Coast to Coast to Coast - Day 5 - Barnard Castle to Castleton

A very nice day today, warm and sunny, clouds scudding about but no showers - great.

I must have been a bit stinky last night ! As I put my cycling clothes out by the washing machine my sisters 2 dogs thought they were great and had a good roll about on them....I didn't smell anything and obviously sis and hubby were too polite to comment.

Anyway back to today. It was to be a fairly long ride from Barnard Castle to Great Ayton, I got dropped off back at Bowes Museum - yesterday's pick up point about 10.00.

Chainsaw Carvings at Bowes Museum

No route finding problems today even though a couple of signs had been vandalised after Croft on Tees the route was obvious even for me.

Bridge at Croft on Tees

Stopped for coffee and cake at the Croft Hotel just before the bridge to build up my energy levels.

The route up to Kildale was rolling countryside, relatively flat with short steep pulls of no more than 100m.

Got to Hutton Rudby at 1500 and had a half hour break. A lovely North Yorks village not mentioned in tourist guides.

As it was such a nice day ( the forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain ) and still quite early to finish I decided to continue on past Gt Ayton for another hour or so. I had forgotten how steep the roads are once you get onto the North York Moors, the pull up from Kildale to Commondale was a killer, difficult to push the bike up never mind cycling up. I think my proposed detour back across the middle of the moors is a non starter.... far too many steep climbs including Rosedale Chimney bank which at 1 in 2.5 is one of the steepest roads in the country. I think I'll go around !!! I finally ended up at Castleton and found B&B at the Downe Arms. I used to come here on a Friday evening with my mate Ian many years ago when we used to camp for weekends at his uncles farm in Westerdale, summer or winter, it made no difference. I remember it being a forced march from Castleton railway station to the farm at Westerdale, getting the tent up as quickly as possible and galloping up to the farmhouse to get a lift back to the Downe Arms with George Booth the farmer. It used to be a typical village farmers pub where the farmers used to meet on a Friday evening for a regular domino session and to "chew the fat" ...the farmers version of the WI " Bitch and Stitch". It's been done up at some point in the last 35 years (......hell I feel old). It still has a lot of character though.

I've cycled 88km today, and according to my GPS/heart rate monitor I've burnt 2400 calories so I think I deserve this.

Statistics :

Distance today - 87.98 km - (54.6 miles)

Total Distance - 277.5 km - (172.4 miles)

Height climbed - 707m

Total climbed - 3835m

Average speed - 17.3 km/hr

Maximum Speed - 48.6 km/hr

My longest distance so far on the trip. This makes tomorrow a shorter day which will be good if the weather is very wet as forecast, destination tomorrow is Whitby.

Coast to Coast to Coast - Day 4 - Kirkby Stephen to Barnard Castle

Had company for breakfast at the campsite this morning.... 2 chickens have recently taken up residence and thought I was a soft touch for snacks. Unfortunately not but they hung about for about an hour before a better prospect turned up and fed them.

I was not looking forward to today's ride. 11 miles from Kirkby Stephen to Tan Hill Inn and it looks like all uphill. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, a nice sunny day helped a lt. Arrived at Tan Hill Inn at 12.20 with not too much pushing. I've got a heart rate monitor BPM connected to my GPS so when my heart rate gets to 150 BPM I get an alarm telling me to slow down. On Sunday and Monday it was going off on a regular basis but today it's only gone off once. So I'm either getting acclimatised to it all or it's given up. 2 pints of shandy and lunch at Tan Hill Inn and I'm raring to go again. As Tan Hill Inn is the highest point on the route I'm expecting its all downhill to Barnard Castle, more wishfully thinking. Arrived at Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle at 15.45 and no rain at all today. Spending tonight with my sister and her family so will be able to get laundry done and gadgets recharged.

At Tan Hill pretending I'm not knackered.

Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle

Statistics :

Distance today - 45.31km -  (29 miles)

Total distance - 189.52km -  119 miles

Height Climbed Today - 854m

Total Height Climbed - 3128m

Average speed - 14.5km

Maximum speed - 58.9km

Coast to Coast to Coast - Day 3 - Monday 12th - Kendal to Kirkby Stephen

Rained off and on all night. Things are a bit damp this morning.

I had a good nights sleep...didn't wake until 0900. Brilliant , late and I haven't even set off yet.

Feeling a bit stiff in unusual places. I'm having difficulty cocking my leg over the bike, ah well we,ll just see how it goes.cycled back through Kendal to rejoin the route. The heavens opened, absolutely lashing down even the trees couldn't protect me today. Heavy rain lasted about an hour then intermittent heavy showers all day. No sooner removed my waterproofs then i was putting them back on again...too hot between the showers just to leave them on. Today is harder going than yesterday, short steep hill that were hard enough just walking up never mind trying to cycle.

Arrived at Kirkby Stephen 1800, quite a hard day even though it was shorter than yesterday.

