My last leg(s)

Hi folks. Thank you for dropping by over the last couple of months and for the various comments and emails- it's been great to think of everyone pedaling alongside in spirit.

All up, including the Orkney's I covered 1508 miles in 45 days cycling which equates to a bit more than 1.2 million wheel revolutions!

So here's the last lot of pics and words, remember you just have to click to enlarge.

Viva la revolution!!!

World famous Loch Ness and after years of speculation and fuzzy photos I finally have unequivocial proof- the sun does shine in Scotland! No monster though- apart from the midges.

I camped near this spot and had a fresh dip in the morning.One of the greatest things about Scotland is what's know as the Land Reform Act (2003). Basically means there is no law of trespass and anyone has the right to be on any piece of land, including camping,as long as they are acting responsibly.

This has got to be one of the most progressive acts of legislation in the world.It seems it may have partly come as a delayed reaction to the Clearances of the 1800's. This was a tragic time in Scottish history when, to put it in simple terms, the land barons got together and kicked the peasants off the land so they could farm more sheep.

This injustice has never truly been forgotten and, a couple of centuries later, may be partly responsible for a wonderful law that affirms what is quite basic logic when we stop and think about it- no one can truly own and control the land.




Cold power shower anyone? Foyers Falls, just south of Inverness.

This is the smallest car ferry in Britain, it goes across the estuary between Cromarty to Nigg, NE of Inverness. Takes 2 cars max. I asked the guy if they ever had queues, "yes," he replied with wide eyes, "in summer there can be 5 or 6 cars waiting!" Hardly constitutes masses of people but with half an hour between crossings that's a fair wait if you're car number 6. Still, this is rural Scotland so what's the rush?

I was taking pics of the gorgeous purple heather that seems to cloak the mountains and moors of Scotland when this butterfly came and settled into the pic. Ironic because in the past I've spent hours chasing these things trying to get a good shot. Interesting lesson somewhere there...

30 miles north of Inverness and lofty highlands give way to lonely moorland and bog. The few trees are stumpy and bedraggled thanks to the regular Atlantic blastings and human settlement is even sparser. This was once the land of the Picts, a tough tribe who inhabited northern Scotland in the early centurys AD and then the Vikings who came from Scandanavia and called it Sutherland (the southern land).

Hard to describe it as a beautiful landscape but deeply intirguing all the same. Believe it or not, this is the main 'A' road that runs up the centre, it's single track with cattle grids and pot holes!

With all the boggy land, the midges up here are definitly in the premier league of voraciousness. Apparently they home in on the carbon dioxide as we exhale. Tried holding my breathe to avoid detection but have to report this method is fundamentally flawed. Oh well, we've all got to eat I suppose.

The penultimate day. This was the first sign for John O'groats that I'd seen. A strange thing happened at this stage as my legs surged afresh with energy and adrenaline, not wanting to stop I ended up riding to nightfall and covering 82 miles. The furthest I've done on the whole trip although I felt it the next morning.

Another posterity shot! Would it be unmanly to admit to a tear in my eye as I freewheeled the last 400metres to the ocean and the fulfillment of my long held ambition? Partly it was relief, partly satisfaction and partly deep gratitude for the places I've seen and the people I've met along the way.

End of the pilgrimage. The tourist sign is a bit tacky and afterwards I found a much better one by the harbour (see last week's post) but by that time there was no one around to hold the camera!

Although Lands End and John O'Groats are widely considered to be the 2 furthest points on the map of mainland Britain, Duncansby Head is actually a couple of miles further on from John O'G. So after the official finish I headed out there to the literal 'end of the road.' As I turned around from gazing out to sea, I was greeted by this beatiful silver light. No etheral singing from the heavens but seemed like a good sign all the same.

Orkney islands now. Most of the beaches at this time of year are full of seals giving birth- not a good idea to get too close. However, this beach on the south of the island was seal (and human) free so I had to get in for a swim. Funny to think it's the same latitude as Hudson Bay, Canada and less than a 1000 miles from the Artic circle- the gulf stream keeps it pretty warm of course. Apparently in the summer the sun only dips behind the horizon for an hour creating an eerie twilight. They call it the summer dim and play midnight tennis and bowls!

