The first trial run, On the hottest day of the year….

So the plan for this year before I go away is to get as many miles under my belt as possible, with a few overnight trips on the bike to get used to riding with a full load and see what works and what doesn’t with my kit.

In the past few months I have been slowly increasing the distance I ride, all building up to a 30 mile ride to a campsite in North Wales. I’m very lucky where I live to have a great network of cycle paths and routes that can get me around with the minimum of playing in traffic.

Wales is only a short 11 mile ride away and with a path around the coast of the entire country, sadly I discovered that this is mostly only really suitable for walkers and mountain bikes for the first twenty miles or so (On an earlier ride I chased the path along the coast where it varied from pristine tarmac perfect for my bike, to sandy dirt that would have had me off the moment I looked at it). From what I can see the cycle route starts properly at Prestatyn but can still get a little sandy with it being right alongside the beach.

I had booked an overnight stay at a small site called Ynyshir farm a while in advance with no real expectations of weather, purely to have a goal to aim for. So setting off with the forecast predicting temperatures up to 30°c I was enjoying the sun but with one eye on my water supply.

Within the first five miles I was out of the towns and enjoying the dedicated off road paths leading me across the Wirral via Hooton, then Burton, before heading towards the river crossing to North Wales. Allot of these paths are either fine gravel or compacted dirt and are good to ride even on a road bike (with less potholes and bumps than most roads) making it a pleasure to roll along them even fully loaded with gear as I was.

The Weight,.. My lovely light bike laden to the point I struggle to lift it..

I soon arrived at Burton marshes with my first sight of Wales and the place I would be camping looking very far away, the downside of living on a peninsula means a lot of back and forth getting to bridges.

So, just ride to the end of that hill over there eh? again seemed like a good idea at the time

From Burton you join a series of paths that can either take you on to Chester, or over to Connah’s Quay via the crossing at Hawarden Bridge. I headed over the bridge and after navigating what felt like a never ending amount of cattle grids, headed into Wales towards my goal.

The Hawarden bridge crossing, useful but noisy!

Words cannot describe my loathing for these damn grids

Now foolishly I decided to keep following Cycle route 5 here which (unknown to me) takes you on a roundabout route through various housing estates, a park, and then finally past a school up what feels to be a constant hill. Not a problem on a nice light bike but carrying my house with me I felt every stroke of the pedals on the way up, a new route had to be found for the route home.

For the majority of the remaining miles I simply followed the coast road (A458) taking cuts through the small towns along the way to avoid the dual carriageway sections, on the whole traffic wasn’t too bad with only the occasional caravan towing lunatic trying to move me out of the way.

A quick breather to take on fluids near Holywell

With the coast road finished and most of my water gone it was time to head up the hill to my campsite for the night. Now I had looked at the route on Google street view and knew I was expecting a bit of a climb but the pictures didn’t do it justice, I would have struggled without any load on the bike but with all the gear on it became a real slog.

Sure enough after about a quarter of a mile I had to get off and push, after about half a mile the gradient eased off enough to the extent I could get back on and ride the last couple of miles to the campsite for a well earned rest and, for the sake of everyone around me, a nice long shower.

The site itself is fairly new and is nicely low key, with good clean facilities, very friendly owners and a great view out over the coast making the ride up that hill more than worthwhile.

I pitched the tent under the shade of an oak tree and settled down for some food and a nice quiet night watching the sun go down, with the possibility of storms and rain forecast for the next day

I woke up early to no rain but with the clouds looming overhead looking ready to do their worst. With the highest chance for storms forecast for midday I started to pack up everything into my panniers for an early start, and sure enough the rain began. Thankfully I had saved my tent for last so waited out the downpour watching the rabbits play in the field oblivious to to the weather.

It wouldn’t be camping in the UK without at least a little rain

Thankfully the rain didn’t last too long so I was packed up and on my way home through the remaining drizzle along the coast road. After a quick stop at a newsagent for a breakfast meal of a Twix and a Peperami the sun started to come out so the waterproof went back into the bag and the sunglasses came back out.

The roads were much quieter in this direction so I decided to head into the centre of Connah’s Quay rather than follow the path back up the hill, thankfully (especially as my legs were starting to hate me by this point) there was a relatively short ride before finding the road down to the coastal path taking me back over the river and back onto the Wirral.

