Monday 29th: London to Canterbury (105km)

At last, sunshine. The last few days have been very grey and drizzly. So for the first time since arriving in London I was able to cycle around in the sunshine.

So taking advantage of the good weather, I said goodbye to Fergal and headed off from Shepard's Bush in the direction of France.

I always thought Dover was south of London but it actually west and the route follows the A2 built over the straight as an arrow old roman road.

Getting from Shepards Bush to Greenwich was nice but after that the road became a very busy triple carriageway with roadworks continuing for miles and miles.

There was no hard shoulder and trucks roared by within a few inches of me.

My prayers were eventually answered when I reached Rochester and the A2 became a pleasant single carriageway road that meandered through the various "Medway Towns".

The countryside south of Faversham and I was delighted to see Vineyards for the first time. A real sign that I'm headed towards warmers climes. With the clocks having gone back my cycling day now only lasted till 4.30 and it was at that time that I branched off towards Canterbury.

There was nice looking BnB right in the centre, and the friendly owner gave me a huge room with double bed and BATH for 30 pounds. This is the first time I've been able to have a bath so It was with great pleasure I settled into a hot bath and almost dozed off. Its only a few hundred years from the BnB to Canterbury Cathedral, so I wandered in that direction.

Canterbury is lovely. It is by far the nicest town I've stopped off in or seen en so far. There is a good buzz in the centre in the evening, lots of cafes and pubs with people even sitting outside. The building are attractive, the shops are not the usual mix of chains and there is a good few local food shops and some very inviting cosy pubs. I may have to return.

Weekend in London

Thursday 25th: Luton Airport to London (52kms)

The breakfast in the hotel was self service so I had a leisurely start with too many cups of coffee. I knew today was going to be short but at I was also thinking that its these easy days that throw up the surprises. I was expecting to hit an urban landscape the whole way in from Luton but was pleasantly surprised that there was pockets of countryside in as far as Edgeware. I stopped for lunch in Subway in St. Albans just outside the M25. You could tell straight away that St. Albans was a town with money in the same way that you could tell that Edgeware was without. Once I hit Edgeware it was 15kms of buildings and super stores before I started getting to areas I recognised from my time in London before. Once I hit St. John's Wood I knew I didn't have far to go. The rain was coming down now and it was cold and very grey. Not quite as I imagined my entry into the city. I hit Marble Arch and Hyde Park and I had arrived, 515kms at an average of 19.7km/hr.

Fergal had kindly invited me to stay with him in Shepard's Bush so I had a couple of hours to kill before he finished work. I cycled around all my old haunts, around Piccadilly, Trafalgar, house of parliament etc. I slowly made my way out to Shepard's Bush stopping for coffees every 30 minutes or so. Fergal got back about 7pm and his flatmate Lolly had prepared a great dinner so with a few glasses of wine we toasted the end of the first stage of the journey.

Wednesday 24th: Rugby to Luton Airport (115km)

Another freezing cold morning. so I waited till about 10.30pm before setting off. Coming out of Rugby I passed through a massive distribution centre called DRIIFT.


Hugh warehouses and lorry ferrying goods all over the place. This was followed by a huge power station, so it was a welcome relief to arrive at Althorp, the family estate of the Spencer family and the last resting place of Princess Diana.

The Diana memorial is only open during the summer so I went to the local pub, the Althorp Arms for lunch. The pub was lovely and I enjoyed a great but expensive lunch and coffee before continuing onto Northampton.


