C Ya Later alligators!! I'm leaving in the morning..
- Thread starter Bigtallfatbloke
- Start date
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Dayvo
just passin' through
- Location
- 59° 50′ 5.55″ N, 10° 47′ 41.89″ E
Welcome back BTFB!
Have a good kip, shower, meal, beer, then tell us ALL about it.
Have a good kip, shower, meal, beer, then tell us ALL about it.
Keith Oates
Janner
- Location
- Penarth, Wales
Good to know that you're back, Bigfella. Will look forard to a more detailed account of your trip when you're had some sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sloe
New Member
- Location
- Banffshire
Welcome back Big, it's been so dull.
I want to know how your ass stood up to not wearing proper cycling shorts.
I want to know how your ass stood up to not wearing proper cycling shorts.
Cathryn
Legendary Member
- Location
- Marlborough, Wiltshire
146km??? OH my word!! Get some sleep and then we want all the goss!
HJ
Cycling in Scotland
- Location
- Auld Reekie
Welcome back, sit down have a beer and relax....
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
Glad you're back. Do tell more on the LBS? Which one & why was it a rip-off.
Cheddar George
oober member
- Location
- Location: Location
Somebody nip round and wake him up ..........
Road Fiddler
New Member
Welcome back i look forward to hearing about you adventure
Dayvo
just passin' through
- Location
- 59° 50′ 5.55″ N, 10° 47′ 41.89″ E
BTFB has gone AWOL!
videoman
Guru
- Location
- Staffordshire
It's been very quiet without you, hopefully now there will be more threads on the forum once you've recovered.
OP
OP
Bigtallfatbloke
New Member
My Mini Tour in East Anglia – August 2007
(I had to use several consequetive posts to fit it all in)
This was my first tour and as such I wanted to keep things easy and fun. I thought East Anglia would be a good place to start.
Having no friends with two wheels I set out alone on what I hoped would be a fun week (ish) and a good learning experience. It
gave me both.
I prepared well for this trip in advance, and took the opportunity to learn from more experienced ‘tourers’ on the net and from
reading as much as I could about the day to day issues of a cycle tourer. I bought a new Daws Galaxy especially for this (and
future trips) and set about training. I soon realized that my biggest problem was my physical unfitness. I gradually increased my
distances over a period of about 3 months prior to the off, and fine tuned my bike & gear at the same time. On average I was
doing about 35km every other day during that period…much of which was a real struggle initially. I added a brookes saddle,
some spd peddles to my bike and set about learning how to ride. At the same time I bought myself a tent, sleep bag, cookset
and sleep mat and loaded them into some new Carradice overlander panniers.
I had a notion that I wanted to get a lot of different experiences out of this trip, especially camping, hostelling etc. I was
particular about the gear I took and did what I could to minimise the weight.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7744/mytouraugust2007eangliajy9.jpg
Kick off came on Saturday 18th August, the weather forecast was about as bad as it could get and I was tempted to delay…but
decided to go for it anyway. I had a planned route and some booked campsites for the first few days…but the weather and
circumstances led to several variations. The first three days were awful, heavy rain, driving headwinds…my worst nightmare
really, and the temptation to turn around was strong. I left home and arrived at Dorewards Hall campsite in Braintree after a run
of 59km.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/221/mytouraugust2007eangliaol9.jpg
The site was empty except for some fishermen and a caravan. The tent pegs bent as they hit the rocks under the field and the
toilet block was disgusting…at £6 it was a rip off…the only birds on site were chickens and a peacock but for one night it did the
job.
(I had to use several consequetive posts to fit it all in)
This was my first tour and as such I wanted to keep things easy and fun. I thought East Anglia would be a good place to start.
Having no friends with two wheels I set out alone on what I hoped would be a fun week (ish) and a good learning experience. It
gave me both.
I prepared well for this trip in advance, and took the opportunity to learn from more experienced ‘tourers’ on the net and from
reading as much as I could about the day to day issues of a cycle tourer. I bought a new Daws Galaxy especially for this (and
future trips) and set about training. I soon realized that my biggest problem was my physical unfitness. I gradually increased my
distances over a period of about 3 months prior to the off, and fine tuned my bike & gear at the same time. On average I was
doing about 35km every other day during that period…much of which was a real struggle initially. I added a brookes saddle,
some spd peddles to my bike and set about learning how to ride. At the same time I bought myself a tent, sleep bag, cookset
and sleep mat and loaded them into some new Carradice overlander panniers.
