My top five magic moments on a bike in 2013

2013 has been a great year for me and cycling. I audaxed less, but deepened my involvement in the audax community. I couldn't travel abroad, but cycled in the UK more than ever before. I did less intentional 'training' than I had hoped, but found myself stronger than I ever have been. As has become my tradition, here are the most magical moments I've spent on a bike in 2013.

#1. Winding my way through the mountains on the west coast of Harris: Our tour of the Outer Hebrides in April was basically magical every moment. Harris' west coast was so beautiful, we rode it twice (in order to circumnavigate that island).

#2. Pedalling against the patriarchy on the hottest day of the year: As part of Rapha's Women's 100, some friends and I planned a Feminist 100km ride in East Anglia. I had so much fun cycling with only women, and being solely responsible for navigating was a great challenge that increased my confidence.

#3. Volunteering at the Loughton control of LEL: Ok, so I wasn't technically on a bike when we helped out at the start and end of LEL, but we did use our bikes to get there. Audax is a truly inspiring community, and LEL epitomises everything that is great about it. It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of it.

#4. Rolling into Oxford after completing the Poor Student Perm: I haven't audaxed much this year, and in fact approached the last month of the Audax season without a single completed ride. It felt good to complete an audax, but even better to finish feeling like I had ridden just at the limit of my ability, but not outside of it.

#5. Rolling along the A93 through Cairngorms National Park: On our second tour in Scotland this year, we crossed the Cairngorms one on of the best stretches of road we've ever been on -- the A93, a day and a half of pure cycling bliss. We enjoyed gorgeous weather, quiet roads, and the company of our good friend Mateo. 

2013 was our last year of cycling in the UK for quite some time. Although I am so excited for our next adventure, I'll really cherish these moments, and many others, of our time there.

My 2013 in pictures

As it has been the tradition for the past couple of years, here are some of my favourite pictures in 2013. 

January. Snowstorm in Epping Forest. This could well be a regular day in most of Scandinavia right now. But on a very cold and snowy Saturday morning, Dan and I set off to ride the fresh snow of the Epping Forest, still within the M25 of London. Even though we did not have any winter tyres, the snow was soft enough to allow some pleasant miles. 

February. Lucy (in pink at the front) leads a team of machacas including two serious ironmen triathletes down to Brighton. It was a typically English February morning, temperatures not much above 0 degrees celsius, damp roads and leafless trees. I rode this following a tough 200 km audax the day before, and could barely keep up with the guys (and girl!)

March. Pico Gallinero in the Spanish Pyrinees. Spain has some really good mountains, and lots of snow in the winter, despite what lots of people in the UK might think. It does get cold up there at 2600 m! I managed to pack a weekend full of off-piste skiing following a snowstorm the day before. 

April. The road to Tregaron on the Yr Elenith audax. This has to be one of the finest rides one can do in the UK. A 300 km audax, held in April, and superbly oganised by John Hamilton. It traverses Shropshire and goes into Mid Wales and back. The weather was typically Welsh (i.e. wet, windy, and cold) but I had a blast and wish I could return to these roads every now and then. Hugh, on the picture, kept me company most of the way.

April (II). Setting up camp in sunny  Hushinish. One of our most favourite cycling trips, if not the most, was to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. We had sun 80% of the time. This picture was taken in the idyllic Hushinish beach, where we camped with a view of South Harris

May. Somewhere in Wales, with already 300 km under our legs, on the Bryan Chapman. This was my second ever 600 km ride, and the highlight of my audax season. The aim was to cross Wales South to North and back down within 40 hours and 8000 m of climbing in between. We had great weather, not a single drop of rain, and lots of sun on the second day. The company couldn´t have been better: Javier, a super-fit Spaniard also living in London, led the group on numerous occasions and put up with me for 38 hours.

June. Wearing a headnet on the A838 near Tongue. Scotland is known for its stunning landscapes, fjords and friendly people. But also for its midges. On a warm and calm summer day in Scotland, you get lots of flying tiny biting insects called midges. They can easily ruin your evening, as was the case. We ate on the go (literally!) and with headnets on. So yes, the photo was not taken on a Cambodian floating market, despite all looks!

