Slow Ride...

 I was suppsed to be leaving for Russia yesterday, but the bike didn't want to play ball. The bearing in the front hub collapsed after 10 miles, incorrectly set?, so the wheels back at the manufacturers having the repair done under warrenty.

 

So I thought I'd use the oppertunity to put up some pictures from the first tour I did last year, 3 weeks and 1500 miles in Ireland. Nice people, stunning scenery, shame about the weather.

 

 

The idea was to get to Dublin and turn left and keep the sea to my left until I did i full circle. It took me two long days to get to Cork from Dublin, and another day to get to Bantry.

Kerry mountains, a good climb but the views were a bit limited at the top thanks to the fine irish weather. Thats my bike on the left ready to go through the tunnel and begin the descent.

'Welcome to Galway!'

                                 

                                  

 

 I made it my mission to get a picture of my bike leaning up against every county sign around the irish coast. Unfortunatly it made for a pretty boring set of photograhs.

Graffiti in Belfast.

 

Im not going to put up all of the photos cause they're pretty crap quality, but this has got to be my favorite photo from Ireland. I've put it in X-large so despite the rubbish quality you should be able to read it.

The plaque reads: "Lieut. Michael Mclean, Lowertown Schull, 3rd West Cork Brigade I.R.A was tortured and murdered by British Crown Forces on the 8th Dec. 1920 Aged 23 years."

Powerful stuff.

 

Testing..

Bike packed, money sorted, said a few goodbyes.....

I'm cycling to St. Petersburg, Russia via. all the baltic states, then down to Moscow. Will try and keep this blog updated at least once a week.

Poor, Ugly, Happy

Thought I'd put up a few pictures of what I get up to, been thinking of doing a blog for a while as a good way of keeping up with family and friends so I'll try and keep this updated.

This year I've done a lot of cycle touring having spent 3 weeks in Ireland and 6 in France, after coming back the beginning of October I've decided I want to do a longer tour in 2013 kicking off the end of March so should be spending a good few hours training on two wheels the next couple of months.

Anyway here's some France pics, enjoy :)

3 Things the French do better than us: food, drink and roundabouts.

Early on in the trip on a camp site cost roughly £16, quite pricey considering i could of camped for free on the beech and probably still used the facilities;)

A French national park, not sure why i took this, but the bikes looking sweet. Rear tubus rack and two ortlieb roller classic panniers, with all I need for 6 weeks.


A bridge somewhere along the west coast of France looks fairly new. You can see the old one in the background, why waste money pulling it down when you can build around it?

Port de Morlaix, on the North coast, cheers to the friendly French couple for taking this picture. 

Ninja camping on the west coast, sublime;)

The first sign for Spain and the Pyrenees. I was heading for Laruns where I spent a night before doing the first hill. 

The first real test of the trip, I was lucky enough to have met three friendly South African teachers at Laruns, so had some company for the first climb, a real leg burner, especially with the extra weight of two crates of French lager (notice the bulging panniers):)

Breathtaking, early morning in the Pyrenees. In the white van there were a group of students taking samples. They slept out in bivvy bags on the hillside behind us.

The motley crew Bruce, Sally Me and James thanks for the company guys and I hope you had a great trip.

This happened half way up the first climb, a bad omen? chewed up my new trainers pretty well but a good excuse for some new gucci pedals.

Half way up the Col du Tourmalet, the highest paved road in the French Pyrenees only a few weeks after Wiggo won the Tour de France.

Action shot, approx 1.5km from the top. Pain. Note the new SDPs, first time using them and to be fair I was impressed, can't see me using them on my xc bike though.

Ahhhhhh....... the count of Monte Bristow watch out Louie the franchise is spreading.

Somewhere near the French alps, paradise.

Mont Cenis, again a really challenging climb, but rewarding. It was insanely windy on top.

Surely owed some royalty money or something?

A refuge hut on top of Col De L'Iseran, pretty glad I found this place as I think the tent would of got a bit of a battering that night. I would have liked to have known the temperature because I was in a four season bag off the floor with a self inflating mat under me and I still ended up sleeping in the tent outer, with no poles.

Highest point on the road up Col De L'Iseran, without a doubt the hardest climb of the trip, last stop before a rendevouz with the Dunns, my cousin Tamsin and her husband Fabrice, as well as my uncle Tim and auntie Raye in Saint-Gervais.