Day 0 – It starts tomorrow!
Don’t believe a word you hear about Heathrow baggage handlers - my bike bag arrived unscathed and my bike now sits fully reconstructed (thanks to the Cytech basic bike maintenance course Sue bought me) with its tour buddies in the garage awaiting the first day...
Gym training re-launched
Among the traditions that ended with our move to Suffolk was my personal training with Des Gough. For over 20 years he had carefully crafted and maintained my late, mid-life physical being in support of cycling while also ensuring that I didn’t only work my legs!...
Munich to Rome – 6 days to go.
12 days cycling covering just over 800 miles, climbing over 44,000 feet and visiting Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, this will be both a challenging trip and a beautiful ride. Day 1 - Munich to Mittenwald Day 2 - Mittenwald to Nauders Day 3 - Nauders to...
Welcome to the new look Nick-on-a-bike blog
After 3 years of cancelled bike trips - and subject to British Airways not cancelling my flights - 2022 finally sees me back touring. On Saturday 10th September I begin a 12 day trip from Munich to Rome and as with my previous adventures I will share that journey on...
Day 7 – 8 June – Lairg to Inverness
69 miles ridden - 2460 feet climbed - temperature 14C. We'd all been studying weather forecasts for what to expect today. Yesterday's weather had been so fabulous that we were praying for another good day. We weren't (largely) disappointed. It was quite cool as we...
Day 6 – 7 June – Durness to Lairg
62 miles ridden - 3200 feet climbed - temperature 19C. Today was a fabulous day. The sun shone all day and the temperature was just right for the climbing that we did. There was only one nasty surprise - a 15% climb just round the corner from the bottom of a long...
Day 5 – 6 June – Ullapool to Durness
69 miles ridden - 5300 feet climbed - temperature 9C. Today was a hard day. It was quite cool anyway and on the hill tops with drizzle and a headwind it felt quite cold but with the amount of climbing we were doing we all worked up a sweat under our protective...
Day 4 – 5th June – Ullapool Loop
53 miles ridden - 3650 feet climbed - temperature 10C. Because we are staying two nights in Ullapool, today was essentially an optional ride. The weather forecast was cloudy, cooler but NO rain so when I woke up this morning and looked out of the window to see it was...
Day 3 – 4th June – Kinlochewe to Ullapool
65 miles ridden - 4550 feet climbed - temperature 11C. I had been a bit miffed as I cycled the extra 10 miles yesterday but today I was actually quite pleased. Although today had no monster climbs 4550 feet is a lot of climbing. Every weather forecast any of us...
Day 2 – Lochcarron to Kinlochewe – Pictures
You never know how much you'll miss decent internet and 3G/4G until you're trying to upload photos! The first photos are of the approach and climb of Bealach Na Ba: We should probably have realised at this point that climbing up there was not going to be 'nice' (It's...