This September Ulli and I took a well deserved holiday on the mainland of Europe. We took up the invitation to visit France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Here are a few things I noticed on my travels. First off, arriving… Continue Reading →
If you haven’t read part one (Saturday to Tuesday), it is here. Which brings us to Wednesday: it rained, so we watched the Olympics on TV and made just one brief foray out to the Lockerbie Truck Stop, to get… Continue Reading →
The decision to take a cottage in Dumfriesshire had been very much last minute, so route planning to get from the station in Lockerbie to the cottage at Yett by Johnstonebridge was sketchy. While we waited for the rain to… Continue Reading →
For the second part of my look at Alpine cycle chic, I travelled south from Innsbruck to Bozen/Bolzano. The dual name tells you that we have now moved to the South Tyrol (German and Ladin: Südtirol, Italian: Sudtirolo or Alto… Continue Reading →
It is often said that a cycling culture, with riding a bicycle as transport, is only common in flat places. However, on my regular trips to the Alps I am always struck by just how many cyclists you see on… Continue Reading →
We had cycled down to Broughton from Edinburgh the day before, and now the day dawned bright (well dawn had actually been some hours before). It had been a peaceful night, apart from the odd bark from the farm dogs… Continue Reading →
The borderlands of southern Scotland must be one of Scotland’s best kept secrets. Few of Scotland’s visitors ever stop there, preferring instead to just head straight through on the big roads towards the far more famous Highlands. This provides those… Continue Reading →
After a restful night at Corrie Glen B&B, we set off once more, this time on the final day of our ride from the Tay to the Clyde (a mixture of cycle routes NCN 77 and NCN 7). The previous… Continue Reading →
The plan for the second day was simple, ride from Killin to Balloch along the NCN 7 and then catch a train home. However, before the end of breakfast the plan had started to change. Having looked at the maps… Continue Reading →
“Are sure this is an Easterly?” The question was key to the route we were taking, some days before noticing that there was a high over Scandinavia leading to an Easterly air flow across the country. So a plan had… Continue Reading →
Having struggled against a head wind all the way down the day before, we were sort of looking forward to having a tail wind helping us all the way home from Ravelaw (near Duns). Coming out of the B&B after… Continue Reading →
The three of us, Ulli, her cousin Bernhard (visiting on holiday) and myself, were looking for a cycle tour. I had originally intended to use my new bike but we haven’t gotten around to building it yet, something for a… Continue Reading →
After a pleasant breakfast we set out once again, I wasn’t feeling quite as fit as the day before, probably due to my only recent recovery from flu. As we didn’t have the official “Sustrans Coast & Castles South” route… Continue Reading →
So there I was standing, bleary eyed, on Platform 19 of Waverley Station, waiting for the 08:05 to Alnmouth. Fortunately it wasn’t long to wait and, once aboard the train, I was free to get back to sleep, it was… Continue Reading →
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