A million years ago, I posted a first installment of my UK bike trip.
We left off in beautiful bath, in which as I stated before, we didn’t get too many pictures, but is a reminiscent mix of Harry Potter and high society. Like, magical and unaffordable all at once.
We hopped on to the Railway Pathway, a 13 mile stretch of paved path linking Bath and Bristol. While it was quite straight and, as one of our hosts claimed “bloody fucking boring,” we enjoyed the break from roads, cars and roundabouts.
We arrived in Bristol and were greeted by our CS host who led us up hills and past Banksy street art to his flat. We stayed for two nights and played tourist for what I assume is the genuine club-hopping, bridge-sighting, card-playing Bristol experience.
This was totally Sis’s time to shine as I fell prey to much too young British men offering me far too many shots at the bar. Thankfully, being the capable adult that she is, we navigated the Bristol streets under the cover of darkness and drunk and got home in one piece.
When it was time to say good-bye, our host took us to the outskirts of town (over the bridge crossing the gorge, our memories are like 85% sure) and we were off. Although it was slightly off route, our intrigue had us headed in the direction of Cheddar Gorge. Chedder? Like the Cheese? And let’s be real, what exactly is a gorge if not just a giant hole in the ground? FILLED WITH CHEESE? We had to see.
As with most of our biking days, it rained on and off, and somewhere in beautiful cider country Sis’ back rack snapped clean in two. Thankfully we were able to macgyver it into place with the help of a few bungee cords, and then left our bikes at a shop in Cheddar to be repaired as we took a tour of the village. Once in the village it was all we could do not to ask passersby “Excuse me, but where is the cheese gorge?” because apparently this was not as obvious as it could have been. But, since nobody else looked lost and we didn’t want to be those dopey Canadian cyclists, we wandered until we found its entrance, got a sadly underwhelming peek and headed back to get our trusty steeds.
We camped that night at what we soon learned was a typical British camping field with tents and RVs all lined up beside one another. We moved a little slower the next day and due to some creative map interpretation, accidentally found ourselves in Bridgewater (based on our own experience and chats with other Brits, it seems about equivalent to our Hamilton).
The day after was equally long/hilly/rainy and Sis was starting to feel a little bike tripped out. Thankfully that day saw us finishing in Dulverton which is just at the entrance of beautiful Exmoor National Park (Sis’ request that she would regret while we spent the better part of the next day climbing mountains).
Our Dulverton hosts were a couple of young guys who’s parents were away and seemed all too eager to invite our drenched, sweaty selves into their home. Well, kinda. I pitched our tent in the back yard while Sis was terrorized by the giant and curious chickens (“all of my greatest fears are being challenges today”). But! Fresh eggs and warm showers? No real complaints.
We took off early the next morning and got to see Exmoor in all of it’s very hilly glory.We biked, walked and cried our way through the park, reached its highest elevation, and then careened down to catch our first glimpse of the ocean.
And this isn’t the end -I swear we did more. More biking. And even more squishing our bikes on to planes, trains and automobiles. 2017 promises to be a big year for biking so it is my goal to have this and my other past trips spewed on these pages and archived away for future emergency nostalgia. You know, to make space in my little head for the big adventures to come.
♥ ♥ ♥
walktrotcycle 