I had a notion that I wanted to get a lot of different experiences out of this trip, especially camping, hostelling etc. I was
particular about the gear I took and did what I could to minimise the weight.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7744/mytouraugust2007eangliajy9.jpg
Kick off came on Saturday 18th August, the weather forecast was about as bad as it could get and I was tempted to delay…but
decided to go for it anyway. I had a planned route and some booked campsites for the first few days…but the weather and
circumstances led to several variations. The first three days were awful, heavy rain, driving headwinds…my worst nightmare
really, and the temptation to turn around was strong. I left home and arrived at Dorewards Hall campsite in Braintree after a run
of 59km.
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/221/mytouraugust2007eangliaol9.jpg
The site was empty except for some fishermen and a caravan. The tent pegs bent as they hit the rocks under the field and the
toilet block was disgusting…at £6 it was a rip off…the only birds on site were chickens and a peacock but for one night it did the
job.
OP
OP
Bigtallfatbloke
New Member
Next day I headed up towards Mildenhall…Much of the day is a blur as it was tipping with rain all day, a case of head down and
push on & sod the bloody scenery! I was extremely wet and cold, and after miles of seeing nobody I finally chanced across a small
pub…in I went leaving a wet trail across the place and stinking the place out…I ordered a full Sunday lunch and was directed to
a corner seat away from the regular diners. After about an hour I headed off to find a site called the Willows at Mildenhall….no
chance!...I just could not find it, and none of the locals I found had any clue…so there I was after 82km…drowning, cold,
knackered, pissed orf when I stumbled across a motel starting with the name ‘bird’…sod the camping I thought and checked in
for £36 the night. Hear I learnt a neat trick.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8853/mytouraugust2007eangliacn3.jpg
Unpack all the wet gear, hang it all up over the room turn the heater on 100% and leg it down the boozer for 5 hours!...worked a
treat and my stuff was dry to pack the next morning….erm…not that it lasted long as the weather just got worse as I headed on
up to Swaffham. Soaked again I persevered on through Thetford forest. I stopped at Grimes graves ....
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8884/mytouraugust2007eangliapv9.jpg
....and was the only visitor that morning…it’s a reasonable hole in the ground and I am sure the stone age blokes had a hard
time down there…but what really interested me was the very friendly young ladies on the reception…especially the
blonde…erm…well it was a cold day and I’m only human!
I also stopped at the desert rats memorial in the forest:
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3451/mytouraugust2007eangliauj3.jpg
push on & sod the bloody scenery! I was extremely wet and cold, and after miles of seeing nobody I finally chanced across a small
pub…in I went leaving a wet trail across the place and stinking the place out…I ordered a full Sunday lunch and was directed to
a corner seat away from the regular diners. After about an hour I headed off to find a site called the Willows at Mildenhall….no
chance!...I just could not find it, and none of the locals I found had any clue…so there I was after 82km…drowning, cold,
knackered, pissed orf when I stumbled across a motel starting with the name ‘bird’…sod the camping I thought and checked in
for £36 the night. Hear I learnt a neat trick.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/8853/mytouraugust2007eangliacn3.jpg
Unpack all the wet gear, hang it all up over the room turn the heater on 100% and leg it down the boozer for 5 hours!...worked a
treat and my stuff was dry to pack the next morning….erm…not that it lasted long as the weather just got worse as I headed on
up to Swaffham. Soaked again I persevered on through Thetford forest. I stopped at Grimes graves ....
http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/8884/mytouraugust2007eangliapv9.jpg
....and was the only visitor that morning…it’s a reasonable hole in the ground and I am sure the stone age blokes had a hard
time down there…but what really interested me was the very friendly young ladies on the reception…especially the
blonde…erm…well it was a cold day and I’m only human!
I also stopped at the desert rats memorial in the forest:
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/3451/mytouraugust2007eangliauj3.jpg