Passing rain cloud near Kendal.

Statistics:

Distance today - 56.14km (35 miles)

Total Distance - 144.21km (90 miles)

Ht climbed today - 1151

Total Climbed so far - 2274m

Average speed - 13.3km

Max speed - 59.7km

Coast to coast to coast Day 2 - Sunday 11th - Barrow in Furness to Kendal

This is cycling proper day 1

Target today is Barrow in Furness to Kendal

Set off at 0900 after a good breakfast. It rained during the night but dry and clear this morning. First stop was Furness Abbey, unfortunately I didn't see the signpost and ended up on a 3 mile detour, not the best start to my longest day. Furness Abbey looked good had a photo stop rather than a sketching stop as I was already behind schedule. Set off from Furness Abbey and promptly went wrong again. I cursed the GPS for not telling me I had gone wrong again, but it was user error. Tip of the day.... Don't wear posing cycling shades instead of prescription specs if you intend to stay on the right route. Specs now changed and I was off again.... I hour into the route and 6 miles travelled and I was only 1/2 mile from where I started! Bummer.

Must try harder. No more route mishaps today. Very heavy rain around Grange over Sands lasted for about 1 hour then just short heavy showers until close to Kendal.. Not too much of a problem I just kept sheltering under big trees. Got to the campsite at Kendal at 4.30. Quite a long day. I was met at the campsite by old friends Ian and Linda who had spotted what I was up to from my Facebook page and they where staying close-by. It was good to meet up after such a long time... Made my week.

My arms are sore with all the steep descents squeezing the brake levers for all I'm worth. I think I will need new brake pads before the end.

Statistics: 

Distance today - 78.62km (49 miles)

Total Distance - 88.07km (55 miles)

Height Climbed - 1053m

Total Height Climbed - 1123m

Number of hills pushed up - too numerous to mention

Number of unintentional detours - 2

Average speed - 15.2km/hr

Max speed - 49.7 km/hr

Furness Abbey

Furness Abbey 2

Coast to Coast to Coast Day 1 - Saturday 10th - Barrow in Furness

Well I'm here at the start of my trip. Getting here on the train with my bike went OK without any problems. Edinburgh Waverley was very busy, probably because its Saturday and the festival has started but I managed to get through the crowds. The sky was overcast until I got off the train in Barrow in Furness where the sun came out. There was quite a bit of traffic in Barrow which was a bit of an issue as I was also getting used to the feel of a loaded bike.

The Start.

Once I got from the railway station to the start via a tour of Walney island the ride back through town an up Abbey Road to my B & B was straightforward as I found the cycle lanes I missed on the way down. Barrow looks a pleasant place with an interesting waterfront and some nicely restored old buildings, plenty of flowers and trees around the town centre and quite a lot of interesting public sculptures.

Not much cycling today just the quick jaunt around Walney.

An early night tonight ready for the ride to Kendal tomorrow.

A selection of the ships built in the shipyard at Barrow in Furness

The tide's out - Walney

Statistics:

Distance Today - 9.45km (6 miles)

Total Distance - 9.45km (6 miles)

Ht climbed - 70m

Total Height climbed - 70m

Weather - mainly overcast but with sunny spells and a bit breezy from the west or south west.

My Coast to Coast to Coast Cycle Tour 2013

I'm away for a two week cycling and sketching tour across the north of England starting the day after tomorrow ((Saturday 10th August). The plan is cycle 400 miles from Barrow in Furness in Cumbria to Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast via The 'Walney to Whitby' cycle route, then down the coast to Bridlington and finally back across to Morecombe via the 'Way of the Roses' cycle route. In other words a 400 mile pub crawl.

It's all planned at a leisurely pace of about 35 miles each day so I can sketch and paint along the way.

That's the initial plan anyway and as I'm going to be fully self sufficient, camping along the way I can change it as I see fit. I will stay longer at some places where I find good sketching subjects and may pass other places quite quickly. The weather will play a big part in it all, hopefully not too wet or too windy, too sunny I can probably cope with.

No going back now.....train tickets for me and my bike are booked and paid for. I'm starting to feel a bit apprehensive now, will the weather be OK, will the hills be manageable with a loaded touring bike, will I be fit enough......

The trip is a 60th birthday trip "to find myself" whatever that means.....I hope I don't get lost.

 I chose this route as it takes me to a lot of the old backpacking haunts of my youth.

I'm planning on updating the blog as I go along wherever I can get a wi-fi signal, unfortunately this will mean visiting lots and lots of pubs along the way!  ;-)

Thats the bike packed....Looking good.

Total carried weight is 12kg which is not too bad as it includes full camping gear.

To pack the bike successfully you should lay out everything you think you can't live without and then half it and hopefully it will fit into 2 x 15 litre panniers and a barbag. It weighs about half of what I used to carry on the backpacking trips I did in my youth with my mate Ian.

