Thanks to Karin the Genius, my VDO bike computer keeps track of the altitude again. That makes me very happy but I sure wish my crappy, expensive Garmin 62stc GPS kept track of the elevation. I also found my bike gloves that I thought I lost a while ago. They were tucked into the pocket in the back of my rain jacket. Oops.

Tomorrow I’m back on the road. Where I go is a big if. If I feel like putting up with the weather I’m going to Loch Ness which is about 4 days riding north of here. Then I cut across and down to Campbeltown and take the ferry to Northern Ireland. If the weather is driving me insane I’m just going straight across to Campbeltown. I’ll decide tomorrow morning while I’m riding. I did hear that the weather is supposed to stabilize and get better… in mid June.

There was a quick 7 minute ferry ride to cross the river in South Shields (to North Shields) and then it was mostly dirt trails to where I ended up camping that night. The place was called Proctor’s Stead. It was $12.95 US to camp. The hot shower was free and the old guy running the place was very friendly. He said in 55 years he never remembers it raining this much in the spring. I couldn’t tell you what the weather was like a year ago wherever I was so he has an amazing memory.

My right pedal started making a clicking noise a couple days ago and today it started getting progressively worse rather fast. Knowing it could seize up at any moment I started asking people if they knew where a bike shop was. As luck would have it there was one in the town of Bedlington not too far from where I was. The guy running the shop was extremely helpful and happened to have a new set of Shimano reversible clipless pedals (SM PD-22). They weren’t quite the same as I had before but they look durable enough. They were $42 US (or $28 in the States). I’m surprised the old set of pedals didn’t last that long. The first ones I left Florida with held out for 17,120 miles. These last ones only lasted 9,996 miles although there was a lot more hill climbing (more rotations) after Ecuador heading south.

Beautiful riding along the North Sea. It was the weekend so lot’s of bird watchers, dog walkers (booo) and families out taking advantage of the rare sunshine. I stuck my head inside the wall and took a picture of the ruins of Warkworth Castle but was too cheap to pay the entrance fee. It dates back to the 12th century. I did love the look of the old ruins sitting up over the village. Very cool looking.

The rain held off until about 1pm and then a few showers came through. After that it was nice again. Knocked out 52 miles. The bike route I’m on, Route 1, has been signposted pretty well but there’ve been a few spots that need some work. At one point I ended up pushing through a muddy field because the trail kind of just dissolved into a parking lot with a bunch of different ways to keep going, none of them marked and straight not being an option.

The next day was a mess. Winds of 30 mph gusting to probably 50. No rain until the afternoon but the wind more than made up for that. Managed to get in 62 miles of riding. Took me four tries to find campsite that allowed tent camping and by that point I was so tired I just paid the $27 US. That makes Crosslaw Caravan Park in Coldingham, Scotland the new record holder for the highest I’ve paid for camping in 3 years. At least wild camping is legal in Scotland provided you camp 100 meters away from the road and you are not in an enclosed space. We’ll see how this works out. I managed to scare a deer at one point. Poor thing kept running down the road trying to get away but couldn’t get into the trees because of the fence.

Today was a bit better with the wind but not much. Had a couple rain showers come through but the sun peaked through every once in a while to cheer me up. Made it into Edinburgh after 55 miles. One fun part was going through the Innocent Railway tunnel under Holyrood Park. It was the first railway tunnel in the UK and has since been converted into a ped/bike path. At 1050 feet it was the longest tunnel I’d ever been through. Staying here for 3 nights with a host from warmshowers.org (Ewan).

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I’m not having much luck finding actual campgrounds. I downloaded this list of CG’s from a web site called Archies Campings but a lot of the sites, as I’m finding out when I arrive, are for members only. They are also geared toward RVs so unless they have a space dedicated to tents only (maybe half do) the sites cost a fortune. This one cost me $20.48 US (White Water Park in the city of Stockton-On-Tees). Again, just a hunk of grass and a hot shower.

