Childhood Memories

Bristol-Monmouth-Gloucester-Bristol

Its becoming a bit of a struggle now, finding new routes not the actual cycle itself! Then I thought why not visit the big country Wales, well I posted a comment on Facebook before last Tuesday's big cycle asking where to go? and only one person replied, stating 'Across the old Severn Bridge then up the river past Tintern Abbey towards Monmouth'. As I ignored the comment and went to Burnham I thought it would only be polite to go this week.

Then it clicked, why couldn't I re-live my childhood. Anyone who didn't know (which is probably most people) my primary school in its last year visited the Wye Valley, Monmouthshire. So I set off at 9.30am after the usual rituals, however I forgot I had run out of Ribena, so this time my drinks bottle was filled with Orange Squash. I took my usual route to work and then half a dozen more miles to the Severn Bridge. This is where my first bit of fun began. Right by the end of this entry you will know enough about me to go on Mastermind and have me as your specialist subject. As you now know I am massively afraid of heights, luckily it wasn't too windy but it still required me to recite the Arsenal 97-98 Double Winning team.

After that ordeal I had crossed borders into another country, Wales. The signposts are all in Welsh and English, so it always makes me chuckle as I feel I am on holiday. It was then I spied a potential guard for my Bike Polo, a For Sale post from Moon & Co, it was even in the shape of my wheels it seemed perfect, the only issue I had would be transporting it home.

I cycled along the A4166 towards my first tourist attraction of note, Tintern Abbey and Tintern Railwaay Station the route took me down a winding road like on an Alps stage of the Tour de France. It was amazing, I was picking up some pace, although it was at this stage I was hit by a fly which really hurt. I arrived at the Abbey took a picture, when I saw a mother and son and thought they could take my picture. This is the only downfall of cycling alone you get lots of pictures of nice scenery and none with you in. They took my pic, I asked them where they were cycling and they said Bristol and wanted to know where a good cycling shop was. So I let them know and advised of the impending hill category 1 climb.

I then went past taking the second photo of my school album, the Tintern Railway station, I was thinking of stopping for a cup of tea and cake but didn't want to ruin my appetite for my ready-made pasta. It then started raining hard, perfect timing to cycle past a sign stating 'Road liable to flooding'. I carried along the same road hoping the weather would get a bit better, who was I kidding? this was Wales, it always rains. This was a really picturesque route alongside the River Wye just shame the weather was out to see its fully beauty.

Next stop was Monmouth Lidl to pick up a few provisions. If you haven't shopped there before it is hilarious there are snide brands that look like the real deal but aren't. So I bought some chocolate which was called Landt to place in my bag and a bottle of water and on to the rest of my journey. It was then I saw signs for 3rd and 4th historic landmarks, Bibling bridge and Symonds Yat. This took me along a muddy path for 2 miles.The next 'Louis fact' is my Bike, trusty steed is what is called a Hybrid, where it is not a road bike and not a mountain bike so it didn't really handle the bumps and I could really feel it. I went passed the bridge and it reminded me of when 18 years ago I had to cross the bridge with a teacher and the 5 other kids who were scared. There was no time to reminisce, on and up to Symonds Yat Rock which I remembered was a spectacular view.

I thought it was now time to crack open the lunch, eating in the picnic area I was cursing that I hadn't brought hand gel with but I did have a fork thank goodness. I then spotted the way to the view point (across a bridge) I was too nervous to make it so I bought a post card of the view. It looked better anyway because in the picture it was brilliant sunshine.


From here I made my way on, I had ticked all the Woodlands Primary School boxes. I thought against turning round and looping my journey because of the massive climb but also because I had already seen that part of the countryside. So I carried on up towards Gloucester where I had another slab of chocolate and met a lovely dog which I would have given some chocolate but I didn't know if I may require it further along the journey. This was at a place called Longhope which was funny because there was no hope of me cycling the hill so I got off the Bike and walked the hill for 2 minutes.

I then continued to cycle on to Gloucester where I went into the centre at about 3.15to have a look around and to find out if there was any other routes back to Bristol apart from the A38. After visiting the Tourist Information centre (unhelpful) and the local bike shop, who told me Bristol wasn't as far away as it actually was. I decided to take the A38 into Bristol and this was about 16.15 by now. I had under 2.5hours to cycle about 36 miles to get to Ashton Gate to meet my friends to collect tickets for the England Under 21 game.