Brodgar stone circle, (C.2000 BC). My last and favourite stone circle of the whole trip. Camped my first night in the Orkneys up here. That's the moon rising.

Brodgar circle again. This was the dawn of my last day. I'd had this shot in mind the first time I was up here but the morning was too cloudy. So I came back for my last night and, even though it was still overcast on arrival, set my alarm early in the gamble that it would be clear the next morning. It was and I took my favourite shots of the whole trip.

Shortly after taking this pic a huge bank of cloud came in and by the time I was riding back to the ferry terminal less than an hour later it was pouring down!



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This next batch of photos is kind of similar to the out-takes that they used to show at the end of the Cannonball Run movies. They are images from the trip that I didn't manage to squeeze in before,but for various reasons, profound or otherwise, deserve an airing......

Good advice in today's world I reckon.'Stay true to yourself and don't believe everything governments, corporations and the media try to tell us' might be another way of putting it.

Bit more wordy and probably won't stop you getting chased by a ton of angry bovine but the same meaning on a certain level!

Spotted this fantastic mountain in the Lake District- you'll have to zoom in. Who named it and why? The mind boggles.

This is Dad, demonstrating his unusual dismounting technique. Unfortunately for him my instinct for a good photo overcame family loyalty on this occasion. What I didn't realise at the time is he's sitting in a ditch full of muddy water and brambles, sorry Dad!

I love this quote- please zoom in (you may need to scroll along too).

With awareness, we have a remarkable opportunity in this life to build and improve on the work of previous generations so that those who come after us may inherit greater things.

On a societal level this means trusting that our evolutionary potential is higher than where we currently find ourselves. I don't mean that to sound lofty, I'm just saying that our history is one of constant evolution and it's wrong to assume we are at it's peak.

Something I've sensed on this trip, as I've soaked in thousands of years of history, is that, despite all of today's problems, a gradual enlightenment is gathering momentum. It's slow compared to the speed with which we have advanced our weapons of war and techniques for exploiting resources and there are undoubtedly some people that simply don't care. However, my feeling is, as a human race, there is a tentative evolution beyond the violence, greed and fear that weigh us down- it's only a few hundred years ago that we were burning 'witches' and selling slaves and just a few decades since we thought it acceptable to segregate people on the colour of their skin or to beat a child.

Of course, whether that evolution can blossom in time I don't know.

This strongly relates to the above pic.What a great place name! Imagine telling people that you live in Hope! Truly is a wonderful word.

I've touched a number of times on the tendency to feel that the environmental and social injustices in our world are overwhelming but I say we've got to keep the hope- we have to keep living truthfully and speaking out for what we know is good, without that there is very little.

See you on the road sometime :)

finito!

This was a happy knackered me yesterday afternoon! The sign says 876 but I did nearly double that, could have rushed along the main roads hell bent on the destination but bet it wouldn't have been nearly as fun, exciting, insightful.... Got some great pics to upload from the final leg plus scintillating stories of ghostly visitors and killer midges so will up date with all that very soon. Am now in Orkney Islands for a few days before catching a train back south.

songs of praise- but no Thora Herd

There was a 60's Californian Surfer called George Greenough. A true sage, he coined the phrase "church of the open sky."

I love these words and they have frequently floated through my head on this trip. Whatever it is out there and whatever we want to call it (if we choose to give it a name at all), open space presents an opportunity for communion to truly flow.

We just have to stay open, breath deep and look (not see).

Yesterday we rode 52 miles from Isle of Mull to the heart of the Highlands at Glen Coe (near Fort William). A warm sun, gentle tail wind and much worshiping went down. Valleys packed with ancient oaks, cascading streams and a spectacular evening ride along the sea loch. And, of course, mountains towering over head, silently watching the passing humans and the tiny fleeting lives they lead.

