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| Lunchtime stop! |
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| we camped right in front of that seat hahaha |
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| sammy on the bridge |
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| break time |
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| packed up |
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| soph on the way up the hill, finally some tarseal! |
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| how dusty you get sitting on a bike |
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| museum trip |
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| time to finish off the wine and teach guy how to stretch |
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| helmet geezers |
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| art at bristol uni |
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| got sammy too |
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| guy looking stoaked |
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| and the boatses again |
OKOKOKOK right so. I'm aware I've skipped out the whole of my NZ trip, and I *eventually* will get round to that...I just wanna get these lil trips out while they're fresh in my mind...fresh-ish anyway.
So a few weeks back at Easter, Sam, Guy, Soph and I decided we would do a wee bike mission form Reading to Bristol, along the Avon Canal. Sam and I as always left everything up the the last minute and got a bargain pair of pannier bags - £7.50 a set! Hardy as... and I didn't get back from Cornwall till late the night before, so packing was hurried and as I tried to pack as light as possible, nothing particularly warm went in...more on that mistake later...
We were aiming to meet at the station or rather the bike shop at 10am or something so we could get an early start haha...wishful thinking! After pissing around our house looking for things like rope and tents and bungee cords we took the loaded bikes to meet the friends. We ended up getting a train around 11 I think so not too much later. The weather was being really un-UK like and shining some sunny rays on out departure from Reading, and once we found our way onto the canal from the train station we were away laughing. It was relatively easy going and smooth. Pretty nice farmlands/foresty scenery, and obviously with the canal on one side all the time it was nice. I think after about 20kms we stopped for lunch beside one of the locks, and Soph had made us an epic potato salad, flap jacks, and something else I can't remember??? Anyway a mass feast later and we head off again. More amaze counrtyside, a few super gravelly annoying bits, and around 6 hours of on/off biking, we started looking for a spot to camp.
That is, once we managed to track down Sam, who had sped off at some point. We all caught up at Kintbury, and managed to spot a wee bridge a kilometre down the canal which had a bit of a grassy spot beside it, an unused little path running under it (hello fire at night). No place like the first that tickles your fancy, we all collected up some dry firewood and stacked it against the bridge and headed back down to the pub
>The Dundas Arms< for a feed and a pint. Which was pretty yum, not amazing, but trying to order was hilarious as they could only put the items in the till in the order you wanted them, so me being me and deciding I wanted this that and the next thing at the counter proved tough for the poor guy who just happened to be on his first day. About 34 re-orders and we're away laughing.
Then night cycling along the canal, which we knew was horribly bumpy at this point, and also having your arse get back on the seat after an couple hours break - ouch. Luckily we both had pop up tents so 7 seconds later Guy was rallying us to create the hobo-bridge fire. Which we got going no fuss and then sat around to Guy trying half-heartedly to tell a story about 'Ghostship' on its way down the canal hahha. He had to be silenced lest me having to find a knife to sleep with hahaha.
Turns out I shoulda packed more clothes! Sheit was it cold, we thought we'd be ok, I wore everything I had with me, including a hat and gloves and thick woolen socks and also a friggin seam-sealed rain jacket, but no, cold as ice. Not exactly the kinda sleep you wanna have before another massive day of cycling. Ah well. Woke up, packed up and away we go again. Getting on the bike was a bit harder this day, it's so hard to sit on a bike but try not sit all the way but then have the canal become so bumpy you really have no choice.
At the time there was a canal canoe race happening, the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon, and we'd seen a couple people the day before finishing up, Sam even helped one lady get back in her boat as her legs were not helping her, so we started seeing these guys quite early. Along with the people in the canal, it meant the track was a bit more clogged with sightseers too. It was another awesome day, seen a few other bikers and stopped to watch a few boats go down or up the locks, and I think I just really enjoy biking with a purpose. Its relaxing or something, Sam and I managed to cover about 17 different life scenarios for ourselves, race, cruise slower, or somehow split up for ages which was nice also. We would all meet up for snacks and in the end at a pub called
>The Barge Inn< which if you have a minute to get confused and laugh a bit, watch the video on their home page. OKAYDOKAY.
The less walked or further in between towns we got, the canal track gets a bit rough, and I guess as it was quite soon after it had been all rainy and it had turned to mud then dried bumpy, but it was pretty good riding. We had booked two nights in Bristol, and as we didn't quite make it as far as we thought we would the first night, Soph and I decided we would train ahead and check in etc and the fellas would come later, after biking the whole way. Which I would still like to do at some point, finish off from where we trained out of.
Getting to our accommodation was pretty easy, and once wed showered grabbed a thousand snacks and some wine, we went back to the comfiest couch ever and blobbed. Around 3 hours later the guys made it, having done the entire canal, well done to them! That's a long day on a bike!
Bristol is pretty sweet though, we biked around for the next two days, though it was a bit rainy and hilly, we managed to see the sights and get some bargain deals at pubs on massive platters and visit a museum and a bike shop. Woop.
To Do List: More over night bike trips now its a bit nicer...
Also to do...Update the rest of things I've been far too lazy to...
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