About?  This Blog has been written for myself, as a record I can return to in future year's to remind myself of the mini adventure I completed in 2023.  It's more than a travel diary, it try's to capture the emotions, experiences and my reflections.  If others enjoy it or are inspired to take on their own adventures, then that will be a bonus.  It also fills a gap for my family and friends who live outside the world of Facebook and who were not able to follow my daily updates.   As I write this blog, a couple of weeks after completing the journey it is easy to make it seem like setting off and completing the trip was a formality.  The reality was that I only made the final commitment two weeks before I set off after limited training and a maximum distance fully loaded training ride of 60 miles.   What? A fourteen day, 1050 mile, unsupported bicycle journey, travelling from Lands End to John O Groats.  There's no official route to follow ...

Barry ‘the coach’ meets the three intrepid Rivers Riders This is the story of two middle aged men preparing to take part in Cumbria’s newest cycle challenge – the Cumbria Rivers Ride. Both of us are the wrong side of 40, both enjoy good food and neither could be described as athletes! I run the Cumbria Community Foundation, Cumbria’s special grant making charity and Gary McKeating is Head of socio-economics with NMP. Gary and I will report regularly on our efforts to prepare for the Ride which will take place on 18th September starting and finishing in Fitz Park, Keswick. We’ll be joined by our colleague Iona Frost Pennington, owner of Muncaster Castle and current High Sheriff of Cumbria. We’re very fortunate to have secured the help of Barry Johnson who is a highly skilled fitness coach. We met Barry at Dovenby Hall one morning for a ‘fitness assessment’. There was a real sense of apprehension and nervous energy in the air. Barry trains champions and is an elite athlete h...

It's terribly handy if your host receives an invitation to attend the Mayor's party at the Opera House on New Years Eve.  Being one of the luckier people on the planet I had actually enjoyed New Year at the Opera House last year, but as a paying punter for the Gala Concert. This year's party was much more exclusive and most importantly free, including gallons of champagne, wine and beer flowing in all directions - oh and the odd sexy (and not so sexy) dancer/performer. Enjoy the pics and the beautiful people .................... it's 9.30pm on 1st Jan and I've still not fully recovered from the hospitality and our 4.00am crash ....... on our way in ....................... Enjoying an early evening snifter ............... the start of the 8pm fireworks Lizy's friend the Mayor giving her address ................ some of the entertainment, can't say I noticed much of it ..................... ...

The Coastal Track in the Royal National Park is one of the classic walks in Australia and snakes 26km south along the coast from Sydney.  The start of the walk is a remote village called Bundeena which is reached by ferry.  We reached Bundeena on the ferry from Cronulla - pitched the tent and headed off for an enormous body fortifying Chinese meal and beer ............ Most of my time in Australia has seen sunny day after sunny day.  However On the eve of our big walk the sky opened (see wet tent above).  We woke to a very wet Friday morning and delayed our start til 10.00am and managed to detour via the coffee shop for not so light refreshments with Lizy declaring we would not be getting the 11.00am ferry back to Sydney, rather we would head off into the rain .................... We walked for about 3 hours in the rain over headlands and across beautiful beaches.     By mid afternoon the rain slowed then cleared.  W...

A couple of days after arriving I loaded my bike and gear onto the train and took the 2 hour ride up to Katoomba in the heart of the Blue Mountains. Sydney is fringed by national parks and this mountainous area is composed of sandstone which provides jaw dropping views and steep drops from the escarpment on which Katoomba sits. On arriving I headed out on my bike along the escarpment and rode out onto 'Narrow Neck', a rolling ridge about 15km long which juts out into some of the parks most inaccessible and truly wild country. The temperature must have been around 30 degrees, that combined with some steep drops and climbs made it hard going.  I teamed up with a charming German student (I seem to have met several charming German's since I left home in October - don't mention the war etc) Fortunately he found it equally tough (for those of you who know Rob Llewellyn - it was his twin brother 20 years younger and with the same classy hairstyle). We both rode b...

Greetings blog followers from a hot hot hot Christmas Eve in Sydney The Turkey's stuffed, the wine's cooling in the fridge and Lizy and Zoe are in their last hour at work before heading over to peel potatoes and start their holidays. Most importantly Lucy has arrived safely back in Cumbria where Des tells me she has enjoyed mulled oil and paint pies (I'll have whatever he's drinking). The first week or so here has been fun, relaxing, hot and adventurous.  The news of snow, rain, more snow, Eurostar failure etc makes me feel both home sick and grateful to be where I am. I spent the first few days in the Blue Mountains with my bike (separate post planned) and then headed back into town to spend a lot of Lizy's money on a new tent so we could walk the Coastal Track in the Royal National Park (another post planned - lots of pics and not too many words). Tomorrow (Christmas Day) Lizy and I head up to Clareville to house sit Paul and Lizy's (yes another Liz...