LEG 7 - DAY 2: Cleethorpes - Hunstanton

RNLI TOUR OF BRITAIN - LEG 7 - DAY 2 from Rad Hart-George on Vimeo.

We have arrived in Cleethorpes, at the end of one of our hardest days of the tour so far: Utterly cream-crackered. 

While the terrain of the day has been relatively gentle, the heatwave which we experienced today with temperatures of over 30c, and covering a distance of over 175 Km, much of which was off road, completely took it out of us.

Our alarm woke us at 6.15am and we were on the road within half an hour, in an attempt to get a few miles under our belts while it was still relatively cool. The terrain was pretty flat, which was very welcome, with wide expanses of farmland, regularly interspersed wind farms, caravan parks. 

The first station was in the Victorian seaside town of Bridlington, just a short distance down the coast. A quick photograph outside the station and we got underway immediately.

We ploughed on across gently undulating countryside, with a noticeable increase in temperatures. Conscious of this we had drunk 3 litres of fluids by the time we reached the next RNLI station of  Withernsea. A slightly quieter seaside town from what we saw of it, but with stunning far reaching sandy beaches. A small refuel and some stretches and we back underway.

Having been warned by the crew at Flamborough that the Humber RNLI station at the end of Spurn Head was inaccessible by bike (as the road had been washed away and replaced by a large sand dune!) we called the station in advance. The crew very kindly hooked up a trailer to their Landrover Defender to come and get us. It turns out that the sand also makes Spurn Head inaccessible to Defenders as the crew promptly got stuck, and needed to call in another defender. Eventually we all got underway down the 5km spit which extends across the mouth of the Humber Estuary.  One of the most remote and busy stations in the UK, Spurn Head is manned 24/7by a permanent crew as the spit gets cut off from the mainland with reasonable regularity. A very welcome cup of tea and some biscuits and we were under way again. 

The shocker of today, was that from Spurn Head to Cleethorpes (our final destination) was around 3 miles across the estuary. However, with no ferries across, our only was of getting there war to head inland, through the lovely Hull, across the Humber Bridge and back down the other side- some 90km! Add to this 30c heat, already tired legs and Rad's very off road cycle trails,  and we were in for a nightmare afternoon. Certainly, for the 45km after the Humber Bridge, through Grimsby, we were running on empty...

It was with enormous relief that we eventually arrived in Cleethorpes- shattered.

Enormous Thanks to the incredibly welcoming and generous crew of the Cleethorpes RNLI. As the station was too small to accommodate us on the floor, Ash very kindly put us up in his very comfortable hotel over the road, and xxxxxxxxxx, unbeknown to us, covered our bill at the fantastic Italian restaurant next door. Exactly what we needed to re-charge our batteries in advance of more of the same tomorrow.

The RNLI Tour of Britain Summer BBQ

Just a quick one to let everyone know about our RNLI Tour of Britain Summer BBQ, generously hosted by The RNLI City of London Committee.

 

Please come and celebrate the halfway point of our cycle with a BBQ on HMS President (1918) during a beautiful summer evening on 23rd July.

 

Tickets are £25 which includes food and your first drink. Please contact Hannah Ashton (hannah_ashton@rnli.org.uk) for tickets.

 

See you there! Rad and Nick.

 

 

 

Day 4: Angle to Fishguard

Starting off today's cycle with a 15km detour around Pembroke Dock Estuary is never the best way to start a day in the saddle. The other side is constantly in view, always there, just the other side of the water, letting you know that every pedal you do is in the 'wrong' direction. It also didn't help that the weather was awful- no matter what direction we were cycling it always seemed to be a headwind and this wasn't because we were cycling fast- we weren't, largely down to the fact that I had snapped a gear cable rendering it impossible to change gear unless I got off the bike, took out my leatherman multitool and turned an 8mm bolt 5 degrees.

This process took so long that it ended up being quicker to labourously churn up hills in a middle gear with a cadence (number of pedal revolutions per minute) of about 6! I had to pull on the handlebars with all my might, for standing with all my weight on one pedal would not be sufficient to get up some of these hills!

I reconcilled this annoyance as best as I could by thinking of it as 'good training' and that resolved that 'at least I can still cycle' albeit at about 3mph up hills and about 12mph downhill, far slower than normal, for once I had achieved a given speed on the descents, my pedalling would be pointless as I could not spin the pedals fast enough to provide any benefit.