July. The start of the London-Edinburgh-London. Having decided against riding this 1400 km audax, we did not hesitate to volunteer and give something back to the community that had worked hard for us in may of our audaxes. We registered riders from all over the globe, made baguettes and teas, cleaned, fixed bikes, and ultimately had a great time and met lots of interesting people. If you don´t ride next time, make sure you volunteer!

August. 5:30 am. The start of the Old 240 (miles) audax. A very wet, cold and windy hilly 400 km ride through the Yorkshire Dales. It took us almost 25 hours of real tough riding, where I very nearly bailed out had it been a bit easier to get back to the start. I completed my second ever super randonneur series, this time with lots of climbing points

September. Riding along the Schuylkill river in Philadelphia. Not all has to be long distances, rocky trails or touring. On a visit to Lucy´s family in Philly, we took on the trails alongside the river and simply had a good time.

October. 8 pm at sunset. A short overnight solo trip to Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast. Other than a very stiff headwind on the following day, and some heavy rain overnight, it was great

November. After the gales and rain, the sun finally shone. As a good-bye England weekend trip, Lucy and I visited the Peak District National Park, where we endured some heavy rain but still had a great time. In the off-season is a great destination to go cycle-camping from London

December. A crisp start to our climb to Puerto de la Fuenfría in Madrid. Back to my beloved Sierra de Madrid. Even though it was sunny and mildly warm initially, we encountered so much snow on the way up that we had to abandon our plans to climb to the Bola del Mundo at 2200 m. It will have to wait to warmer times, or spiky tyres.

Scotland Tour Part 3: Durness back to Inverness

We woke up at our wild camping spot near the beach in Durness, to the sound of wind coursing around the tent, but at least the skies had cleared. It took us a bit of time to get going as we cooked up some sausages that we hadn't eaten the previous night, but soon we were making a beeline for the famous Durness chocolate place, Cocoa Mountain. We knew we had to go there since two different people on our way through Scotland had mentioned it! We had some delicious truffles and an absolutely incredible hot chocolate (with the price tag to match). It truly lived up to the hype! (Alberto also left some lenses for his sunglasses there and they were kind enough to send them to us back in London!)

Delicious chocolate from Cocoa Mountain in Durness

The sun was shining and the orientation of the building was blocking the wind, so we were in no real hurry to get going. Another touring cyclist turned up, Jimmy, from near Pitlochry in the Cairngorms. He was really interesting and we enjoyed a long chat with him before we parted ways, although we were both headed in the same direction so we thought we may run into him on the road.

It seemed to take ages to get going from Durness. We went to explore some of the beach views, stocked up on groceries and dealt with other 'admin' like getting cash and fuel for the stove, and before we knew it it was past 3pm before we left for the day.

Checking out the Durness beaches

It didn't matter too much (or so we thought) as we were planning a short day to Tongue, only about 50km away. We pedalled out of Durness under sunny skies, but things started to cloud over soon afterwards. Still, we had great views of the sea and then around Loch Eriboli. Alberto's map had indicated that there was a town called Polla on the route, which means somehing naughty in Spanish so we had to take a detour to see if we could find a sign for the Spaniards to pose in front of. Alas, it wasn't to be, so we were back on the road to Tongue and had seemingly picked up a headwind as we had to climb a long hill over the headland.  It was beautiful cycling, but pretty tough, especially considering it was supposed to be an easy day!

Climbing and climbing some more

We finally made it to Tongue around 7pm. Ran into Jimmy again who had arrived a few hours earlier and was just finishing up a pub dinner (he advised us not to eat there!). He was staying in the youth hostel, but the prices were pretty steep and there was no reason why we couldn't camp so we set out in search of a camp spot. The midges had already picked up in Tongue so we were in search of the windiest spot we could find. We finally decided to camp in the picnic area on the bridge across the Kyle of Tongue. We were not hidden in any way, but that's one of the pleasures of Scotland where wild camping is legal.

Idyllic camp spot

We set up the tents and started getting dinner ready. It was an absolutely stunning spot, but as the sun started to set, the wind died down and out came the midges. As midges don't bother you while you're in motion, we decided to eat while walking around in circles! It kind of worked. It was a shame we couldn't stay out longer to enjoy the views, but as it was we dived into the tents as soon as possible.