This brought me back to another childhood memory that an easy way of me to achieve the unachievable is to think there is football at the end. My parents would always say think Football related, it was an easy way of getting me to do my homework. Always no Football till it is done, which worked until I got old enough to think for myself and I didn't let them know I had homework. It would get to Sunday evening I would then remember I had homework and asked my Mum for help, right in the middle of HeartBeat where she would reluctantly help as she didn't really want to miss it. If only we had ITV2,3,4 2+1.3+1,4+1 back in the day.

Anyway I met my friends outside the stadium at 18.45, dumped my Bike at a friends house and back to watch the football. I was still in my cycling leotard with a t-shirt over the top I got a few strange looks that night.

95 Miles what a day and I did sleep well that night.

Louis

Bike Polo

The Olympic Dream

Last Friday at the Critical Mass (before we set off) someone piped up to say that a group of people on a Thursday 6.30 in Bedminster meet up to play Polo on bikes.
I spent the whole of yesterday at work discussing certain aspects, Although like me no-one had come across this sport. Even down to the fact with an article I had seen on BBC sports buletin mentioning the potential of it becomming an olympic sport, I was wondering whether to get a tattoo of the Olypmic rings on my forearm or just below my shoulders. However the main discussion was with how to hold the mallet, whether to use my strong arm(left)and hover my other hand over the front brake which could mean I may end up over the handlebars. Or hold it in my right hand and use the back brake which would mean I could struggle hitting the ball. Actually I should edit that to my strongest arm because I probably have the strength of a 12 year old.

So, 6.20 I turned up at Dean Lane Skate Park, a bit early to soak up the atmosphere. This was 2 guys doing some graffiti, some lads pulling off some rad tricks on their skateboards and a pissed/strange man playing 'give us a clue' on his own. I thought I better become cool before everyone turns up, so I took off my cycling helmet and bum bag and put these in my cycling panniers. It was now getting to 6.40, no-one was about so I cycled the park looking around for other athletes, no joy. So I then rang my girfriend to use a search engine to look for Bike+Polo+Bedminster and up came BS3 Ghetto Polo(where I stole the photo!) She confirmed that it was at Dean Lane and after I hung up on the phone three other people turned up. I had a little practice when someone said it would be easier if you took the pannier bags off your bike, smooth.

The sport Polo was the real reason I was blogging so I better mention something of it. Two teams of three compete in a tennis hard court with small goals. It starts with a joust where someone shouts 3-2-1 Polo and you cycle towards a little ball in the centre to contest. Now I saw this as a car crash waiting to happen so everytime we stated a game I held back slightly to save my bike's paintwork. If you put a foot on the floor you had to 'tap out' which consisted of cycling to the mid point and tapping your mallet on the side. The only other rules were no hitting of bikes, no throwing mallets and the only way you could score was from the end of the mallet not the side.

We had a load of mini games as it is the first team to score five wins. Luckily there where two other Polo virgins, so when it came to picking teams I was always picked on one side and one of them were on the other. It was harder than I thought and my Olympic dream was dashed within the 1st game where I spent most of the game tapping out or going round in circles to get the ball. It is harder than you think cycling for a large period of time leaning over your handle bars with your fingers twitching over the front brake and trying to swing a Ski pole with a bit of UPVC tubing at a small ball. It was at this point I now noticed why people had cut Estate Agent signs into the shape of their wheels to attatch to their bikes, to save their spokes!

After around 3 hours my first experience of Bike Polo, it was over, I had scored a couple of goals, set-up a few but most of all I had a bucket full of fun. The highlights for me were looking down at the ball aiming to shoot when I forgot to apply the brake and ended up crashing into an opponent(a lesson learnt quickly). Also when someone tried to shoulder barge me which I anticipated and leaned in at the same time, this meant we locked horns and cycled together for two seconds. When I got off my bike my hand was locked in a claw shape and I had worn away a big bit of my glove but I had seriously enjoyed myself meeting some very friendly people. After the games they invited me back next Thursday and I accepted, however I may try and practice in the garden with a broom and tennis ball.

I cycled back and made myself a well deserved Fish and Chips supper.

Louis

3 Piers Cycle Tour (well sort of)

Right this is the most nervous I have been about writing a journal, The success of my previous posts, well I got a thumbs up from my Mum and Girlfriend, means I need to better it. So much so I was contemplating getting a Dictaphone to strap to my handlebars to capture as much detail as possible.

