted to my handlebars at least some of the time. Two birthdays and one anniversary will be celebrated along the way, for sure, and we know there will be many other opportunities for revelry and excuses for quaffing pints of ale and cider and perhaps raising a glass or two of
uisge beatha when we get further north.
The adventure will begin April 17 when we fly from Seattle to London Gatwick (via Rekyavik, Iceland), thence to Penzance by train, about 24 hours for the entire journey. Then we'll rest a day in Penzance, assembling bicycles and adjusting to the new time zone. A short loop ride the following day will allow us to take the symbolic starting point photo at Land's End and get us back for another night in Penzance to make any needed bike adjustments. Then it's off to the north and east. Check in here to read all about it.
-- Kit
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Cami
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Here's wishing you a safe and thrilling adventure! I'll be enviously watching from my armchair. Good luck!