Nick, as you would imagine, was fantiastic - offering to take weight from my bags (politely declined) and taking the brunt of the headwind most of the day (quickly accepted).

Anyway- what did we see today? From Angle (an indutrial style station perched on the headland of the north Gower coast) we cycled east, then west around the estuary and over to Little & Broadhaven, where upon arrival we saw the Sea King helicopter take a suspected 'bent diver' to hospital. All very exciting.

From there we headed north past St Davids and down to the coast where there was an incredibly picturesque station situationed just off the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. On our way back up through St. Davids we had a quick walk past the beautiful cathedral.

North from St. David's holds special memories for me, having got engaged there earlier this year. I popped the question on a cliff just south of Porthgain, so we ventured off the A-road and down to the village so I could show Nick the area. Where we had been the only car there in February, people were parking 600m up the road leading into Porthgain in June! Still, the combinations of little art galleries, great pubs and a stunning coastline makes this a wonderful place.

From there we climbed our way (slowly) north where we were scheduled to meet up with some Ferg (a school friend of both Nick and I) and Luke (a university friend of Nick's), the latter of which had a cottage on the outskirts of Fishguard.

Just before we reached them, I passed a marine chandlery and to my surprise (being a bank holiday) saw an 'open' sign on the door. I popped in andexplained that I was looking for a 5mm star shaped alan key. He kindly went away and returned with the appropriate tool as part of his own personal toolkit. After I bored him with who we were and what we were doing and asking if I could leave a deposit for the tool and post it back to him once I'd fixed the bike, he slowly lifted his t-shirt and revealed his RNLI pager- he was crew. He told me to post it back when I was finished and wished us luck!

10 minutes later we both had a beer in hand and explained the toils and tribulations of our day to Ferg, Luke and a few of their friends who had come to Pembrokeshire for the long weekend. Recounting our troubles acted as a form of therapy and after the chat (and the beer) things were looking up.

A fiercy competitive game of croquet followed (which Ferg and I won) and various parts of animals were being slowly cooked on the BBQ- now this is more of a holiday!

Day 3: Burry Port to Angle

Following a great night's sleep and cracking breakfast at the George Hotel in Burry Port (with many thanks to Hefin Williams for kindly putting us up) we were soon back on the road.


The day began damp and breezy, and rapidly became wet and windy! We were soaked within an hour and remained that way throughout the day. The wonderful easterly tail wind which we had yesterday had turned to a strong westerly head wind. This combined with our first taste of the Welsh Hills made for a challenging day.


By now we felt we were well into Wales- the country of dragons and leeks, Brains Beer and valleys, and apparently a lot of suped up cars!


After slogging our way through the elements for over 50km, we arrived in Tenby (our half way point for the day) and quickly settled into a cafe to try to warm up up and have an early lunch to recharge the batteries. What we hadn't realised was that we weren't in in Tenby at all, but rather the small seaside town of Saunderfoot. We therefore needed to get our wet kit back on after a brief lunch and plough on over several more windswept hills in driving rain before reaching our actual half way point - the picturesque seaside town of Tenby and it's phenomenal new RNLI station.

 

Although the weather was terrible, Tenby was teaming with people being the Queens Jubilee celebrations. The lifeboat station was also filled with visitors, however we received a very warm welcome from the crew including a fantastic cup of tea, and a photograph with 'Stormy Stan' on the boat!


Being soaked and cold, we decided to crack on and were soon in the saddle again, battling the elements and hills!

It was a tough afternoon, but after 95km, we arrived at Angle RNLI station. It really was a heavenly sight after such a miserable day!


Rich the Mechanic and Andy the Coxen, kindly came down to let us in and give us a coffee and a tour of the station. What an incredible place and absolutely amazing setting. Perched on the rocky estuary edge in a very remote position, the station houses a Tamar offshore lifeboat on ramp, and crew room above with 270 degree views of the estuary (our accommodation for the night). The estuary was more industrial than we had seen to date, with oil and gas refineries and shipping along the far shore, but this made for some incredible recounts of rescues by the RNLI crews. Rich and Andy looked after us like kings.

Following a much needed shower to wash and warm up, we headed into the local village for a pint and supper at the local pub. before heading back to the station for an early night.

