I just got back from a weekend in Hull with some mates - I cycled there and they brought me home. They are the same mates who are meeting me in Germany when I finish so it worked well as a test to make sure all the stuff goes in a car and the bike is ok on the back of a car. Sterling work Matthew, and Ms Cooper.
The plan was to leave friday afternoon as I had to work in the morning, do 80ish miles, camp somewhere and do the rest of the distance to Hull on saturday to make sure a: the kit is ok b: my legs are ok and c: I don't go mental on my own.
C: will be the biggest issue it appears :)
I packed up my panniers strapped on the tent set up the Garmin and left. The bike is so heavy!! I haven't weighed it yet but I suspect its between 20-25kg!! Slightly unpleasant uphills but thanks to Craig Mckee's upgrade shop, I have a giant cog (32!!) on the back to get me up the hills slowly but with no major drama.
82 miles went by pretty uneventfully apart from a horrifically scary section of the A1 (I think) and I arrived in Welton, just North of Lincoln feeling strong still. After getting bent over to the tune of £14 for a 2 man tent a a camp site, I grabbed a shower and went about setting up my shizz for the very first time.
Not a bad view to wake up to
The tent is awesome - Only 2Kg and plenty of room for me and the monsters I will undoubtedly wake up to in the middle of the night somewhere in Europe. Its a Quechua ultralight T2 pro if you're interested, which you probably aren't. in fact I'd be suprised if you're still reading!
More bending over ensued when I got dinner at the campsite which I didn't eat due to it being pretty rank. I decided instead of a dinner of kings, 3 Guiness and 2 packs of pork scratchings. WINNER.
Turns out a night on your own in a field is pretty boring, must address this. Maybe a harmonica, or something inflatable - WINK
Woke up to pissing rain, put off leaving as long a possible then just got wet, really, really wet. Once you are soaked though, all is ok. You can't get more wet so its ok, as long as you're moving. Legs felt good again and made it to Hull (53 miles) before 1pm - with the weather I was pleased with that. Here's me just getting to my bro's ringing out my gloves
note to self: get waterproof gloves.
I LIKE RIDING MY BIKE
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