Eating and walking

There was a breeze again in the morning which meant no midges over breakfast, so that was good! We had some porridge while a busload of tourists pulled up to take pictures of the views. We went to the shop in Tongue but the selection wasn't great, just some junk food to tide us over, and after brushing our teeth at the public toilets in town, we were on our way.

It was a pleasant first 25km to the only town in this section, Altnaharra, where we ran into two cyclists going in the opposite direction and made a quick stop in the pub. There were some midges about now, so we pressed on until we found a spot high up on a plateau with a bit of breeze where we had some lunch.

Rolling towards Lairg 

We had a bit of on-off rain so it was difficult to get the right layers of clothing on, but it was a pleasant ride into Lairg, where we pulled in about 5pm. We could have continued on, but the sun had come out, and we fancied a shower and some local food, so we made our way to the campsite. We all had a good shower, 20p each (I think Alberto used two) and I even paid 20p extra to use the hairdryer which always makes such a difference to me when we're on tour.

Lairg campsite

Dinner was some venison burgers, plus smoked salmon and smoked mackerel for the boys. The midges started to come out again just as we finished dinner. Lairg is known for bad midges and were indeed the worst of the trip by far. So we dived into our tents about 8:30pm and listed to the sound of thousands of midges landing on the tent. A truly unique sound!

The following morning the midges were still out in force, so we cut our losses and decided to have breakfast in the restaurant attached to the campsite. It was a pretty good breakfast, and we were extremely glad not to have to deal with the midges. We got on the road to head to Keith's house, our warmshowers host who we had stayed with at the end of our last tour of Scotland as well, taking it easy because we knew he wouldn't be around til the evening.  We surprised ourselves by making such good time, and before we knew it we were back on somewhat familiar territory, passing parts of the road that we skipped with our off-road detour on the way north, and eventually meeting up with our outward route near Evanton.

View of the Black Isle

Group shot!

We were getting close to Keith's house and it was still on the early side, so we stopped in Beauly, which I remembered wanting to check out the last time we went through it. We explored the shops and had an end-of-tour treat at a cafe with delicious cake, and then made our way to Keith's house where we arrived just a few minutes before he did.

Yum!

Keith is an excellent host, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner al fresco with a roaring fire, truly a great end to the trip. It was only a shame that once again we missed his wife Sarah, as she was busy riding across the US! After another excellent evening it was off to bed before cycling into Inverness for the morning train back to London. Another truly excellent tour of Scotland, by now firmly establishing itself as the best place to cycle in the UK.

Scotland Tour Part 2: Inverness - Durness

We were stocking up in a large Tesco on the outskirts of Inverness when the skies opened up to give us our first rain of the trip. We decided to shelter under an awning of the store and eat a leisurely lunch. The rain had stopped by the time we were done but it had also become late afternoon without us realising it. We knew we wanted to carry on out of the built-up areas around Inverness to find a place to wild camp so we decided to get started.

No sooner had we gotten into Inverness proper than we had to stop again. We passed by Velocity cycle cafe and felt we just had to go in for a coffee! They were really friendly in there and we discussed our tour and the dreaded midges that we were sure to encounter. It was worth the stop but it was nearly 7pm by the time we were actually rolling out of Inverness and across the Kessock Bridge.

We cycled through the Black Isle and then up through Dingwall, which was full of rude drivers. A long, gradual downhill then took us to Evanton where we stopped at the Co-op for a snack to fuel us on  for a few more hours. We all craved sugar but made the rookie error of stuffing our faces with sweet treats -- as soon as we were on the bikes again we all started to regret it and it was a bit of a struggle to keep our stomachs under control.

Ill-advised wild camp spot

We were having trouble finding somewhere to camp as everything seemed to be farmland. Finally we found a wooded area -- sure to be full of midges, and the ground wasn't exactly level, but beggars can't be choosers and it was 10pm so we decided to set up camp. We cooked dinner in our midge hats and got in the tents as soon as possible. Alberto and I had pitched our tent on top of a (invisible) large depression in the ground which meant we kept rolling in on each other. On top of that,  rained overnight which always wakes us up. It wasn't a great night's sleep.

There were a few midgies left the next morning so we boiled some water for coffee and tea, headnets still on, and then packed up and got out of there as quickly as possible. We were headed for a trail that Alberto had spotted on google maps before the trip, which would take us to Croick.

