Well to this point me and Greg have now biked about 220 miles! 75 of those miles were around London while we were staying there... the other 145 happened in the past three days :)
Sunday, Leaving London
Me and Greg woke up early again... around 715. We repositioned the weight and what not. Just to give you all an idea of what we are carrying on our tour:
Me, rack: Tent, Sleeping pad, Comfort shoes
Me, panniers: Pots, Stove, Gas Cannisters, Health Kit, 3 Sets of Biking Clothes, 1 Set of "Decent" Clothes, Bath Stuff, Matches, Extra Tire, 3 Extra Tubes, Bike Pump, Can of Soup, Can of Beans, Peanut Butter, Tortillas, 2 Bags of Pasta, 1 Kg of Rice, Random Bike Tools
Me, backpack: 5 Liters of Water (3 in Camel Back, 2 in Bottle), Bike Maintenance Guide, Journal, Anthem, Things To Say To Be Obnoxious, Bike Lock, Glasses, Passport, Wallet
Greg can make a list of what he is carrying on his blog if he wants :P I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what the bike is carrying. So we didn't really encounter much as we left London... maybe a few hills. BUT it did take forever to get out of the borders of London. Almost 15 miles or so. What a HUGE city. It just never ended and I can't really compare it to another city I have se
en. But interestingly enough it was densely populated throughout without randomness (as Jeff would call suburbs). This was Greg's first real long distance ride in forever and he overpacked some... so we stopped a bit. As we neared 55 miles for the day it started to rain so we pulled over after 2 miles as it started pissing down. We saw a great field to camp at and threw our bikes over the railing and ran through the shag grass... Wound up being a golf course. Crap. There was also a ped walk right there too. Well, we wound up camping off to the side anyways since it was raining. Our meal for the night was just some pasta we cooked up as it was pissing down, so wasn't too fun. Went to bed rather early, I reckon around 930pm? Yeap, but overall not an eventful day.
Monday, Our Day of Meeting People
We woke up from our campsite at around 630am to the sound of rain. We decided to neglect our obligation to biking and sleep more. Eventually... around 930am it stopped raining. So we packed up camp and started getting ready to leave. We decided to fix Greg's real deraileUr (thats for you DAN) before leaving so his chain would stop popping off. Got it into place but it didn't help ALOT... but it did help some. By the time camp was cleaned up and we fixed the bike and
decided where we were going it was about 1115am. We got on the road. We went through a lot of really quaint towns and took a lot of pictures of pretty sights. However, we were on some pretty main roads, too (like the A5). The A5 is like... Rt 1... or York Rd... without speed traps because the cops have to warn you with posted signs of upcoming speed traps or cameras. So needless to say people drive crazy in England. However, as crazy as they drive they are pretty careful of bikers if I can say so myself. For lunch we stopped around Towcester on the side of a farmers driveway. His house looked amazing. We were eating and his wife drove by and asked what we were doing so we told her just eating lunch trying to get off the road. She said it was OK as long as we didn't camp out. However, her husband, the farmer, came by a minute later and started talking to us. Apparently he owned 2000 acres (as far as the skyline), grew wheat and corn cause dairy cows aren't profitable, and has had the land in his family since the 1500s. His awesome house is actually part of an ancient Roman monastery. AWESOME. We took a picture. We 
continued on the A5. Around 6pm we stopped at a truck driver pit stop just outside of Hinkley to fill up on water. We have been drinking like 7 liters a day... so we usually refill once or twice a day to be safe. On the way out an old avid biker named Glen, nicknamed Tex, directed us towards some side country roads to avoid some of the A5 and some of the larger hills. He talked to us for about 45 minutes and offered us his map but we already had one. Me and Greg started biking and when we did the first of the two turns he drove by to check and make sure we were doing the directions OK. As we got to the second turn he was parked waiting and waved to us as we continued on to the A5. At this point I was sketched out... but it wound up he was just a really nice guy who missed biking. Second awesome guy we met. He also told us many local establishments in the towns would let us camp out behind their pubs or stores and leave them open so we could use the facilities. Would of been awesome if we were done for the day at that point. We kept biking and stopped at a place called "Cod King" and got some special burgers, battered sausage, chips, and chips and cheese. Packed it up and started to look for a camp site. Wounds up we camped in a bean farm. It was pretty cool, it was beautiful out and we were off the main road. We were dead tired and the food was amazing.