Pics don't do it justice but there's a few below anyways. At Invergarry tonight in the heart of the Great Glens. Loch Ness tommorow!

Praise be!

crusin

This was one of the roads we rode down about 30 miles south of Fort William, went on for miles like this, 4 cars in 2 hours of riding!


Maybe cyclists are a rare sight in these parts but I love the curious look on this sheep
Another open road
Half of Ben Nevis, highest Mountain in Britain, approx 1300 metres, taken this morning. According to the visitors centre, it's shrouded in cloud 70 percent of the time!

Scotland!!

Welcome to Scotland. If the hills don't make your legs explode, the midges devour you alive or the rain wash your sorry little ass back over the border ('one's sorry little ass' as the Queen would say), maybe you'll find a a land of dark sea lochs, misty mountains, thick pine forest, lonely moors, stoic standing stones (try saying that fast) and forgotten back roads where you can ride for miles without seeing another soul.

Crossed the border from Carlisle 10 days ago, from Gretna Green headed west to Dumfries, once home to Robert Burns ( Scottish legend and composer of Auld Lang Syne), then a gradual north west course to Ardrossan on the Scottish coast.

Hopped on ferry across to Isle of Arran where I met my Dad who has joined me for a weeks cycling (he took numerous cycle trips around Scotland in his student days and is keen to relive the memories although with a slight upgrade to the 5 gear bone shaker of his youthful era).

From Arran we hopped across to Kintyre then on to the Isle of Mull where I've finally found a computer and internet connection that works!

Pics are below, in case anyone not aware, you can enlarge them by clicking...

Slight chroniclogical mix up with first two but running out of internet time to fix!

Passed the 1000 mile mark a couple of days ago, just a few hundred to go!!!

5000 year old standing stones on Macharie Moor, Arran. Brewing storm on the horizon. They've seen it all before.

Sunset over Arran. Finally back by the open ocean. Although I've passed near-by at Bristol/ Liverpool/ S. Lake District this was the first time I got back to the 'proper' sea. Good to sleep to the sound of the waves again

Still in England, this was the view as I approached Carlilse early morning

Just over the border in Gretna Green. Scotland used to allow people to get married at a younger age than in England, this was the nearest registery office across the border and scene of many shotgun weddings

This war memorial is just outside Dumfries. I was fascinated by the look on the man's face and the way he seems to be emploring the heavens in bewilderment. Seems to be making a strong statement about the futility and waste of war. What is he thinking or saying..."have we humans still not learnt?"..."have we still not evolved beyond this?"

Temple Wood Stone circle, good energy

This was one of the high roads we rode along, my Dad is in the distance. Felt more like North American back country than part of UK. Shortly before taking this pic, we sat by the road for over an hour and cooked up some lunch- only one car passed us!

Taken this morning from just outside the tent in Mull, the mountain range in the background contains Ben Nevis, highest mountain in Britain

sunshine and poetry

Day 34- Liverpool-N. of Preston: 52 m.

Day 35- N. Preston- N of Lancaster: 35 m.

Day 36: N Lancaster- Lake Windermere: 35 m

Day 37: Lake Windermere- Thurlemere water: 21 m

Day 38: Thurlemere- Borrowdale: 18 m


Captain's log book, the 11th day of August in the year of our Univeral life force 2009.

A strange ball of fire has appeared in the sky this past week. Warm and wonderful is its touch to the skin and most golden in the light it casts on the land.

Yes folks it seems summer is finally here and it lifteth the spirits greatly. Now in the mindblowingly gorgeous Lake District. Lyrically immortalised by Wordsworth, Southey and Coleridge (often referred to as 'the lake school of poetry').

I can't help thinking these romantic poets were the forerunners to conservationism today. Helping initiate a turn in public perception of the great outdoors from a place where one would try and avoid lest one should muddy ones garments to a place of adventure, contemplative retreat, existential perspective where the soul could soar free.

"Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze
That blows from the green fields and from the clouds
And from the sky it beats against my cheek
And seems half concious of the joy it gives"

Wordsworth 1805



P.s If you are not on the new post notification list (sounds posh dunnit) just email me and I'll add you :)

Lancashire canal, I picked this up in Preston and followed it for about 40 miles through Garstang and Lancaster and on to the edge of the lake district. Beautiful riding.

This was my first view of the lake district, taken from the outskirts of Lancaster

Another distant lake district view

First blackberry forage of the season

Lake District proper now, I just love the curving sweep of land in the foreground

Um, sorry if it's getting a bit boring but another Lake District view.These minor road are such a joy to be on with hardly any traffic and expansive views round every bend

Castlerigg stone circle, approx 3500 years old. The ancients must have loved this view.

Sheep love

Life surely doesn't get much better, a beautiful camp spot by the river and a pot of tea on the boil

This was last night's camp spot, right by the side of a river coming of Scarfel Pike, tallest mountain in England. The water was fresh and cold and a dip this morning at 6am was the perfect way to wake up. Zing!

Cycled past this poster a few days ago and just had to stop. Sometimes the most important truths are best told through humour. Click on it to enlarge

pics

Canal campspot near Chester

Liverpool docks

lovin the love and lessons from history

Day 31 Telford- Chester- 56m

Day 32 Chester- Liverpool-32m

Liverpool is a fascinating city. It's steeped in maritime history and, of course, world famous for the 4 locals who formed a band called The Beatles and proceeded to shake the world of music to its very core. It also has the wonderfully endearing quality of being a place where people seem to frequently address each other as 'love'. Strangely, doesn't seem to happen much between men but I'm sure there's places.

Being a hopeless romantic I purposefully chose a route via Birkenhead and the ferry across the Mersey. I only discovered on arrival at Birkenhead that someone built a tunnel over a century ago and it's just the tourist boats that cross the river now. Sure enough they played Gerry and 'ferry cross the mersey' on repeat but it was a good way to arrive with extensive views of the docks and their grand architecture.

In the 19th and first part of the 20th century, thousands of people set off down this river and out to sea to start new lives in America. It was strange to think that for many who settled and never returned this would have been their last sight of their homeland. What would they have been thinking and feeling?

Sadly Liverpool also has a darker side, a story of those who went to the American continent not by choice but brutal coercion. I'm talking of the African slave trade and much of the cities rise to wealth, as reflected in the grand buildings, owes itself to this. In the mid 1700's Liverpool dominated this trade with around 150 merchants dealing directly in the industry and countless others profiting indirectly from the rise to wealth.

We have probably all heard about the brutality and cruelty involved in this trade but I'd like to offer some thoughts on the cultural/social mindsets that allowed this to happen and how,even today, similar attitudes allow much injustice to go unchallenged.

My belief is there may have been a minority who believed in genetic superiority (this was pre- Darwin and his decisive evidence for humanities shared gene pool). However, surely the majority of society must have had an uneasy sense that something was fundamentally wrong. In which case, why did it take so long for something to change? In very simple terms I think it may have been due to the following 2 attitudes:

1: There were some that thought it to be wrong but, because they were benefitting in some way and didn't want their lifestyle to suffer they chose to keep quiet.

2: There were some that thought it wrong but because those around them seemed not to be bothered they questioned themselves and concluded they must be over-reacting.

These are simplified categories and there may be others but history shows these 2 mindsets allowed immense pain and suffering to occur- an estimated 12 million Africans forcibly taken by Europeans and stripped of all rights of humanity and an African continent that still shows signs of the traumatisation to this day.

I guess the point I want to make links to previous posts. It's about the importance of speaking through our actions, i.e of staying awake to how our lifestyles can have deep ethical implications. Trying not to put our personal comfort before others suffering and,of course, standing up and speaking out when we believe something is fundamentally wrong. (That's what eventually happened,creating a critical mass that effected change).


Thanks as always for tuning in. I continue my journey today, on through the urban jungle for another day or two then it's open country to the lake district and on to bonnie Scotland.

