Blogs from Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 23

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

Take a look at http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/jonnymuir/CountyTopsEW.php - this shows what hills/mountains I have climbed and when. And http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/jonnymuir/CountyTopsSC.php to show what's coming up. Click on the map to the right and it shows the random route I've had to take. It's not about facts and figures but so far 2,141 miles or 3,440 km and 47 hills and mountains. The River Trent marks the western border of Nottinghamshire with Lincolnshire. And in a small village called Newton-on-Trent there's a toll bridge over the river. Cars stop and drivers pay a man in a kiosk a few pence so they can cross. Then the attendant presses a button to raise a metal barrier. A sign instructed me that cyclists cross for free. I approached the barrier and thought there was room for me to squeeze through on the ... read more

Silverdale and Arnside We travelled up to Silverdale and Arnside, one of the gems of the west coast. Once again Leeds buses did their best to ruin our day as we set out early that morning - maybe we should have cycled to the station. Arriving over 15 minutes late at the railway station, we were just in time to miss our train to Carnforth. So, plan B involved going via Manchester, the long way round. Sitting opposite were some opinionated young travellers from across the Atlantic who made some very uninspired observations of the Lancashire sights along the way to their British host. For example, Chorley is not a commonplace name across the country, and it is not pronounced Charlie; Lancaster University is not a retirement home, nor is it a hotel. (I should ... read more

Well thats it! Stick a fork in me, I'm done! 30000 miles, 15 flights, 8 countries, several modes of transport and one sprained ankle. It's been a blast and the best experince of my life to date. If you where to ask me what the High's and Low's have been it would be hard to say for the highs but for the lows it's easy - going home, don't get me wrong I'm looking forward to seeing family and friends but there is so much more of the world to see. As for the Highs, it would be unfair to pick out one country or one thing that I did as it was all amazing, however, the thing that stands out the most has to be the people I've met. Different country's, cultures and languages but ... read more

Don't ask! LOL!!!!!! Anyhow peoples how ya'll doing??????????? AAaiigghhhttt!!!!! Hhhmmm laaa deeeeeee daaaaaaa!!!! Ok what has been happening.....I haven't been anywhere lately so can't give ya any stories on new places travelled to.....Life has just been life for a while...Oh Erin did come down a few weeks ago, so we spent the weekend touring around Manc, so that was cool.....We are of to Ireland in 2 weeks!!!!!!!......... Stories tooo tell!!!! Ooohhhhh public transport!!! OOooookkkkk here we go!!! I have been late to work twice this week and let me tell you why... Story 1.....was waiting for my bus at 6.40am on thursday...it doesn't show up until 7.20am....(bear in mind I had to start work at 8.30am and it generally takes me an hour and a half to get there).....So yes I missed my express train......Got on ... read more