I found a place that shows tent sites but they don’t have anything you can download for offline use. That means I need internet to check and I have to plan for each day where I want to ride. I hate having to do that but if I get stuck on the road I have to pay for a hotel which is what I had to do the next night. Or I need to buy a cell phone so I can call first.

Similar problems with camping today. The first place allowed tent camping but the office was closed from 12pm to 4pm. I got there at 3:30pm. Of course it had been cold and raining all day and I didn’t feel like hanging around so I left for the next place a couple miles down the road. I got there only to find out that this one hasn’t allowed tent camping in 6 years. Well maybe get a new sign on the highway (right where the first place was) so people know?

In the town of South Shields I finally spotted a hotel/pub called Douglas Vaults Hotel. The room is an amazingly low $40 US. The shower is shared but everything is very clean. Free wifi even.

Lot’s more muddy off road riding today. I probably spent 90% of the day on dirt. No real bad spots and the rain kept my chain from getting too mucked up. It was pretty nice riding along the North Sea. I suppose I was in the Netherlands for a bit but this was way more how I thought it would be–cold, windy, rainy and with a lighthouse.

Not 3 minutes after leaving the campground this morning a guy says, “Looks like you got a lot of baggage there.” I’m starting to think this isn’t a hot spot for long distance bicycle touring. He was the only person that said anything to me all day. People stopped saying hi for some reason. I think the change happened around York.

Oh, and rabbits are not as harmless as people may think. One of the little monsters must have ducked under my tent fly last night and made off with the Ortlieb bag I keep my oatmeal in. It was laying about 20 feet from my tent this morning. Fortunately it wasn’t gnawed through.

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York’s centre is enclosed by the city’s medieval walls so I went up and checked that out first. This was about 9am and hardly anyone else was there. By 10am the tourists had thawed out and things were much busier. No cars though. During the day they are not allowed in the city center. Love that idea.

I covered just about everything including Clifford’s Tower, the now-ruinous keep built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of York. I also walked down The Shambles, a narrow medieval street famous for…I guess just shopping. I even broke down and paid the entrance fee for York Minster, a Gothic cathedral, one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe that dates back to 627 AD. There was a “tour” of the tower that you can pay extra for ($10 US). I did that and climbed up many, many narrow, windy steps to the top. The view was worth it. On a clear day they say you can even see London.

The traffic was getting to be a little much on the highway so I headed off along some quieter roads not too far from York. This worked out much better and once I was in the city there was a well-developed bike trail that I followed all the way into the city center.

I went to the tourist information building to see if they could help me find accommodations but going in meant leaving my bike unattended so I left. Finding a place turned out to be very easy. There were lot’s of guesthouses and B&B’s just outside the old city walls. I stopped at the first one and got a decent room for $63 US a night. The room even has a private bath–been a while since I had that luxury. Breakfast is also included. The bed is tiny though. Update: the next morning I accidentally ripped the curtains down (this is before I had coffee). I told the lady and they ended up moving me into the next room which is double the size with a huge bathroom and a 4 poster bed. Same price.

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Now other things are starting to annoy me which is bumping up my aggravation level. This staring thing is starting to drive me crazy. It’s a freaking bicycle people! I wish I had horse blinders. Yes, I know someone (Dad) is going to say, “well then don’t look at them…” but it doesn’t work like that–when you are riding toward them it’s not like you can just stare at your handlebars.

And if one more person says something stupid like, “Looks like you got everything but the kitchen sink there!” I’m going to say, “Looks like you got a hell of a black eye there!” as I dive off my bike and start pummeling them.

Honking is also popular in these parts. All were supposed to be the friendly kind to cheer me on or something but what makes someone think I want a horn blasting in my ear from 5 feet away? Then I get some fat, doughy guy with an IQ of 60 honking because I was out a little far from the edge going down a hill. Dumbass, the road is falling apart–there are huge potholes everywhere. Does it look like I can bunny-hop over them? I gave him a gesture so he knew how I felt about the whole thing (Not the finger. I’m in Britain–I have to be civilized).