Tuesday, the Final Trek to Sheffield
This day was by far the worst. It started well, we woke up at 630am and started by 715am. We covered a lot of miles quickly and stopped and got bread, cheese, and meat for lunch. Soon after, though, we hit hill after hill and really didn't have mileage written down. We were guesstimat
ing using the map scale BUT the windiness changes the mileage a lot. By the end of the day we thought we were 10 miles from Sheffield but we were 22. We actually wound up taking a taxi for about 17 of the miles to the edge of the city. By the way, Sheffield is built upon the seven hills... its in a valley. So to get there you go over HUGE hills. The sites are beautiful, though. As we drove through Chesterfield we saw a church with a twisted steeple and he told us the wisetale. Apparently it will straighten out if a female virgin ever gets married there. BUT as everyone knows there are no virgins in Chesterfield, ha! And later on in the day when we told Sally and friends about the wise tale and the virgins thing... they were like "In Chesterfield, ha!" What a rep to have for a city. Anyways, the 22 miles would have taken us forever especially since we had already ridden 50 miles for the day. Where the cabby dropped us off was the downhill portion of the drive. He was nice and discounted our fare cause he could tell we didn't have much money, he also didn't accept a tip (and apparently its not customary outside of London!). Once we got into Sheffield we called Sally and she met up with us after a few calls. She took us back to our house where she had Cottage Pie cooked up for us, and me and Greg got to take showers. Yayyy. She also is letting us stay in an empty room for a few nights. So we got a good night of rest and time to clean up, much needed. Went to bed kind of early cause I was dead!
Wednesday, Alton Towers
Today we went to Alton Towers... a castle with a theme park built around it. Got up around 8am and we all left for the park around 9am. Was about an hour drive. Sally gave us all buy one get
one free tickets so me and Greg paid £16 each to get in... wasn't bad at all! It is cool... they don't pat you down or put you through security. People can bring as much food or drinks in as they want. The food stands charge normal prices (not gouging!). The line queues even make more sense and help to avoid congestion. The park is more aesthetic. There is less clutter and trash and concrete. It seems they did well at blending it in with its natural surroundings and keeping it clean. There was actually a neat "ride" that let us go into part of the castle and learn some of the history. Me and Greg had some PB&J sandwiches 
courtesy of Sally. Sally, her b/f Johnny, Anna, Ben, Katie, and Jim went. We all had fun. They gave us some candy things that were cool. They like to blend orange and chocolate in candy bars but it tastes brilliant! :P As far as the rides... they had the normal feet hanging down/laying down/sit down roller coasters. A neat roller coaster one that spun in circles as you went. The rapids ride. The flume. Pirate ship. Etc... It was way cooler than most theme parks, although it closed early around 5pm. Afterwards we all went to another fish and chip shop. Then rushed home to watch the British version of the Apprentice. I like it. I'm gonna have to download them when I get home! Tomorrow we are planning on going to a bike shop, going bouldering, mapping out our next journey, and then going out for some drinks!
I am alive loves! :)
Frank
Sunday, Leaving London
Me and Greg woke up early again... around 715. We repositioned the weight and what not. Just to give you all an idea of what we are carrying on our tour:
Me, rack: Tent, Sleeping pad, Comfort shoes
Me, panniers: Pots, Stove, Gas Cannisters, Health Kit, 3 Sets of Biking Clothes, 1 Set of "Decent" Clothes, Bath Stuff, Matches, Extra Tire, 3 Extra Tubes, Bike Pump, Can of Soup, Can of Beans, Peanut Butter, Tortillas, 2 Bags of Pasta, 1 Kg of Rice, Random Bike Tools
Me, backpack: 5 Liters of Water (3 in Camel Back, 2 in Bottle), Bike Maintenance Guide, Journal, Anthem, Things To Say To Be Obnoxious, Bike Lock, Glasses, Passport, Wallet
Greg can make a list of what he is carrying on his blog if he wants :P I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what the bike is carrying. So we didn't really encounter much as we left London... maybe a few hills. BUT it did take forever to get out of the borders of London. Almost 15 miles or so. What a HUGE city. It just never ended and I can't really compare it to another city I have se
en. But interestingly enough it was densely populated throughout without randomness (as Jeff would call suburbs). This was Greg's first real long distance ride in forever and he overpacked some... so we stopped a bit. As we neared 55 miles for the day it started to rain so we pulled over after 2 miles as it started pissing down. We saw a great field to camp at and threw our bikes over the railing and ran through the shag grass... Wound up being a golf course. Crap. There was also a ped walk right there too. Well, we wound up camping off to the side anyways since it was raining. Our meal for the night was just some pasta we cooked up as it was pissing down, so wasn't too fun. Went to bed rather early, I reckon around 930pm? Yeap, but overall not an eventful day.Monday, Our Day of Meeting People
We woke up from our campsite at around 630am to the sound of rain. We decided to neglect our obligation to biking and sleep more. Eventually... around 930am it stopped raining. So we packed up camp and started getting ready to leave. We decided to fix Greg's real deraileUr (thats for you DAN) before leaving so his chain would stop popping off. Got it into place but it didn't help ALOT... but it did help some. By the time camp was cleaned up and we fixed the bike and
decided where we were going it was about 1115am. We got on the road. We went through a lot of really quaint towns and took a lot of pictures of pretty sights. However, we were on some pretty main roads, too (like the A5). The A5 is like... Rt 1... or York Rd... without speed traps because the cops have to warn you with posted signs of upcoming speed traps or cameras. So needless to say people drive crazy in England. However, as crazy as they drive they are pretty careful of bikers if I can say so myself. For lunch we stopped around Towcester on the side of a farmers driveway. His house looked amazing. We were eating and his wife drove by and asked what we were doing so we told her just eating lunch trying to get off the road. She said it was OK as long as we didn't camp out. However, her husband, the farmer, came by a minute later and started talking to us. Apparently he owned 2000 acres (as far as the skyline), grew wheat and corn cause dairy cows aren't profitable, and has had the land in his family since the 1500s. His awesome house is actually part of an ancient Roman monastery. AWESOME. We took a picture. We continued on the A5. Around 6pm we stopped at a truck driver pit stop just outside of Hinkley to fill up on water. We have been drinking like 7 liters a day... so we usually refill once or twice a day to be safe. On the way out an old avid biker named Glen, nicknamed Tex, directed us towards some side country roads to avoid some of the A5 and some of the larger hills. He talked to us for about 45 minutes and offered us his map but we already had one. Me and Greg started biking and when we did the first of the two turns he drove by to check and make sure we were doing the directions OK. As we got to the second turn he was parked waiting and waved to us as we continued on to the A5. At this point I was sketched out... but it wound up he was just a really nice guy who missed biking. Second awesome guy we met. He also told us many local establishments in the towns would let us camp out behind their pubs or stores and leave them open so we could use the facilities. Would of been awesome if we were done for the day at that point. We kept biking and stopped at a place called "Cod King" and got some special burgers, battered sausage, chips, and chips and cheese. Packed it up and started to look for a camp site. Wounds up we camped in a bean farm. It was pretty cool, it was beautiful out and we were off the main road. We were dead tired and the food was amazing.Tuesday, the Final Trek to Sheffield
This day was by far the worst. It started well, we woke up at 630am and started by 715am. We covered a lot of miles quickly and stopped and got bread, cheese, and meat for lunch. Soon after, though, we hit hill after hill and really didn't have mileage written down. We were guesstimat