As I knew I was going on a 'big' ride I thought it would be better to be prepared. I ate a bowl of porridge, had a cup of coffee and a glass of smoothie. I filled my bag with leftovers pasta from the previous night's dinner, a spare inner tube and a copy of the Daily Mail's free Britain Road atlas(forgot to mention in last blog my Dad handed me their copy last Saturday). It was at this stage I thought, I wonder if Mark Cavendish has to pack his own bag on the tour? Actually my mind wandered completely off track.

The question to pop up was what was more rules gone mad; when Lance Armstrong and his Team squad wore black jerseys featuring the number 28 (to signify the number of millions of people worldwide dealing with cancer) and were advised to change in the recent tour or the fact the bin men couldn't go on our drive to pick up our black bin. Yes I forgot to put the bins out again! Oh well another two weeks hopefully they won't be overfilled otherwise bureaucracy suggests the bin men wont be able to take them in case of injury. Right rant over, 9:15 off on my cycle.

Now I realise with my writings I have some Bristolians and a lot of non-locals so thought I would add tips from time to time. After pumping my tyres I set off on my travels the way the AA website suggests is the best non-motorway a follows a scenic route (which if non-locals ever come to visit) I cycled past Bristol Zoo now this reminds me of a story forever floating round normally around April fools, the car park attendant is official do not believe anything else about a guy grifting money for 6 years or more so do get a ticket. I cycled past this only to find out the road after was closed off.

So I detoured back around the Durdham Downs and down Park Street and next to the River Avon passed the SS Great Britain (40th year going worth a visit). I then got on the A370, I have travelled to Weston-Super-Mare on many occasion so I thought the easiest way would be to put my head down and cycle the way the Romans wanted us to. Within the 20 Miles there were only a couple of highlights, an Eddie Stobart lorry which I tried to get to use their horn but they weren't playing the game. Also a restaurant called Flavours an exclusive Indian restaurant, which I couldn't work out if that meant it only sold Indian food or it sold Indian food to a certain clientele.

Pier 1 (Weston)

I arrived on Weston Seafront 2 hours later, what a disappointment, it could be known as the Blackpool of the South but at the moment it is in its transitional period renovations everywhere. On to the beach, there was a Sand sculpture exhibition, luckily there was a hole in the scaffolding so I could take a picture using my camera and we all can save ourselves £5. I followed my way around the seafront taking various pictures of the newly built pier, when I came to a place called Kewstoke and Sand Bay. My objective at the start of the day was to cycle round Weston then take the coastal road down to Burnham it all looked easy although my map reading skills aren't up to scratch so an hour later and a tour of Weston and its surroundings I was back on track on my tour. However if I hadn't got lost I would not have found Sparky. Basically there has been a number of Donkeys sponsored by companies placed around the town and I had found one.

Pier 2 (Burnham)
I then cycled via Bleadon, Berrow and on to Burnham on Sea. This is where I found the best poster, Pig & Donkey racing for charity near Berrow, £2 admission prams and pushchairs for free. However 100 yards down the road outside a pub was a sign for a hog roast on Saturday. I'd like to think that it was an extreme race and the slowest pig loses its life, a modern day Darwinism. So Pub quiz pens and paper at the ready the answer to the UK's smallest pier number 2 on the tour, Burnham on Sea. This is the spot I chose to take lunch, opposite a Morrison's and a Wetherspoons it was either my pasta or lunch at the Ritz, and the hotel isn't a patch on its sister establishment!



Cycling away from Burnham and Highbrige I cycled the B3139 towards a village called Mark this is where if you haven't been, there is a big resilience to Pylons, there campaign was Pylon moor pressure. Can you see what they did there, genius. I then cycled to Cross and stumbled across the Sustrans Strawberry Line between Winscombe and Axbridge, I didn't have a clue which way to go until an old boy said the route past Winscombe would take me towards Clevedon. This was the best cycle path as it took me through a pitch black tunnel which was scary and the Thatchers Cider orchard.

Pier 3
The track took me all the way to within 2 miles of Clevedon the third pier. But by this time I had about enough and the extra 4 miles would have been too much. So I followed another route to Nailsea and found out something amazing, I thought Nailsea was a little village and even stopped at the village shop to get a fizzy drink. On the outside there was a sign stating they sell Thatcher's cider in 2ft plastic re-usable containers, if only I had more storage on my bike. Anyway I cycled out of the village and past the town centre and a massive Tescos it is bigger than I thought! I cycled back via Long Ashton and through a solar panel speed checker which to my amazement picked me up at 14MPH. So I then cycled back home to a well deserved cup of tea and a nice bath at 5pm.

9-5 what a way to make a living. Yes after all that cycling I am still walking like John Wayne.