Every year a walking holiday is organised by one of us over a May weekend. The group usually gathers on a Thursday evening. We then walk Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Monday is optional as it is usually the day people head home.
Who are we? Apart from two adoptees we were all at St Benedict’s School in Ealing together from 1968 to 1975. The group has been gathering every year for nearly 30 years and I was invited about 20 years ago when one of the original participants reconnected through some work they were doing.
Walk, drink, eat, sleep, in various places around England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy. I have had to miss a couple of gatherings. Last year it was because I was having a radical prostatectomy so I missed the Italian job.
So what has this got to do with cycling, coffee and cake?
For the last three gatherings I have been able to get to I have decided to bike-pack to where we are meeting. This year it was Sligo. Looking at the map I reckoned I could get to Liverpool and catch a ferry to Belfast overnight and then cycle from Belfast to Sligo. I might even make dinner in Sligo.
Liverpool is a good ride. I did a practice run to visit an old friend for the weekend a few weeks before. Komoot routed me over Winnats and the first half of the route had all the climbs.
The morning I set off to catch the ferry I discovered an essential bolt holding my Tailfin aero pack to the seat post had come apart and a screw was missing. My mate Jim’s house was en route only 20min away so I popped in to see if he could help fettle a fix. He could. He did. And I got a great cup of coffee thrown in. He looked doubtful when I said I was aiming to make the 10:30pm ferry which puzzled me until I subsequently discovered he thought I was heading for Holyhead!
The weather was mostly kind apart from a deluge nearer to Liverpool. Winnats was a challenge with a fully laden bike and I had to push about two thirds of the way up. I found myself settling into the rhythm of long distance cycling. Making sure I paced myself, ate regularly and stopped for as little time as possible. Gradually the mind empties, slows down and the moment becomes everything. Focussing on what you have done and what you have to do becomes less and less important. it is just what you are doing.
It took me seven and a half hours to do the 143km and I was able to catch the Mersey Ferry to Birkenhead with 2m to spare. I had 3 hours to spare before I could board the big boat.
When I did my expectations were exceeded. I had booked a cabin and found a very comfortable bed with an en suite that had a piping hot shower so I could clean up before heading to the restaurant for some pasta.
I was in bed by 10:30pm just as we set sail with my alarm set for 5.30am.
Cycling Coffee and Cake 