Day 1: Newport to Porthcawl

This morning, we caught a train to Newport in South Wales where we finished up last year, and embarked on the third leg of our expedition to cycle around the coast of Britain. With the exception of Rad leaving the tickets at his office, and having to get up at the crack of dawn to collect them, things ran pretty smoothly and we were soon cycling into the welsh hills.

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Following a rather industrial start to the ride from Newport, via Penarth RNLI station to Cardiff Docks, we briefly dropped into the Barry Docks RNLI station to meet the crew and fill up the water bottles, before heading on westward.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the scenery rapidly improved, and we were soon heading through some stunning countryside and along dramatic coastline. The next station along the coast was located within the Atlantic College grounds- one of the most stunning schools either of us have seen. Set right on the coast with incredible views across the Severn Estuary, and along the untouched coastline, it was truly amazing, and the school buildings and gardens were spectacular. Following a brief rest in the sun by the sea, in this phenomenal place, we were back on the road.

Finishing off the short first day (90km), we arrived at the Porthcawl RNLI station. On arrival, the crew were just returning from a shout- the first we have seen so far on our tour... They had been called out to rescue a couple who were stranded on a sand bank having been cut off by the tide. All very exciting and thankfully a successful rescue. The very welcoming crew gave us a tour of the station and a cup of tea and offered us the crew room to stay in for the night. Unfortunately we had already booked a b and b down the road so declined, and set of for a shower and supper to re- charge the batteries before an early night.

A fantastic day with good weather to start the trip. Rain forecast for the next few days though, and a lot more hills to come....

The 3rd leg (1st - 10th June 2012)

We are now in the final stages of preparation for the 3rd leg of our RNLI Tour of Britain.

This year we are due to cycle the whole of the Welsh coast via every Lifeboat Station, beginning in Newport where we finished off stage 2 in August last year and finishing in Chester, back in England.
Our plan is the following:


Friday 1st June: 85km
Newport, Penarth, Barry Docks, Atlantic College, Porthcawl

Saturday 2nd June: 102km

Porthcawl, Port Talbot, The Mumbles, H & PE, Burry Port

Sunday 3rd June: 93.7km 123km

Burry Port, Tenby, Angle

Monday 4th June: 123km

Angle, L&B, St Davids, Fishguard, Cardigan

Tuesday 5th June: 122km

Cardigan, New Quay, Aberystwyth

Wednesday 6th June: 95km

Aberdovey, Barmouth, Criccieth, Pwlheli, Abersoch

Thursday 7th June: 101km

Abersoch, Porthdinllaen, Rhoscolyn

Friday 8th June: 0km

Rest day: Rhoscolyn

Saturday 9thJune: 100km

Rhoscolyn, Treadurr Bay, Holyhead, Moelfre, Conwy

Sunday 10th June: 81km

Conwy, Llandudno, Rhyl, Flint, Chester

We have coincided the trip with the Queens Jubilee Celebrations, as this will hopefully present excellent fundraising opportunities on our way around, with many of the population on holiday over this period.


We will be embarking on this leg of the expedition, which will see us cycle around 650 miles unsupported around the Welsh coast over 9 days, with mixed fitness levels... Following a cycling accident in December involving a close encounter with a bus and a large pothole, Nick has only returned to cycling in the past 7 weeks, and with builders in his flat has had little time to train other than cycling across London to work.

Rad on the other hand has done some fantastic training, including cycling to work during the weeks, weekend training sessions up the infamous Box Hill in Surrey, and a four day cycling trip across Italy which included some monumental hill climbs. Nick is currently in the process our sourcing a bungee to clip on to Rad's bike for a tow...

We will be starting this leg with a running sponsorship total of over £13,000 (inc gift aid), with particular thanks to the Mill Bay Owners and Knight Frank for their extremely generous recent donations. We are however hoping to reach £15,000 by the end of the leg, so any donations would be greatly appreciated.http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/TheRNLItourofBritain


Please visit this blog for daily updates and photographs during the expedition, from 1st - 10th June 2012.

You can also follow us on twitter, our username is 'Rad_and_Nick'.


Here we go!

Clavelshay- Burnham on Sea- Weston Super Mare- Newport

Our final day of this year's tour was our longest day yet, albeit on relatively flat ground. After an amazing night's sleep courtesy of Couchsurfer friends Nick and Rachel, we were treated to a brief breakfast and were on our bikes at the bright and early time of 8:15am. This was all so our hosts to get to work on time! What a fantastic couple.