On the trail to Croick

We had 25km off-road to Croick, along an old dirt road. It wasn't as fast going as the road but the scenery was so rewarding. Apart from one section where boulders had been put in place (presumably to stop cars from being able to navigate the path) the trail was relatively good.

Climbing over the boulders blocking the path

As we pulled into Croick it started raining slightly, so we made our was to Croick church where we sheltered and ate some lunch. Croick church is a minor tourist attraction in the highlands due to the messages that the tenants of the surrounding glen scratched into the window glass on the day of their eviction as part of the Highland Clearances. I was glad we got a chance to see it.

The rain had mainly cleared up and we headed back onto a trail after Croick, another 20km or so leading to Oykel Bridge on the A837. This one hadn't been planned ahead of time but we could see the trail on our GPS and it would save us quite a few kilometers, so we decided to give it a go.

The trail conditions were not as good as the morning's ride, with more loose rocks and other obstacles, but again  the views were spectacular. Still, I was really ready for tarmac after a few hours on those trails.

More trails on the way to Oykel Bridge

At Oykel Bridge we stopped in a hotel to fill our water bottles. We had hoped to maybe have a coffee after so many hours without the comforts of civilisation but didn't find anyone there to ask. Shortly afterwards, the rain started again in earnest, and when we rolled past the Altnacealgach Motel at around 5pm we were happy to come in out of the rain and have soup and a hot drink.

Walking into the motel bar we were made fun of by the other patrons -- they suggested we save up and buy a car! The owners were friendly and made the soup especially for us. They also told us about their bunkhouse and offered us a special price on it, seeing as it was quite late in the evening and no one had booked in yet. After a bit of deliberation we decided it was worth it--it was still very windy and rainy outside and besides, the next day was my birthday!

As if the prospect of a warm shower and a dry bed wasn't good enough, the owners gave us some fresh trouts, literally caught in the loch that day, that we could cook in the bunkhouse! I'm not big into fish but Alberto and Mateo were thrilled beyond belief. We enjoyed the relative luxury of the bunkhouse and drifted to sleep with the wind still howling outside.

Fresh trout from the loch!

We had a birthday treat of a full English breakfast the next morning and reluctantly got bundled up to head into the wind and rain which had not abated overnight. It was a tough day on the bike. Fortunately the wind was mainly behind us as we turned onto the North & West Highlands Tourist Route -- although every now and then we would turn a corner or hit a descent and be hit with a sudden gust of crosswind. It was one of those full-soaking kinds of rain.

All bundled up!

We made it to Scourie Bay by early afternoon. On the way into town we passed a sign advertising home-smoked salmon so the boys stopped in and bought some from an older gentleman who smoked it in his backyard. We then found refuge in the bar of the Scourie campsite where I treated the boys to lunch and we dried out our clothes for a bit.

A rare moment of dryness

We knew we'd have a strong tailwind the rest of the way to Durness so we decided to continue on. Lo and behold, the rain stopped just as we rolled into town and we were able to pick up some food from the Spar and search out a wild camp spot that had at least some shelter from the wind. The high winds ensured that the midges were nowhere to be found and we cooked up a nice dinner of local sausages.

Durness wild camp spot

The beach near our campsite

I was sorry the weather meant that we couldn't enjoy the scenery as much as we would have liked, but it was a spectacular day's ride nonetheless.

(to be continued!)

Scotland Tour Part 1: Edinburgh - Inverness

When events conspired to force us to cancel our planned tour of Iceland, we knew we had to do something to console ourselves. A trip to our favorite place for cycling in the UK was called for, and with our good friend (and cycle touring newbie) Mateo in tow.

We got an early morning train to Edinburgh, and before we knew it we were pushing our bikes out of Waverly station and into the bright Edinburgh sunshine. It was definitely above 20 C (70 F) and the town centre was full of people out enjoying the good weather. We took Mateo on a quick tour of the main sights, since he had never been, and walked our bikes up to Edinburgh Castle to get the obligatory start-of-tour photo. By the time we were ready to set off Northwards, it was 3pm.

