C2C - The Fantastic Journey!

Not enough time to write it up fully now, but my colleague and friend Tim and I completed the C2C bike ride last weekend (Sept 22-25 2011).

133 miles from the west coast to the east coast, through Cumbria and the Durham Dales, and out past Newcastle to Tynemouth - albeit after two punctures (one on each tyre for me) and the complete overhaul of my brakes (twice - at one point the back wheel's brake pads were jarring against the frame, essentially applying brakes constantly for about 25 miles). My bike, a faithful servant on the streets of Durham for two years, has surely had its swansong, and it went down screaming!

We had perfect weather - not much sun (several plus points), and not much rain (94,000 plus points). Overcast but not too foggy = optimal, and that's what we got.

Here are some of the pictures, and videos, from each of the completely magnificent days - a spectacular new entry in the Top 20 list of Most Fun I've Had With My Clothes On:

Day 1: Whitehaven to Langwathby (just outside Penrith): about 55 miles
















Day 2: Langwathby to Stanhope (County Durham) via Hartside: about 42 miles




















Day 3: Stanhope to Tynemouth via Newcastle/ Gateshead: about 30 miles











I'm now completely addicted, and cannot wait for next Spring to have a go at The Way Of The Roses, and the real beastie - Glasgow to Inverness!

Not Barbados again? (NB: That's you talking, not me!)

Yep - I have endeared myself sufficiently to Durham University's MBA cohorts in Barbados to have been sent out for a third time - times one and two are here - and this time I took one of my oldest and bestest friends, Luke Fallon, with me.


And, you may be reassured to learn that, against formidable odds, we had a top time.

There is something life-affirmingly, soul-enrichingly magnificent about starting your day in a grim British airport, and ending it just ten or so hours later in the warm waters of the Caribbean, with a lovely sunset to boot.




We had a couple of mornings free before I went to teach, which were spent naturally on the beach...


When I was teaching - and they were a great bunch of students this year, just as last year - Luke relaxed on the beaches or in the bars. The weather was pretty good on the whole - not too much rain for what is 'hurricane season'.
On the last day, the winds picked up and so did the waves - decent-sized knock-you-off-your-feet ones:


This time we were able to explore a bit more of the island, taking the wonderful Reggae Buses down to Oistins, and to Miami Beach in particular (where the classic pic adorning the top of this piece was set up by timer), which was lovely...







... and we returned there on Friday for the open-air party, which was good fun - especially through the haze of several generously-mixed rum punches. There is a youngsters' stage - not that even the locals can dance for long to the frenetic soca - and the more sedate reggae stage:



We also headed toward Bridgetown, where we stopped off at the apparently legendary Birds' Nest bar for a fine lunch...






Good bars and restaurants that some with our recommendation, should you ever go to Barbados - and we think you should: Mojo on the way to St Lawrence Gap in Rockley, and Tapas on the boardwalk in Rockley. There are plenty of others, but those two in particular worked for us.













All credit to Luke for this action shot from a pool hall on the way to St Lawrence Gap, taken on a mobile phone, too:


But Holetown's reputation as a party capital left something to the imagination - namely, anyone about whatsoever with whom to have a party! - and, for a capital city, Bridgetown itself is weirdly bereft of bars for tourists. When we said we were from Rockley and looking for some good bars, a taxi driver said, "go back to Rockley!" We did stop in one place for a beer, but not for long; enough to discover that the beers in local bars is half the price of the same beer in a tourist place!

Finally - the little crabs on the beach at Rockley are a great distraction. Look carefully into the middle distance of the film below - blink and you'll miss the little fella!