Below are some inspiring quotes from Liverpools fascinating Museum of International Slavery- impossible to walk through dry eyed.

Exploding tyres and home made cider

Day 21: Severn Bridge to MonmouthDay- 38 miles

Day 22: Monmouth- LeominsterDay -33.8

Day 23: Leominster- Craven arms- 25 miles

Day 24: Craven arms- Telford- 40 miles.



Total odometer reading 434.





All going well, beautiful riding up the Wye valley, following the twisting flooded Wye river. Criss crossing between Wales and England. Then into Shropshire and along Wenlock Edge, a long limestone escarpment clothed in ancient woodland.


Big thanks to Tony and his wife who rescued me after my front tyre exploded on a pot hole down a particularly steep and rough hill. Put a big hole in the inner wall of the tyre and completly shredded the inner tube.I was in the middle of nowhere but they gave me a lift into Hereford to get new gear, lent me a file to smooth down my wheel rim which had taken a beating- then fed me sandwiches and home made cider! Most excellent!




From Telford got a lift with Thelma,a family friend, to my parents house, partly for a few days of rest and recuperation partly to attend a ceremony for my dear Grandmother who passed on last year.



Good to take time to give my bike some loving too as all sorts of creaks and groans emenating from her. Fixed 4 slow punctures and replaced brake blocks which were brand new when I started but had practically worn down to the metal. Think it is due to the extra momentum created by the trailer plus more cautious riding,i.e braking, due to the wet.



Back on the road on Monday. North to Chester, along the tow path to Liverpool, the Lake district and beyond...



Pics in post below...

can I kick it?

Tintern Abbey, Wye valley.

River Wye view point

Tony's cider press!

Ludlow castle

Camp spot and beautiful oak in Shropshire near Church Stretton

Ironbridge, the birth place of the industrial revolution. In the 18th century a guy called Abraham Darby perfected the method of smelting iron with coal rather than charcoal. This meant steel could be produced as fast as coal could be dug.

The bridge was the first ever iron bridge and was used as a showpiece for the wonders and potential of steel engineering. It attracted huge international interest not only for it's ingenuity but for the way it symbolised the growing optimism and mindset of the time that anything was possible.

The rest, as they say, is history with a exponential leap in the production of machines, tools, infrastructure etc which spread across the globe and radically changed life as we know it today.

It was indeed a strange thing to look up at this bridge, glinting in the sunlight,and to consider its symbolism. Undoubtedly the industrial revolution has brought us many positive things and made life easier and more fulfilling in many ways. Yet the mentality that it seemed to perpetuate en masse- that our earth is one great resource to be utilised and profitted from has been catastrophic.

While at Buddhafield, I attended a series of workshops based on the Work that Reconnects by Joanna Macy. I was fascinated by the way her work views humanity as a process of evolution. If I understand correctly, it seems we are at a new and critical crossroads in our evolutionary process.

On one hand, never before have we posessed such huge potential to destroy ourselves and the earth we live on. Yet on the other hand the last few decades have seen the beginnings of a radical change in our ability to think for ourselves outside powerful institutions.

This momentum of free thought has born a growing sense amongst many that we are deeply interconnected with the earth and all that lives on it. Respect and compassion natually arise from this realisation and if those qualities can be harnessed with our scientific and technical skills we can potentially effect great and positive change.

In short, the unerring optimism of the the Industrial revolution is finally giving way to the reality of what we are doing to the earth and each other. This is a critical point in our human story and it can be scary yet also very exciting.Here's a quote from the homepage of http://www.greaturningtimes.org/

"Many great tales of adventure begin with the appearance of an overwhelming threat. But what makes these stories compelling is the way the central characters rise to the challenge and respond. The same can be true with our lives too. If we succeed in making the changes required in our times, future generations may look back on the early twenty-first century and talk of it as the time of The Great Turning."

I truly believe there is a change- whether it is too late or not I don't know but I for one would rather kick than sit back and be slowly smothered.