ing using the map scale BUT the windiness changes the mileage a lot. By the end of the day we thought we were 10 miles from Sheffield but we were 22. We actually wound up taking a taxi for about 17 of the miles to the edge of the city. By the way, Sheffield is built upon the seven hills... its in a valley. So to get there you go over HUGE hills. The sites are beautiful, though. As we drove through Chesterfield we saw a church with a twisted steeple and he told us the wisetale. Apparently it will straighten out if a female virgin ever gets married there. BUT as everyone knows there are no virgins in Chesterfield, ha! And later on in the day when we told Sally and friends about the wise tale and the virgins thing... they were like "In Chesterfield, ha!" What a rep to have for a city. Anyways, the 22 miles would have taken us forever especially since we had already ridden 50 miles for the day. Where the cabby dropped us off was the downhill portion of the drive. He was nice and discounted our fare cause he could tell we didn't have much money, he also didn't accept a tip (and apparently its not customary outside of London!). Once we got into Sheffield we called Sally and she met up with us after a few calls. She took us back to our house where she had Cottage Pie cooked up for us, and me and Greg got to take showers. Yayyy. She also is letting us stay in an empty room for a few nights. So we got a good night of rest and time to clean up, much needed. Went to bed kind of early cause I was dead!Wednesday, Alton Towers
Today we went to Alton Towers... a castle with a theme park built around it. Got up around 8am and we all left for the park around 9am. Was about an hour drive. Sally gave us all buy one get
one free tickets so me and Greg paid £16 each to get in... wasn't bad at all! It is cool... they don't pat you down or put you through security. People can bring as much food or drinks in as they want. The food stands charge normal prices (not gouging!). The line queues even make more sense and help to avoid congestion. The park is more aesthetic. There is less clutter and trash and concrete. It seems they did well at blending it in with its natural surroundings and keeping it clean. There was actually a neat "ride" that let us go into part of the castle and learn some of the history. Me and Greg had some PB&J sandwiches courtesy of Sally. Sally, her b/f Johnny, Anna, Ben, Katie, and Jim went. We all had fun. They gave us some candy things that were cool. They like to blend orange and chocolate in candy bars but it tastes brilliant! :P As far as the rides... they had the normal feet hanging down/laying down/sit down roller coasters. A neat roller coaster one that spun in circles as you went. The rapids ride. The flume. Pirate ship. Etc... It was way cooler than most theme parks, although it closed early around 5pm. Afterwards we all went to another fish and chip shop. Then rushed home to watch the British version of the Apprentice. I like it. I'm gonna have to download them when I get home! Tomorrow we are planning on going to a bike shop, going bouldering, mapping out our next journey, and then going out for some drinks!I am alive loves! :)
Frank
9 comments:
Wow, you actually ended up at a theme park. That is the last thing I would have expected. Amazing how you can actually make observations and comparisons at something so seemingly culturally neutral as a theme park, with roller coasters and such.
I have the same problem here with the fast driving. Maybe it's a European thing. I'm glad all American drivers live in a state of fear of police, as they should.
Don't let those hills get you down. Once you get to the Elbe, which I know you are just dying to get to, it will be all flat and beautiful. Oh, and the Elbe's water tastes like beer... German beer.
There is a lie contained in my comment. See if you can find it!
Keep on radling, you radlers, you!
Hello to Greg & Frank.......sounds like your adventure is going well. We miss you here on Glenbrook. Thanks for blogging-I'm enjoying all the details.
Love from MOM
Hey Frank, I'm so glad your actually posting (*unlike some people*) and have all these juicy details. I'm glad you're doing well and having fun--the theme park and the bean field both sounded very exciting. Hey can do me one favor and can you try to say "Greg and I" at the beginning of sentences instead of "Me and Greg," just because every time I read it I start to convulse. Thank you hon!
much love from the other side of the ocean
Ann
Hey Frank, I'm so glad your actually posting (*unlike some people*) and have all these juicy details. I'm glad you're doing well and having fun--the theme park and the bean field both sounded very exciting. Hey can do me one favor and can you try to say "Greg and I" at the beginning of sentences instead of "Me and Greg," just because every time I read it I start to convulse. Thank you hon!
much love from the other side of the ocean
Ann
wow you are popular enough to have your own blog grammar nazi.
Hi Frank, this is Emily from ("from") Dresden. I'm enjoying your blog very much. Sounds like an awesome trip. Someday later (when I'm in better shape, have a different bike, etc.) I think I'd like to get into touring.
Ann, THANK YOU!
Hey, Frank......I agree with Ann. I was hoping you'd make the change without the hint but I guess not.
And yeah, yeah, PP Dan, I saw your comment.
Hey Frankie~
Looks and sounds like you are having a blast! I am sure that you are having a great time. I would love to do what you are doing but not by bike.
I heard about the stolen wallet glad to hear that it was found, minus the $$.
The pictures are great. I love them all. Especially the one with the chicken box. I don't think that it can compare to Baltimore's FInest!! When you return I will take you downtown to try!!
I will be in Ireland from June 16 - 25. I don't think that you are near but if you are give me call.
Be safe and careful!!
meghan
To grammar nazis: get over it.
Everyone else: thanks for replying :) MEGHAN I TOOK THAT PICTURE FOR YOU AND MELANIE!!! :)
We will be there I think those exact days!! I will email you and try to coordinate!!
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