Once back on home turf I instantly took a wrong turn (I’m blaming exhaustion rather than stupidity) which much though it avoided a hill, took me an extra couple of miles out of my way and undid all my effort finding the shorter route in Wales.

I was very glad to be back on the cycle paths I know well, especially after nearly 20 miles of road riding, and my legs had a little bit more energy for those last couple of very familiar miles before getting home to a cold drink and a grumpy cat.

I think the load on the bike was manageable but I will probably need to get some front panniers to spread the load evenly, it started to fishtail a little on descents over 20 mph and wasn’t too happy over consistently bumpy surfaces. No mechanical issues really other than some minor front derailleur adjustment needed before my next ride, only failure was my GoPro mount coming loose within the first mile so another solution needed for that.

All in all a success really, now if anyone needs me I’ll be having a lie down.

Weapon of choice

So, to cycle across Japan I figured I should probably invest in a Bicycle. Days scouring the internet became weeks and eventually I came to the decision on what I needed, all sensible advice led me to a steel framed, dedicated touring bike, with either drop bars or varied riding positions available. Now came the small matter of paying for it and finding the right bike.

As I have mentioned before eBay plays a prominent role in this trip. After gathering a reasonable sum selling various electronics to friends (I now have an excellent Blu-ray collection with no way to play them), I started to scour the auction site for local listings hoping to find the sensible choice of a Dawes or some other equally capable machine.

A week in and I find something that catches my eye, a Specialized Sirrus hybrid bike, it is all wrong, aluminium frame, straight bars and no luggage included with the exception of a small handlebar bag. However, it is also matte black,  looks cool, and importantly was well within my budget so without hesitating I persuaded my Dad that a trip to deepest Cheshire was needed to go buy this thing.

The cat inspects the new arrival

Also on the plus side, it does have the relevant fixings for luggage racks, mudguards and the riding position has so far proved very comfortable.  I have since added a Tourtek adventure rear rack, Thule Shield 48l panniers, a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, a pair of new Continental touring Inner Tubes, a Sigma wireless cycle computer (I use a Garmin watch for my GPS and Strava data but like a speedo on the bike), a second bottle cage and a Cateye rear light mounted to the back of the rack.

Getting out and meeting other bikes

I may eventually look at a front rack and some smaller panniers so I have free space on the bike when fully loaded so I can buy food or simply spread the weight a little more evenly.

Robb

I had to start somewhere

Cycling round Japan for three months, how do you start to do that?

For me it starts with a divorce and eBay, eBay is pretty much my source of income for this insanity.

So, for the sake of clarity I suppose a little background is required. I’m currently 38, divorced, and earning minimum wage in a grind of a non career, (eligible bachelor of the year material or what?). I first visited Japan in 2011 with my then wife and fell in love with the country, the people, the history, the food (oh my god the food, be prepared to be bored stupid with food talk on here), just about everything really.

Since that first trip I have been back twice, each time becoming that little bit more enamoured with the place and each time returning home with more pictures and stories to bore family and friends to the extent that I am certain the words ‘this reminds me of when I was in Japan…’ must fill people with dread. So after a divorce and a series of events where life’s troubles lined up to kick me in the testicles with a numbing monotony I found myself where I am today, having decided that enough is enough and that I should simply sell everything of value, buy a pushbike, and piss off to Japan to live like a wandering tramp in a tent for the maximum 90 days the tourist visa will allow me to.

It sounds simple enough really when you say it but it has been two months since I made this choice and my life has descended into a world of lists, packing, researching, reading maps, and cycling everywhere to try and undo the years of culinary abuse I have put my body through.

I suppose the aim of this page is to keep a track of it all, share it with my family and friends (as if I don’t bore them enough already), and should anyone who is thinking about doing similar find this page hopefully share ideas and let people learn from my inevitable mistakes as and when they happen.

In my next few posts I’ll try and go into more detail about what gear I’ll be using, how I’m preparing, and hopefully delve a little more into what made me think this was a good idea in the first place.

Robb

The first of many trips into Wales to try and erase my eating habits