Peaks National Park is supposed to be very popular which means traffic is likely even worse. I can’t even imagine what a nightmare that would be. I’ve already been thinking about just jumping on a train and not even riding the rest of England it’s been so bad. That’s only twice in 3 years I’ve considered not riding. They have more traffic on the roads here than anywhere I’ve ever been.

I did get to ride through Sherwood Forest which was actually very enjoyable because it was quiet and there were some good dirt trails. “Major Oak” is the big attraction. This was supposedly Robin Hood’s main rest area. The branches are so heavy that they built support beams to hold the lower ones up. It weighs an estimated 23 tonnes, has a girth of 33 feet (10 meters) and is about 800–1000 years old.

Trying to find a place to camp turned out to be an adventure. The first two places turned out to be member only sites. Unfortunately I have no way of knowing this because on my GPS they all look the same. I ended up having to ride back south for a couple miles (and uphill of course) to Country Park CG near some place called Thrybergh. They wanted $21 US to camp and that’s without showers because they are being renovated. The lady was completely unhelpful. First she’s like, “That’s just how much it is. Nothing I can do about it…” after I question the price (nicely) since there’s not even a shower. Then she wasn’t even going to let me stay there because they have a policy where you have to reserve a spot seven days in advance.

Thank goodness the guy sitting there had some sense. He reassured me that I could stay and lowered the price down to a much more reasonable $9 US. In your face lady. $9 US for a patch of grass and not even a hot shower, still a joke. I thought the US was bad for over-doing the whole capitalist mentality thing. They’ve gone off the deep end here.

No rain today! Cold though–the north wind is brutal. Never saw the sun. I think I need to start drinking beer again. Usually when I’m really venting I go back and delete everything I wrote before I post it. It’s just good to get it off my chest. I think I’m keeping this one though. My psychologist can refer to it later as the straw.

Update: 7pm and the rain starts.

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The big attraction is Nottingham Castle which, as it turns out, is no longer a castle. It was largely destroyed in 1649. Now there’s a mansion that’s been there since 1679. This building doubles as a museum and art gallery. Nottingham Castle was also where the final showdown between the Sheriff of Nottingham and that Robin Hood guy took place.

Back on the road in the morning heading for Sherwood Forest and then up to York via Peak District National Park which is supposed to be quite nice (and hilly). The weather is supposed to be reasonable–maybe just a little rain but cold (low down to freezing and a high of 48F).

I only had my little camera today so the pictures are terrible. Didn’t get to see the sun at all.

Left London Saturday morning under gray skies and light rain. Nothing changed all day and it ended up being a wet, windy, cold ride with way more traffic than I would have liked (45F all day with headwind but I was warm all bundled up). Stayed that night at a CG in the village of Fowlmere after riding a little more than 50 miles up and down some steeper than expected hills (Appleacre Park – $10 USD). The hot (pay) shower that night was incredible. The guy was nice and let me pitch my tent under some trees to get out of the rain a bit.

My week long stay in London was the best and I can’t thank Alex and Ping enough for letting me stay with them. They are both extremely friendly and went out of their way to make me feel at home. I’ll always look back and remember them as my favorite part of staying in London.

The next day was just as wet, cold and windy (actually much windier) than the day before so I stayed put for the day. Glad I had a book to read. I’m thinking about getting a Kindle (again) because who doesn’t tour without a laptop, Ipod Touch and a Kindle? Actually I know a guy so I wouldn’t be alone. The 3G version would be nice since free internet is non-existent and I think you can check email with them? Update: checked later and yes, you can read/reply to email with the browser using 3G. The Kindle Touch 3G in the States sells for $189. Or you can buy an ad-supported one for $139 that’s not available in the UK. The $189 one in the States costs $85 more here. If I could get a hold of the ad-supported one I could save $135 (on something that costs $139!!!). I may start being really nice to someone soon. This also illustrates something I’m becoming acutely aware of in Europe–things cost 49% more but they aren’t 49% better. The hot and cold water doesn’t even come out of the same tap–that’s not better! What gives? I read quite a bit about this and all I got was blah, blah, blah, things are more expensive here. Some things make a little sense: hotels and campgrounds–land/property is expensive. Beer–something has to pay for the health care. Explain the Kindle price difference though. Labor costs? No. Transportation costs? No. Gouging because you can?