Edinburgh Castle

We took a mainly traffic-free route out of Edinbugh, along the coast and then across the Forth Road Bridge. It was only a few hours into the ride but we were already worrying about a noise that Mateo's (£100) bike was making so when we passed a bike shop in Inverkeithing we stopped to get it checked out. The guys were just finishing up for the day but they took the time to investigate -- they were mystified as well but when they eventually decided to try and tension the spokes, they all started breaking! So Mateo bought a new wheel and lo and behold, the noise was gone!

Forth Railway Bridge

We continued on, following NCN route 1 and later route 775. Some sections were a bit obnoxious, offering the choice between bumpy pavements or a relatively busy road, but we eventually came on to quieter roads. We found ourselves in Kinross at around 8pm and stopped to pick up food and water for a wild camp. We also had a quick snack to keep us going as we looked for a place to camp -- I managed to try my first macaroni pie which I absolutely loved!

As we headed on from Kinross we were looking for places to camp, but it actually took a while to find something. Everything was farmland and little towns. Finally, around 9:30pm, we found an excellent spot. It was a big hump in a field, just off the road but because it was raised we were not visible from the road. It required a bit of effort to get up there, but it was great. We set up camp and cooked our pasta and pork steaks for dinner and enjoyed the light evening even though it was past 11pm.

Great wild camp spot

The following morning we woke up and had a breakast of tea and biscuits, broke camp and were on the road around 10:30am. We passed through the town of Bridge of Earn shortly afterwards and then made it to Perth where we were ready for a second breakfast. This bit of the route was not particularly pleasant so we used the GPS to take us on quieter roads after Perth.

We stopped in Coupar Angus to buy lunch for later. From there it was on to Blairgowrie, the gateway to the Cairgorms, and navigation became a non-issue as we were on the only road around (the A93) for about 50km. We had a funny moment on this stretch of road when Mateo was taking a 'natural break', lost his balance with his bike, and peed on himself!

Entering the Cairngorms

By about 5pm we had made it to Spitall of Glenshee where we stopped in the bar of the hotel/lodge to have a hot drink and refill the water bottles. Then it was time for the serious climb up to Glenshee, up to the highest paved road in Scotland. It was a long climb (by UK standards!), gentle for the majority of it and kicking up to a 12% grade towards the end.

Climbing Glenshee (photo credit: Mateo Cordoba)

Finally we reached the top, and put on our waterproofs to provide a windbreak on the descent. And what a descent it was! It lasted all the way to Braemar, where we stopped to buy dinner and pick up water. We headed out of Braemar to find somewhere to camp, and found something only a few km later. Luckily for Mateo it put us at 101km for the day -- his first metric century!

We were in a wooded area near a river, so there were some midges to contend with, but not too bothersome. Alberto and Mateo used their Spanish ingenuity to whip up a stew with carrots, potatoes, meatballs, rice, and tomato. It was delicious! We had Scottish Strawberries for dessert and went to bed with the light finally fading at 11:30. The entire A93 had been one of the best roads we've ever cycled.

View from our wild camp spot outside Braemar

Yummm

The first stop the following morning was Balmoral Castle - not to actually see the castle itself but to get some water at the vistor's centre nearby. It was a nice sunny day again as we pedalled up the small B976 and then the A939. The climbing wasn't over and we had a couple of pretty steep climbs and not much in the way of towns for most of the morning. We were thrilled to have sunny weather - you could even consider it a bit too hot for all the climbing we were doing!

Enjoying the views in the Cairngorms

In the early afternoon we came upon Cock Bridge, the second highest paved road in the UK. It looked very intimidating, even from afar. Fortunately just as the climb began there was a pub which we stopped at to have a bit of food (not too much or else it would surely come back up somewhere further up the climb!). The only other patron in the pub struck up a conversation with us and next thing you know he was sharing his views on a number of different subjects. It was interesting to say the least!

With a bit of sustenance we set out to tackle the climb from Cock Bridge. It was a 20% incline immediately after the pub, and we all struggled! But we all made it up to the ski resort and then began the descent, during which we passed the largest number of touring cyclists anywhere on the trip (who were all climbing up from the North). We rolled downhill all the way into Tomintoul, a cute town which clearly does well with tourists. It was still such a beautiful day that we bought some snacks from a shop and sat in the sun for a while.

