London Edinburgh London

London Edinburgh London

This ride is 1400 km which is a fur piece on a bicycle, but these guys expect to cover that distance in five days, which means 175 miles a day, which is like 100 miles farther than I have ever ridden in one day, which is why I am not going on this ride. A remote correspondent is though, and he has a couple of things to say about it:

I’m leaving today at 5:40 p.m. from O’Hare, stopping for an hour in Reykjavik six hours later, then on to London in another three hours or so. Should arrive at Gatwick at 10:25 a.m. I’m staying at an AirBnB in Nazeing, northwest of downtown London. It’s billed as an apartment on the grounds of Harold’s Park, an equestrian center that occupies what was once King Harold’s hunting grounds. I’ll be there for a couple of nights, then leave Sunday afternoon to start the London-Edinburgh-London ride. If all goes to plan I will return to Nazeing the following Friday, sleep for a couple of days, then head down to Dover to catch a ferry to Calais.
From there, my current plan is to go Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels, then take a train to Paris, then another train to Rennes in Normandy. From there I’ll bike to Mont Saint Michel, then back to Calais, ferry to Dover, and ride back to London. Either on my way out or back I hope to stop in Canterbury for a bit. I plan to spend two or three days in London fairly close to Gatwick so I can pack my bike and arrive at the airport stress-free for my return flight at 11:40 a.m. on August 16. I’ll arrive in Chicago at 4:40 p.m., Katz will pick me up, and then back to work on the 17th.
This is a very loose plan. I’m taking a tent and sleeping bag, and have the Warm Showers and AirBnB apps on my phone. Pretty much everything is subject to change, with the exceptions of my flight times.
Just noticed a pull quote in the current issue of Adventure Cycling: “Adventure cycling is when a person feels some challenge, where they meet an edge and dig in and learn they can do things they weren’t sure they could.” I’m pretty sure this trip qualifies.

Via Indy Tom.