Monday morning was perfect. The sun was out in force and it was much warmer (68F). The wind was pretty strong but for most of the day I had it from the side or as a tailwind. I stopped and talked to a German guy a couple weeks into his tour of the UK although he is also renting cars and taking buses. He stayed in a hotel for the last 2 days because of the weather so I didn’t feel so bad.

The prestigious Cambridge University was my first stop. I didn’t actually stop because the weather was so nice but it looked fancy enough. Some famous people who roamed (or still roam) the halls are Charles Darwin, Steven Hawking and Issac Newton.

Next was the town of Ely. The towering cathedral, known officially as The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely , dates back to 1109 AD. It was visible from quite far away which I found out later as I was trying to leave and could never get it out of my sight. I rode around, took some pictures, grabbed some fish and chips for lunch and headed out. I was planning to head north a bit more but then saw that the track my GPS was on was going to take me on a dirt road. I changed the route preferences to avoid what was sure to be a mud bath and still ended up on one (that wasn’t too bad). It looks like I tried really hard to avoid places with the word “witch” in them.

It’s time to start bashing on England a little now. I’ve held off until now but it’s time to go Argentina on it. What is up with the traffic? All the roads are packed! It doesn’t matter if the roads start with A, B or N; they are all busy, all day, every day. The unlettered roads–the local ones that I’d much prefer to be on, never seem to go where I want without adding 50% to my miles for the day (slight exaggeration but not much). Traffic on them is not bad but still a car will go whizzing by every couple minutes. The really quiet ones like this I run into maybe 5% of the time.

And the prices… I covered that with the Kindle so I’ll just focus on the quality of campgrounds. They stink. Every one of them has been a hunk of wet grass that in the States you would pay $5 US for (State Park–private CG maybe $7 or $8). The average here is about $14 US and you get nothing. No picnic table, no raised tent sites, no water close by, grumpy managers, crappy showers (usually), no book exchange, no shelters to hang out in or maybe pitch your tent under, no electric and no wifi (electric is about $5 US more and wifi typically costs at least $8 US for a couple hours if they have it). There are a hell of a lot of rabbits so that’s cool at least. I might start eating them to keep the costs down.

Here’s what I like about England to balance it out: the people have been incredibly friendly–one kid (10 years old) asked me yesterday if he could help load my groceries onto the bike. The drivers are a bit nuts going so fast but they are fine. The scenery for a pretty flat country is rather beautiful. Although I’m not going into any of them because they cost too much, all the old buildings are impressive. The girls in London were quite OK to look at. Not one stupid dog has chased me in the 12 days I’ve been here. Several have wanted to but they were locked up like all dogs should be.

I ended up staying Monday night in Ferry Meadows Caravan Club Site outside Peterborough after a 75 mile day. That was $15.45 US and yep, it’s just a patch of grass. The showers were free at least. The River Nene running through the city was very high and there was a bit of flooding. I ended up having to detour a few times because the path was covered in water.

Terrible weather again today. Actually it started raining yesterday evening and didn’t stop all night. They are calling this “one of the wettest Aprils on record”. No kidding. While there was a break in the rain this morning I packed up and left. It rained all day and it was nice and cold again. Managed to ride 55 miles to a CG called National Water Sports ($12.87 to camp–terrible shower with scalding hot water that you can’t adjust, no internet/tables/rain shelter/dryer for clothes). There was a place up the road, Thortons Holt, that wanted $22.53 US to camp–needless to say I left.

The route I took was a bit devoid of things to see but I did go through the quite charming town of Stamford, famous for its medieval core of 17th–18th century stone buildings and its annual fair that dates back to the middle ages. The fair was even mentioned in Shakespeare’s Henry IV part 2 (it’s amazing the things I know–jk, thanks wiki).

Tomorrow I have a very short ride into the city center where I’m going to find a hostel and visit for a day. I really need to wash my muddy clothes and find some white gas for my stove. I think I might buy an umbrella too. That’s what I get for leaving my other one in Florida.

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As far as pictures today was kind of a bust. It rained a lot so none really turned out very well but seeing everything in person was unforgettable. Some things were just guy things that I had to see of course: Scotland Yard, MI6 headquarters (like the CIA in the States), the 10 Bells Pub, a place frequented by the victims of Jack the Ripper and the Sherlock Holmes museum. I even managed to track down the crosswalk on Abbey Road made famous by The Beatles. I could have spent days just riding up and down side streets checking everything out.

Some things I found odd. Piccadilly Circus. What is it? I know what it isn’t. It’s not Times Square, it’s not a park, it’s not a circus and it didn’t seem big enough for public gatherings (like a public square). It was just loud from all the traffic and there were a lot of teenagers sitting on the fountain. Why are bus drivers enclosed in a bullet-proof glass bubbles? OK, I don’t know that the glass is bullet proof but no one is getting to that guy. Is there some kind of problem with bus drivers being attacked here? And why on Earth are there so many freaking cameras? England has more CCTV cameras than any country in the world yet study after study shows that they are nearly ineffective at reducing crime (except automobile breakins but that can’t be a big problem in central London with all the people walking around–they also don’t help that much with after-the-fact investigations). Sounds like someone is just making money off selling them. It would be funny if it was an ex-government official who now works for the camera company kind of like what happened with the airport scanners in the US.

As far as the traffic… I much prefer open street riding (without a bike lane) than an established “bike friendly” system like they have in The Netherlands, for example. For me it works out much better because traffic knows where I am, I know where it is and I know where the people are supposed to be. I can also get around much faster–no forced sidewalk riding, up and down curbs or lights at roundabouts to stop for. The problem I had with the bike friendly places is more with other bikes. They were all over the place and it was hard to keep track of where everyone was. As a pedestrian I didn’t like it either–too many paths crossing. Maybe it’s good for some people but I like being treated as a car.

Garmin emailed me back with 2 suggestions to fix the inaccurate ascent numbers on my 62stc (due to the elevation changing non-stop even if I’m not moving). One was reinstall the firmware and the other was reset all the user settings. Neither one helped.  I certainly didn’t climb 10,338 feet through the city of London today in any case.

Tomorrow I’m going to the British Museum and Saturday I’m out.

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There are fees for driving in the central area during peak times which probably helps keep the cars down–I didn’t run into any bumper to bumper traffic and there was no honking which made for a more relaxing trip. Only the hard core bicycle commuters were riding but there were a lot of them which made things easier for me. I just did what they did with the exception of obeying traffic rules–that was mostly me.

The highlights were riding along the famous Thames River, getting a free cleaning at a car wash after riding some muddy trails, crossing back into the Western Hemisphere in Greenwich (0° longitude aka the prime meridian), riding across the Tower Bridge and seeing the London Eye, Westminster Palace and Big Ben. I also cut through Hyde Park (with Speaker’s Corner but no one was there however I was mostly just looking for a bathroom).

I’m staying with Alex and Ping, warmshowers hosts who returned recently from a 6 month bicycling trip to Chile. Alex is also a security consultant so we have some computer geek commonality as well. And Ping ruptured her Achilles tendon which made me realize I need to make sure I take better care of mine (it’s back to 100% now). She also said I must be knackered and I had no idea what she meant (it means exhausted). I’ll be here for 3 nights before heading north.

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