The climb after Cock Bridge

By the time we made it to the next town, Nethy Bridge, the shops had closed -- it seemed we had entered an area where shops were closing at 6pm. Had we known, we could have gone to the bigger town of Grantown, but oh well. We decided our best option would be to go to the campsite in Boat of Garten and find dinner in a pub since we didn't have a lot of supplies for dinner. This all worked well until we got to the pub and were told that they had too many customers to give us dinner! Didn't seem that busy too us, but the pub was a bit posh so maybe they just didn't want to serve the smelly cyclists. Either way, we headed back to the campsite and made do with the emergency food and leftovers in our panniers. Cous cous and risotto fit the bill and we were in bed by 11pm, still with plenty of daylight!

Alberto made a trip to the camp's store in the morning and came back with several exciting breakfast options, including eggs, which turned out not to be that exciting when it came time to washing up the pots. Still, we enjoyed a good breakfast and then headed out to do the 70km to Inverness.

It was mainly downhill and we were motivated to make good time, so we didn't stop much, apart from a quick trip to the Tomatin Whisky Distillery where we had a wee taste and look around their shop. By 2pm we were rolling into Balloch, on the outskirts of Inverness, to restock in the large Tesco there.

Whisky tasting

(to be continued!)

Outer Hebrides Tour Part VI: Ullapool - Inverness

(Editor's note: We seem to have gotten a bit behind in posting our touring entries! This blog is the last in  our series about our April tour to Scotland, not to be confused with our June tour to Scotland which we promise will be written up in better time than this one was!)

We docked at Ullapool in the evening and headed to the campsite (which was conveniently located about 30 seconds from the ferry dock) where we had a bit of trouble finding a place to set up the tent as the grass was only superficial on most of the site with hard surface underneath. The campsite is nothing special, although it does enjoy a nice view of the water which is a plus.

Checking out the views from the edge of the campsite in Ullapool

We set up the tent and set off to explore Ullapool. After checking out literally the entire town (it's not very big) we ended up at a pub near the campsite where there was a special deal on fish and chips, so we both ordered that. It was nice to have a somewhat special dinner in a restaurant on our last night camping.

We woke up the following morning to the sound of rain on our tent -- for the first time ever with this tent! Fortunately it didn't last too long but the chilly temperatures and wet tent kept us moving rather slowly so that we didn't actually get on the road til almost 10:30.

We had a big climb out of Ullapool and it started raining lightly. We stopped at the top of the climb to put waterproofs, which clearly meant the rain stopped about five minutes later.

Traffic was relatively light on the A835 (certainly by Southeast standards!) and most of the cars left plenty of room when they passed. It helped that we had waited until after the big rush from the morning ferry arrival had passed.

Ullapool dock in the morning

The major roads make cycling so much faster and the chilly and cloudy weather meant we weren't really interested in stopping that much, so we were making good time. We stoped just before Garve to make a quick sandwhich, and again at a roadside cafe in Tarvie for some tea and cakes.

On the A835 to Inverness

We decided that we were making such good time that we could afford to divert to Strathpeffer which Alberto had been curious about, mainly because of the Strathpuffer 24 hour race that takes place there in winter. It was a cute town, though nothing too special, and after wandering about a bit we phoned our Warmshowers hosts Sarah and Keith. They were at home and gave us some directions to their house, so we set off from Strathpeffer just as it started to rain again.

In a little over an hour we arrived at their cottage in Kirkhill just as the rain began to get heavier. It was such a relief to come into their warm house with a fire going in the sitting room. We showered and ate a delicious meal that Keith cooked for us and enjoyed chatting about bikes, Scotland, and lots more with Keith (Sarah had to go work the night shift). As we sat in the comfort of their living room it started to snow, lightly at first and then more heavily. We were so grateful to be sleeping indoors in such a lovely and comfy house! It was our first time using Warmshowers but certainly won't be our last.

Leaving Keith & Sarah's house in Kirkhill

We got up early the next morning and as the snow continued to fall we headed the 15km or so in to Inverness. It was extra rewarding to arrive at the station in Inverness freezing cold and wet from the snow, to get on the train and change into warm clothes for our 8 hour journey back to London through the snowy highlands and down the East Coast mainline.

We loved our 9 days in Scotland and vowed to return as soon as possible - turns out that was June (stay tuned for that story in the future!).