Despite there not being a cloud in the sky, the cold, damp air rose from the trees and fields of the countryside giving us a quick wake-up as we descended into Bridgwater which was 8km north-east. A quick stop for a croissant and we were making quick progress towards our first station of the day- Burnham-on-Sea.



Nick outside Burnham-on-Sea RNLI station. I like to think of this as his 'first day of school' pose.


It was, like many of the seaside towns we have visited on this trip, a town filled with Victorian architecture that had rather sadly suffered from the neglect brought on by the explosion of foreign holidays in the last 100 years. The residents we met were friendly and willingly directed us towards the RNLI station which was rather oddly located around the back of a Morrisson's supermarket. It was winning no awards with us- you could not even go up to the building because the whole area was gated off. We got our photo with help from an old man who commented on the fact I hadn't shaved in a few days... he somehow managed to make me feel rather ashamed of my appearance despte the fact I had, until that point, been operating under the impression that some stubble made me look a bit more like I cycled around the country full-time. Oh well.

Good quality, flat roads delivered us to Weston Super Mare more quickly than we had expected. It may sound boring to most but road condition and gradient become important topics of conversation that never seem to grow old. We could probably tell you the exact point at which we crossed from Cornwall into Devon without the aid of signs, based purely on the type of tarmac used and investment made in the infrastructure for road users. If you're interested, Cornwall roads were better than Devon's... but I suspect you're not.

Weston Super Mare was our last station of this trip- we cycled into the town with a great sense of expectation, gasping for a celebratory cup of tea. Having cycled all the way along the promenade, towards the orange and blue boat we could see in the distance our excitement grew. It was therefore a great dissappointment to find out that it was impossible to actually get to the station as a regular member of the public. This was because the boat was at the end of the old pier which was in a pretty sorry state and clearly posed a health and safety risk. Only crew were allowed onto the pier to get the the station and the boat. We therefore had to have our final photo taken 500m infront of the station!

Weston Super Mare RNLI Station (at the end of the derelict pier)



On our way into Weston Super Mare



We milled around the end of the pier for longer than we had planned, motivation was running thin. I pointed out several times that there was indeed a passenger ferry from Weston Super Mare to Penarth (the next station along in Wales) which cut out 80km of cycling and didn't contraviene any of our 'rules' about river and estuary crossings. I tried my best to convince Nick that we should take this, but he insisted that we cross the Severn Bridge as he wanted to cross all the major bridges of Britain as part of the trip. Up to this point I was completely unaware that Nick had a secret love of bridges but it turns out that even after 15 years of friendship there are some skeletons in the closet.

He managed to convince me that it would be worth it and we made our way (via rather uninspiring but fast A-roads) to Bristol- under the Clifton Suspension Bridge at which point I couldn't help but notice that Nick's was gazing at the bridge with an expression I've only ever seen him reserve for his beautiful wife. Was his love of bridges getting too much? I was worried.

Rad in front of the Clifton Suspension Bridge

When we got to the Severn bridge, I tried my best to be cool and remain nonchalant. I'd even rehearesd what I was going to say: "yeah- I mean it's OK but really wasn't worth cycling 80km out the way on A-roads to come and see was it?" ...but as soon as my wheels started rolling along the cycle path on one side, I realised I had failed miserably to remain cool. My eyes were wide taking in the views. This was cool. Very cool. Geeky engineering cool. I was glad that Nick persuaded us to go this way. Bugger, I thought, he's given me the wretched bridge loving disease.

Rad on the Severn Bridge

Our welcome into Wales wasn't quite as I had expected. The slip road off the bridge was scattered with broken glass, burnt out tyres and empty beer cans. After carrying our bikes over the worst of it we got onto the trunk road that winded it's way to Newport- where our return train to London was departing from.

We boarded the train and as we sunk into our seats the satisfaction of a week of hard cycling, good views and great people finally sunk in. We bought a couple of beers from the buffet car and let our legs have a well earned rest.

Waiting for the train

It's been a fantastic week and we are so greatful for all the support, both via financial donations to our fundraising page and via the numerous good deeds people have done along the way. I'm sure there'll be a couple of post before next year's trip which will hopefully take us around the whole of Wales but on the whole expect this blog to be a lot quieter than the past week.

All the best, Rad