I made my first navigation error here and ended up going 10kms out of my way. I needed to get on the A508 and did so, but ended up heading north rather than south. Northampton didn't seem particularly nice unless its centre is drastically different to its suburbs. By 4pm I managed to reach Milton Keynes. Because the day was so grey all the cars had their lights on and it felt dark. I was happy to be on my bike as I cycled past miles of traffic jams and looked down on the gridlocked M1. By the time I reached the outskirts of Luton it was fully dark and finding no hotels in the town, I decided to head to the airport. A seriously steep road took me out of the town and through various industrial estates as I began to panic a bit that I was getting lost. Eventually I saw a reassuring sign and pedaled down a quiet road with a pedestrian bridge over it. As I got closer I noticed a young man with a large rifle on the bridge. I had my High Vis jacket on and all my bike lights were flashing so I would have been an easy target should he have decided to pick me off. Maybe it was the long day on the road or the lack of light that got me panicked but I put the foot down and weaved from side to side so he couldn't get a clean shot. When I eventually calmed a mile down the road I noticed that my max speed had hit almost 50km/hr. Arriving at Luton I made my way to the nearest hotel (Hotel Ibis). The lobby was full of passangers coming and going and people asking for wake up calls at 3am and other ungodly hours. I read in one of the newspapers in the lobby that the Accor chain of hotels had started to train their staff on how to deal with sleepwalkers. Apparently, there had been a 70% increase in nude sleepwalking at their hotels in the last year and staff now keep towels in the lobby to "protect their customers dignity". I chuckled as I enjoyed my well earned pint.

Tuesday 23rd October: Stafford to Rugby (93km)

A very cold morning again, 1c according to the television weather that resulted in another hour in bed. After a complementary breakfast (thank you Swan Hotel) I walked across the street to the local library to use the Internet. I've learned a few thinks about England on this trip. 1) After 6pm the pedestrian town centers are dead and 2).
There are not many Internet Cafes in the country towns but the local Library are excellent and provide free Internet access. The librarian in the Stafford Town Hall was very helpful and jolly and although conscious that I was eating into my cycle time I managed to update the blog, check bank balance and weather until almost 11am. Leaving Stafford was easy and every 6 miles or so there was a reasonable sized town to aim for. After Tamworth I found myself on a very busy dual carriageway although the passing lorries help speed me along with their wind draft.


Arriving in Nuneaton at 4pm I stopped for a very pleasant afternoon tea before pushing onto Rugby for the night. Rugby has some impressive suburbs and there was a different feel to the town that what I had experienced before although again the town centre was dead. I stayed in the three horses inn and was again offered a generous discount and the owner was very welcoming. After a shower I wandered over to the (excellent library) to use the Internet and went for a simple but very expensive Thai meal. I'm finding England expensive. After dinner I went back to the hotel to listen in on the Pub Quiz which was still going on as I made my way to bed at 11am. I could still hear the questions as I tried to sleep upstairs.

Monday 22nd October: Chester to Stafford (87km)

A very cold and grey morning today. Not the sort of weather that you jump out of bed for. I forgot to bring my razor and toothbrush so headed off to get some in the local boots.

Chester is a nice town with an impressive cathedral, although the cold weather made me want to head south. Leaving chester I followed the Shropshire Union Canal http://www.shropshireunion.org.uk/ as far as Nantwich. I remembered it as the location of Mark's stag night in Peep Show, and this took my mind of the grey skies.

I had bought a detailed map so I was able to avoid all the major roads and instead spent the whole day going from small village to small village. Every second house was a large farm and I noticed that a lot of the had branded their farm and were selling their produce. I stumbled across Beeston Castle http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.13495 and passed many lovely pub situated in great old buildings. The tempature relly droppped by mid afternoon and I heard two old lays discussing whether it would snow or not.

Deciding the only way to stay warm was to keep cycling I pushed on and made it to Stafford, the county town. Stafford city centre is dead after dark and the Swan Hotel http://www.theswanstafford.co.uk/ was the only welcoming lights I could see.

The hotel was lovely and the lady at reception knocked 60 euros off the room price when she heard about the cycle. Had lovely shower and headed across to a cosy italian restauraunt for dinner. The dinner was great but I noticed that everytime somebody new came in the door ALL the staff shouted "Waaasssup". As it was 7pm this was happening every few minutes. Even the lady putting black pepper on my pasta shouted "Waaaaasup" as she stood grinding in front of me. Headed back to the hotel and went to bed at 8pm to watch telly.

Sunday 21st October: Bangor to Chester (108km)

There wasn't a cloud in the sky as I set off from Bangor this morning.

