Day 8: Eee by gum, Im off down pub

Thirsk to Haxey ( 83 Miles)

Last night, the owner of the hotel asked what I wanted for breakfast, “You might not want too much if you’re going to be cycling”, “On the contrary my good man, give me all you’ve got”, I replied. He duly delivered and I was all set to go.

I was keen to get away early because the weather forecast for the afternoon was thunderstorms, although when I checked again this morning, the forecast was slightly more optimistic and it seemed I might get lucky and avoid them. Nevertheless, I was on my way, off to explore more of Yorkshire. The first 20 miles or so were very nice, again travelling on small country roads passing through some very picturesque Yorkshire villages.

I have done quite a lot of cycling in the past few years, covering all sorts of terrain, landscapes and weather and I have come to a conclusion. I do not, and probably never will, enjoy cycling. It might sound strange coming from a person that is currently on a journey that involves quite a lot of cycling, but I just don’t get the appeal of travelling by bike. A lot of people I’ve met on my travels have spoken with glee about life on the open road, travelling slowly enough to appreciate a place in its entirety. The smells, the sights, the people, being able to enjoy and savour it all, at one with your surroundings. My experience is slightly different. Either it’s too hot, there’s too much rain, too much wind, too hilly, the roads are too busy, the roads are bad quality or a concoction of all of them. In the rare event that all the stars align and the conditions are perfect, then I quite enjoy cycling.

The previous paragraph was an exceptional long way of telling you that this morning was so nice that even I enjoyed it. This came to an end when a bike path that started off as a poor quality tarmac road, quickly petered out into little more than a field. It didn’t last very long, but it certainly went a long way to erasing the good sentiments that had been built up by the mornings cycling. The path proved too much for the bike as well, back on the country roads, I was now struggling to get into second gear, with the chain jamming every time I tried. I’m far from a bike expert but I tried my best (and failed) to rectify the issue. It wasn’t too much of an issue and with York only 10 miles away, I was confident I would be able to get there and get it fixed. I did briefly stop while another cyclist had a look at the issue, he confirmed what I had thought, that a small part of the bike was somehow missing. It must have come loose on the dirt tracks over the previous miles. This bike has been all the way across America, but one week on the British “bike paths” and it was already falling apart.

There is an excellent bike path that leads directly into the centre of York, this was a joy to ride on and I was feeling good as I reached the city and began searching for a bike shop. The first one I came to was right next to the train station. I explained the issue to the mechanic and he set about fixing it. Using bike terms, he twice explained what the issue was. I stared blankly. “A bit has fallen off”, he finally explained apathetically, “ah I thought so”, I replied.

Bike fixed, belly full (I had lunch while he was fixing it), I was on my way again. The bike path that had lead into York continued out of the city, even passing over the York racecourse that was being prepared for an upcoming event. The path was excellent, passing through Selby, the only issue now was that I seemed to be stuck in second gear. Every time I tried to go down to first, the chain would simply slip off and I would have to stop and put it back on. This wasn’t a huge issue as the roads were extremely flat, therefore second gear was perfect most of the time.

The day finished with a couple of long straight roads. It is clear from the roads that this was very much an area conquered by the Romans. The long straight roads are relics to their presence, some of the roads still carry the “Roman Road” name. The thunderstorms hadn’t arrived, in fact today became only the second completely dry day so far and I rolled into a very busy campsite after 83 miles of peddling. I set up camp and headed over the road for a massive burger (it was massive), enjoying the chatter of the locals. As I sat listening to them (today’s title is inspired by them), the heavens opened. The thunder storms had arrived!

I headed back to camp, very full and ready for bed. A decent day, through some very nice parts of England. Forecast for tomorrow: Rain Sun!!!