Dorset Cyclepacking- day four.

First thing this morning I received a phone call from Anne informing me that my Father was in the Q A hospital at Cosham and was very ill and not expected to survive- I was required there as soon as possible!
We all packed up our gear as fast as we could and cycled to Bridport. I went to the taxi office to get a taxi (bike in the rear) and said goodbye to Colin & Peter.
Peter was going to pay a visit to the bike shop for badly needed brake blocks and other repairs and as far as I know,bike permitting, the two guys were going to complete the ride that we had started together.
When things have settled family wise I will write up the review on the trip and report on the Garmin 605 and the Duolite Tourer tent.

Postscript: My Father died- but I got to the hospital in time!

Dorset Cyclepacking-day three.

Today we awoke to the sound of heavy rain on the tents. It had been raining almost all night, or so i am told, as i slept like a log. Dave Topley set out at about 08.00 hrs as if had to head back home ready for work on monday. Peter had to do some work on his bike- sort out his brakes and repair two punctures- one back and one front, that had appeared overnight. Due to this and the rain we did not get away till 12.30hrs. By this time the rain had stopped. We managed to avoid the rain for most of the afternoon except for one very heavy shower whilst we were having lunch in the churchyard in the village of Evershot. Peter continued to have problems with his bike all day. Brakes(none at the front) broken spoke-saddle position etc etc. In Evershot a small childs bike was outside a house with a for sale sign on it. I am sure Peter considered the purchase! We are now camping at a small site at a place called Slave Cross. Todays picture shows Peter working on his bike before we set out today.

Dorset Cyclepacking-day two

Today set off at 1015hrs and headed to Shaftesbury. Plenty of hills, plenty of effort! When we got there the town was packed-some sort of summer Fete. We stopped for a break, admire the view and look at the bad weather coming our way! We set off again and stopped for lunch under a tree on a small village green. We decided not to visit Sherborne but get to the campsite and put the tents up before the bad weather hit us. Our timing could not have been better, as soon as the tents were pitched the rain came down. This evening has been spent at the Rose and Crown in the village of Longburton. The weather forecast is not good!

Dorset Cyclepacking-day one.

Well i am now in my tent and wondering what the overnight weather will bring. We have heard that we could have gales and torrential rain. Today though has been great, nice and sunny although it did start to rain when we arrived at the campsite here at Sixpenny Handley. Nice easy distance today-only 32 miles according to the Garmin which is being recharged as i am posting this entry. Peter, Colin and i did the ride today fitting in a number of stops and we were joined at the campsite by David. Three of us ate down the pub tonight and in the morning we plan to have a cooked breakfast at the 'shed cafe'. The campsite owners do a breakfast so it will save us the effort. The picture today shows our tents pitched at the site-my wild country is the third in the lineup. I will write a report on this upon my return.

Dorset Boundary Cyclepacking.

Tomorrow I am setting off on another jaunt. This time it is a cycle ride over five days keeping as close as possible to the Dorset County Boundary. Two or three other Backpackers Club members will either join me for all or part of the trip.Interestingly each days mileage on this is about half of what I will be doing on my LEJOG in September as is the number of days of this tour ie: five days instead of ten. The plan is to leave home tomorrow morning, camping at sites over four nights and arrive back here on the fifth day.
As normal I will be testing some kit. I will be trying out a Wild Country Duolite Tourer. This is a tent that the blurb tells me is designed with the cycle tourer in mind. Apparently there is 'plenty of space in the porch for storing bikes'. Well we shall see how good it is. Chris Townsend tested the Sololite version in TGO magazine and gave a good report on it. I will also be trying out a Garmin Edge 605 GPS/Mapping/Cycle computer. This should be a tip top item of kit as the 705 version is being used by the Slipstream Team in this years Tour de France. I am really looking forward to trying this out, powered of course by my continued use of the FreeLoader solar panel and hub.
As normal I will make postings to my blog,mobile signal permitting.

The Cotswolds-day six /postscript.

Well I managed to pack up the tent without it raining. Everything was packed into the car and not a drop of rain in sight. We enjoyed the Cotswolds and I even think that Anne quite enjoyed the camping. We had some heavy rain and we had some very strong winds but we also had some very sunny weather during our stay. On the photographic side I got some good material for my 'Dark and Foreboding' project, so all in all the trip could be deemed a success.
Will Anne go on another camping trip? Well, only time will tell but I feel that that I stand a good chance of a repeat trip along similar lines to this one next year.

The Cotswolds- day five.

The wind and some light rain returned last night and it continued until this morning. However I think that I must be making some headway on the Anne front because she said ' it's quite cosy in here' referring to the tent. Today was spent looking at honey coloured stone villages and watching tourists pour out of coaches pointing their cameras at anything. I have to say that the Japanese seen to be the worst for this followed by the Americans. The Purple Traveller takes his photographs in a much more discreet way as was the case when todays picture was captured. This is a view at Hailes Abbey near Winchcombe