The road to Conwyn was a motorway with tunnels but they had built a cycle lane the whole way along it making what would have been a nightmare trip into a very pleasant run along the north wales coast. This part of wales is beautiful with Llandudno jutting out into the sea and the mountains of Snowdonia as a backdrop. Conwyn is a beautiful walled town with a gorgeous harbour and would make a nice 1 night away trip from Dublin.

It is also home to the "Smallest house in Great Britan" which I thought was quite roomy compared to some 1 beds in Dublin. From nearby Colwyn Bay a cycle lane runs the whole way along the coast to england. It was very well used and a passed over 100 cylists before I reached Abergele.

The good weather continued and I had lunch at a beach cafe. After Abergele the coastline becomes very tacky and I thought Ryhle was the nastiest seaside resort I'd ever seen. Putting the head down I pushed on to Chester arriving just before sunset. Again I picked a hotel in the rough guide for 28 pounds. It was a tiny room with a camp bed and I didn't sleep too well.

Saturday 20th October: Dundrum to Bangor, Wales (60km)

Ed kindly prepared a send off breakfast this morning for me. So after leaving Dundrum at midday I headed down to Ed's for a feast of smoked trout, fancy cheese and salad.

Keeping an eye on the clock we both left at 1pm to make the short run down to Dublin Port. The port is an odd place about two miles beyond the point depot. Its a smart enough terminal but it was so quiet with only a hadful of people there.

With the bike, I had to cycle in with the cars onto the boat and once on the boat it was a very pleasant and short trip accross to Wales. The weather had been gloomy and dull in Dublin but the sun was shining in Holyhead and it was a perfect start to the trip.

Holyhead is an island off an Island off wales and Bangor is the first town on the welsh mainland proper. The 45km took 2 hours and the highlight was the views accross the Menai strait. Bangor is in a lovely position with views across to Anglesey and Llandudno.

I picked a hotel in the Rough Gudie that was down at the Pier and after 2 pints watching the World Cup fell asleep at 9.30pm.

The Fundraising Begins

Well at last the fund raising has begun. Last night at my Wicklow Uplands meeting I told the group about the cycle and received my second generous donation.

When I got home I created a Facebook group and invited 60 friends to join. I then fired off a short email to about 70 friends and went to bed. When I woke this morning I was delighted to find that people were joining the group and donations were starting to come in. Thank god for the internet, this would have been a lot slower to organize 10 years ago.

This afternoon I went into the Mater to meet up with Mary and Kerry from the Mater Foundation and to get my photo taken with my brother Joseph in front of Heart House. Joseph was directly involved with setting up Heart House and gave my a tour around the facility. Kerry and Mary are spreading the word about the cycle so hopefully this will give a boost to the fund raising efforts. Only one full day to go now and I have stacks of non cycle stuff to do so look like it will be a late night tonight.

Planning the Route

Only five days to go till Saturday so I've been busy getting ready for the cycle as well as tidying up all the Wonderful Ireland ends before I head off.



I've more or less selected a route although this will be open to change depending on conditions, advice I get and weather.


I've selected a route that minimises the amount of distance I cover by boat. This means travelling to Dover which adds over 800kms to the trip versus taking the Rosslare to Cherbourg boat.


I've divided the journey into five loose stages and mapped these out using Google Earth and Via Michelin.


The distances I've printed on the maps are for cars so you an very roughly add 10 - 20% onto these for a bike.

Preparations Begin

With only 12 days to go to the cycle I thought it was time to start the blog. This also marks the beginning of any serious preparation for the trip. I dropped my bike in to get a service today and my spending on cycling paraphernalia has risen dramatically in the last 24 hours. I have the Rough Guides to the UK, France and Spain as well as the corresponding maps and I am trying to find out information on prevailing winds on the continent. For example, one of my potential routes follows the Rhone valley and I've heard of a strong wind called "Le Mistral" in the area. If it is a northerly wind it would be a great help but a southerly wind could make the Lyon to Avignon cycle a bit of a nightmare. The best information I found on Google was that many cyclists before me have found the Lonely Planets Cycling Books very helpful so I'm off to the bookshops now to pick up a copy.