Category Archives: Cycling

Cycling from Bristol to Portishead

My sister hatched an excellent plan for us to cycle on Saturday from Bristol (where she lives) to Portishead out at the Bristol channel. To meet up with her I took my bicycle on the train from Oxford to Bristol via Didcot. I had wanted to take my Pashley but bicycle storage on trains can be very variable so I took my road bicycle which is very light and easy to lift. This was a very good decision as there was not enough bicycle storage at all, luckily the platform conductor helped cyclists squeeze bicycles in. What I thought was very bad and I am going to make a proper complaint about is that the onboard train conductor 3 times made a sarcastic announcement over the tannoy saying the train was delayed by two minutes by the cyclists getting off at Bath, that seemed so unfair to blame them as any delay is the bad provision of storage not the poor cyclists. I really don’t like that the conductor was trying to create hostility to cyclists. I am so cross about it!


My sister met me at Bristol Temple Meads station and we cycled to her house to leave my stuff and pump our tyres. Then we set off on cycle route 41 and eventually joined cycle route 26. This route took us under the Clifton suspension bridge (the view if you are up on the bridge) and all along the Avon. It was a much rougher path than we were expecting. If it was a wetter day a mountain bike would be more suitable but on a lovely sunny day like we had it was fine even for us on lighter bicycles. It was a fun adventurous route.


We made it to Portishead! We had a nice lunch at The Royal Inn which has a panoramic view over the Severn. We explored the pebbly beach and looked at the boats in the marina.


We hadn’t brought bicycle lights so rather than cycle back again we cycled to Avonmouth train station and got the train back to Bristol.


Then back to Bristol and on to my sister’s house. It was a really good adventure and I would really like to try more of these cycle routes with my sister :)

Also posted in Bristol, Travel & Places | Comments closed

Cotswold Snow


Snowy! On the way to work.


Gloria is being a trooper too :)

Also posted in Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Travel & Places | Comments closed

a commute


It was day in the life again the other day (where some of us document our day) but I only managed to take some pictures during my commute. In the above I am waiting in the early hours with Gloria (my bicycle) at the station.


On the train drinking a cuppa, listening to a podcast, and finishing my makeup (this is needed if I’ve had to dash out of the house).


Cycling. Deer on the horizon.


Swans on the lake.


Then a day of work and the whole thing in reverse :)

Also posted in Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Travel & Places | Comments closed

Bicycle cup holder

The cup holder for my bicycle is getting a lot of use now that the cold weather has come. It has been a good talking point with other cyclists too! This cup holder is the PDW Bar-ista, I recommend it, it fixes firmly on to the handlebars and is lined with foam that grips the cup. I’m not sure if it would fit on thicker handlebars. I bought the cup separately, I like the look of it but it’s not completely sealed, if I go over a big bump tea can bubble up through the air hole, so I’m on the look out for another cup. At first I had the cup holder on my side of the handle bars but I found that interfered with my space when jumping on and off so moved it to the other side.

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Day In The Life revisited 3

Woke up 5:55am. Shower, bagel with marmalade, quick cup of tea.
Out the door 7:15am.
This was one of the first days since starting my long cycle commute to the new job that if it had been an option to stumble out to a car and be ferried in I would have been tempted. However as with so many things once out on the road I was happy that hadn’t been an option.


It is a 17 mile trip each way, when I tell people this is gets quite a big reaction. “WHAT??? YOU CYCLE HOW FAR???” But so far it has been doable and enjoyable. The route is a mixture of city roads, then a cycle lane next to an A road, and finally country roads.

Got to work for 9am, washed and changed.
Then working.
At lunch there was the BBQ that they have every Friday in the summer, it was very nice, I had a burger and a mini Magnum. I should have taken a picture but I just didn’t feel like it, another time.
Then back to working.

At 5:30pm I changed back into my cycling gear and I headed back to Oxford.


This morning I had attached my Exposure Flash front light as I knew I’d be out late. It is tiny but powerful, once winter comes I have other additional lights I’ll add on too.


This is the rear one, the Exposure Flare, it’s great and I have the ones with rechargeable batteries.


The thought of a cold glass of wine with friends was obviously highly motivating as I made really good time. On my way through the city I popped my head around the door of the beer garden that my old work colleagues frequent just to say a quick good luck to one of them who was leaving. I couldn’t stay more than a couple of minutes as I had to get to a friend’s house.


For some reason I was greeted with a tune on a banjo :) That banjo is really old and belonged to a sailor relative, it was damaged in a bar fight but now restored.


BBQ cat! This is the cat that I have mentioned before that shows up a BBQs at this house. (Yes it was my second BBQ of the day!)

I had a great night. Really funny. Laughed so hard. Then sometime after 11:30 I got back on my bike and cycled home. Don’t worry I was completely sober having had but one glass of wine. So many people staggering around drunk in the streets though. Cycling through a city at night can be so wonderful, it is dangerous, but it is magical to glide along.
Then about 1am to sleep.

The end.

Let me know if you have done a Day In The Life contribution as I will update the list here.

Day In The Life contributors:

Poirot And Pretty Things

Mooosh

Photographoe

Frayed at the Edges

Dropstitch

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