Day 56 - Birmingham to Milton Keynes - total for ride 4,117 k, 26,197 m

116 km's  to Milton Keynes then train to London then 5 km's to St Paul's YHA Hostel.

A shower then off shopping for a new outfit!

The rest of the Blog will have to wait till the morning. 

Come back tonight to read and see more...

Well, here I am in "Old Lodon Town" relaxing at the end of the ride from Rome.

Yesterday when I left Birmingham I did  not know where I would be sleeping that night - I had  options a) a 40 pound per night Hotel b) a 20 pound campsite and c) a possible still to hear back from WarmShowers Host. I had options so I carried on and thought I'll sort that out later (no it was by design not by procrastination). I was making very good time and wanting  to get to beyond the halfway point before I stopped for lunch - I didn't need to stop for breakfast or coffee (not that I drink coffee) as the Hostel provided breakfast. Had I needed to stop for coffee though I would have been out of luck as the route avoided all cities and towns with Cafe's. I did all the same stop for a  morning tea  in a town where there was only one shop selling hot drinks and a cake. I was looking forward to my last and hopefully good "Devonshire Tea" but it was not to be.

At about 1:30 I did come across the only village I had past through with a shop so stopped and grabbed what I could for lunch (as sausage roll and orange juice).

I knew I had around 120 km's to ride so avoided all Garmin screens and data that referenced time, distance travelled and distance to destination and only had my "Nothing" screen visible. My "Nothing" screen is just that it provides me with no guidance or reference indicators - this removes the tendancy to be focussing on how far I had come and how far still to go. 170 metres before I have to change direction I hear a beep and the screen changes to a map and countdown to the corner where I am to turn, once around the corner it briefly indicates how much distance there is to ride until the next corner then reverts back to my "Nothing" screen. So, now, rather than focussing on the need to ride 120 km's or whatever distance it is for the ride I only need to focus on the 1.23 or 6.87 or whatever the distance is to the next corner.

It's a mind game I play - While I know I can ride 120 km's it at times may seem a lot, so rather than kept being reminded of the longer distance I'm only shown much shorter distances that I easily ride all the time. 

So there's one of my little tricks I play to make getting to my destination doable.

For fear of repeating myself the ride agai took me along canal paths and rail trails although not as many and there was a lot more of undulating country lanes. When beside the canal at oe stage there was a barge "chugging" along with a grat sounding single cylinder engine chugging away - I tried to capture it on video as it past under a bridge but wasn't able to however as the canal about a km along the road went under another bridge I made a bee line for it and waited for the barge to dome chugging past.

At one point I turned a corner and there was what I thought was a new housing development (landscaped frontage) however it was the Jaguar Land Rover site and required a pic. Not that I am "into" Jaguars or Land Rovers however for a non-petrol head I seem to have an uncanny knack of stumbling across big brand vehicle manufacturing sites without even trying - my list thus far is:

Lotus

McLaren

Rolls Royce and now,

Jaguar Land Rover.

There is another connection I have with the site today and that is Steve in his planning/consultancy business has helped Jaguar Land Rover with its planning acquisition work due this site. 

Now back to where I'm going to sleep.

Lone messaged me through the morning that they are going to lunch with their four Grandies (two are the same ages as Lily and Tyler) on Wednesday and I'm more than welcome to come. So now, that put an option "D" into the possibilities for the night's accommodation.

With some thought option "D" became - ride to Milton Keynes, train to London, stop at St Paul's YHA - buy a new outfit and ride to Lone and Ian's Wednesday morning in time for lunch.

It was a no brainer really - on the one hand I had another 100 plus km ride (that I didn't need as I had just ticked off the 4,000 km mark) while on the other hand there was a lovely "Turnbull Family Day" I'd been invited to. The invite I could not refuse although I'm sure it will make me homesick as I haven't been with my Grandies for almost three months.

It was a 45 minute train ride into London Euston and then a 5 km bike to St Pauls through London rush hours' traffic! Not a problem and never has been if you plan your route which is what I did on the train, I uploaded it to my Garmin, walked out of the station, crossed the road and was on a cycleway or back streets right through to the Hostel - the most "rush hour traffic" encountered were the large number of cyclists and pedestrians that meant you had to have your wits about you but cars, lorries and double decker buses were not a problem.

I do like St Pauls' YHA as it is one building back from St Pauls' Cathedral and I truly know I am in London as the Cathedral bells toll every hour day and night.

The other thing I like about hitting London at the end of my rides is that I can now have a change of clothes - throughout the ride I have my one set of riding clothes and my shorts/longs and a couple of tee shirts as my "dress up" end of day, clothes! Now the ride has finished and I don't have to pack and carry gear daily I can buy something different to wear and once showered that's the second thing I did after a cup of tea.

So far my new wardrobe includes an new pair of jeans, some fun new sox, three new tee shirts and a dress shirt. Yay!