I must remember to thank my long suffering wife for letting me indulge myself for a fortnight.

She is no doubt scanning holiday brochures, planning a cruise for herself and our daughter in the not too distant future.

My Compact Sketching Kit

I've been busy making up a new ultra compact sketching kit ready for a summer cycle tour. Size and weight of kit is of paramount importance, you cant take everything you would like when you have to lug it about. Size and weight of kit is fairly important on a long hiking trip but critical on a cycle tour with big hills to get over on a loaded bike, although the bijou box is made from brass it is quite lightweight and I've not found a lightweight plastic quite one as compact as this although the W & N field box I also use  is only marginally larger. (In reality the beautiful tiny brass one is a bit of an indulgence)

This is the kit I've made up :

9 x 14 cm Moleskine watercolour sketchbook (maybe two will be required for a two week trip)

Bijou travel paint box.

2 travel brushes

Pentel mechanical pencil and spare leads

Travel tissues

All fits in a small bag as shown below. (Except the sketchbook)

2p shown for scale.

I will probably add the following to this list at some point

Water soluble graphite pencil

Razor blade

Small piece of eraser

Small piece of old towel

This will still fit in the little bag.

My bijou travel paint box was made by John Hurtley of 'The Little Brass Box Company'

and I requested an 8 well tray instead of the usual 12 so that I could fit in a travel brush and a part tube of Chinese white gouache. It all fits into the little brass water pot.

My colours are Winsor & Newton Artists quality watercolours.

Lemon Yellow and Naples Yellow

Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson

Cerulean Blue and French Ultramarine

Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna

Warm and cool versions of Yellow, Red and Blue pus 2 extra useful mixing colours.

You can mix just about any colour for landscapes from these in my opinion.

Seabird Drawing Week

This post is a little late, I was recently on a Seabird Drawing Week in the Scottish Borders. We were based at the aptly named 'Ducks' in Aberlady. The weather was brilliant, we had two days on Bass Rock sketching and painting Gannets, a day on Fidra with Puffins, Gulls and Kittiwakes, and two days on the clifftops at St. Abb's painting Guillemots, Razorbills and Kittiwakes.

It was excellent practice sketching and painting 'En Plein Air' in quite difficult situations especially on Bass Rock where you could sit within a few feet of the Gannets who were more than willing to give you a nasty peck if you got too close. The noise and smell was unbelievable with downy feathers blowing about and gannet droppings 'raining' down along with the occasional gannet crash landing. It certainly was an experience.

It was a fantastic week, four great tutors in John Busby, Darren Woodhead, John Threlfall and Greg Poole plus a great group of companions and as I've already mentioned the weather was very kind to us. It was a thoroughly enjoyable week and I can't wait until next year.
Below are pics of some of my results.

Blog Resurrection

I'm trying to resurrect my blogging. I didn't do too well last time, I didn't get into a routine so once the gallery and life in general got busier it fell by the wayside. Anyway I must try harder.

I've been painting more "en Plein air" this year as I was finding my paintings were starting to lack a bit of "sparkle". It's been going OK, I've been working in oils and in watercolour. The watercolour results have been encouraging but the oils are lacking something, I can't quite get the results I'm looking for....ah well I will keep practicing. Here are two of my "en Plein air" watercolours from a couple of months ago. The first is 'Lochnagar' from the road between Crathie and Gairnsheil Lodge. The second is 'The Cairngorms Northern Corries' from near the campsite at Glenmore.

Potfest Preparations

I have spent most of the weekend making frames for my series of Raku tile pictures, I also completed a raku firing late last night, five sets of tiles fired and no breakages! Then up at 0430 this morning for a drive through to Aberdeen where I'm doing some freelance design work. Its been a long tiring day.

I'm making landscape images from groups of five raku tiles, they need firing together and removing from the kiln in as short a period as possible so that they colours on all five tiles match each other, too big a gap and I get greens and blues instead of copper colours. Anyway they all turned out OK and are proving quite popular, a bit more contemporary than my usual output.

We will be in a bit of a panic on Wednesday night...... after I drive home from Aberdeen there will be lots to be done, assembling tiles into frames, packing things up and loading the discovery for the trip down to Scone Palace on Thursday ready for Potfest. Potfest is a weekend ceramics event with about 100 potters and ceramic artists from the UK and the rest of Europe. Its fantastic to see so many different ways to make something beautiful out of mud. Its open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday if you are close enough and fancy a brilliant day out. www.potfest.co.uk for more info.
Scone Palace will make a nice change from the rather smelly cattle marts of Perth and Stirling, the previous venues. I'm hoping to find time to do some sketching around the palace grounds while we are there.
I'm too tired to write more now.............its 'time for bed' said Zebedee of magic roundabout fame.
I will add a couple of pics of my raku tiles in my next entry....possibly wednesday evening if there is time between finding the camping gear and packing the car.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz