Last leg of my northern cycle tour today; quite sad that it's come to an end but my arse will be glad to be off the saddle and the bike badly needs cleaning and oiling, the chain and pedals have got a right wheezy squeak going on.
Today was warmer than it has been for a few days, and I headed off out of Pickering with the intention of navigating my way using the Cyclestreets app on my phone. It soon became clear that that was not going to be possible as the location service didn't seem to be working on the app, even though everything was switched on in the settings as well. I tried it a few times over the day without success, although ironically now I've just tried again it's working!
So I had the Cyclestreets app with my route all plotted in purple (quietest route option selected) but no way of locating myself and not very detailed map information, and the Sustrans app which showed my location but didn't have a route plotted! In the end I switched between the two, got lost at least once, but managed to find my way in the end. I can see I'm going to have to explore these two apps a bit more thoroughly for my next trip.
My anticipation of a nice flat day's cycling was foolish and there were plenty of hills to be found, but some lovely views as well, which makes the hills worth the effort.
Lunch in the cafe at Castle Howard was a nice break, but they really do need to consider getting some proper bike racks (see pic). Never seen such a ridiculous design; clearly designed (and purchased!) by people who don't ride bikes.
The last few miles into York were quite grim; narrow, busy roads with impatient drivers everywhere. Was glad to reach my B&B and get out of the traffic. The room was tiny and the ensuite little more than a cupboard. You have to sit on the loo sideways, and step over it to reach the shower!
Happily the room's very clean and the place is run by very friendly people so I wasn't too bothered! Plus they gave me a voucher for 20% off dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant which proved to be a very good one. And the sun came out, just in time for my last night :-(
3 comments:
I must admit, when I saw your comment on Facebook about hoping for flat roads, I did laugh. Hope you had a nice time :)
Ah well it's all relative - they were certainly much flatter than the ones I'd been covering in the early part of the trip!
What lovely places you've found - and I'm full of admiration that you had the energy left after all that cycling to write about them for us to enjoy too!
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