Rides 2021 +++ Add yours here +++

[Matt2matt2002]

Reino de España.
But not at all hopeful for any foreign travel given worldwide figures. Too many reoccurring waves.
But fingers crossed.

As Woody Allen said,
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

[Andre Jute]

As Woody Allen said,
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

I always thought Woody Allen's best line was, "God, could you please choose someone else!"

[John Saxby]

We've had slim pickings for springtime rides so far. April started out warm-to-hot, and I managed a ride up into the hills across the Ottawa River, just a couple of hours, but enough to see the woods were dry as tinder after an early spring. And enough to remind myself that between COVID restrictions and my arthritic hip, I'd done precious little cardio work over the winter. (Memo to self: get a trainer bike for next winter, and/or suck it up and do some more serious X-country skiing.)

Then, in mid-April the viral variants asserted themselves, and the Ontario gvt closed the borders with Québec and Manitoba. (The latter is of less importance to me than the former, 'cos Kenora in northwestern Ontario, about 50 kms from the border, is some 2,000 kms from my front door: https://tinyurl.com/sn7zdnzp. OTOH, Québec is about 10-15 minutes away by bike.)

So, one does what one can, and in the past two weeks, I've made some enjoyable  3-hour rides westwards and eastwards along the bikepaths beside the big river on the Ottawa side.  There are few hills, as one would expect, but brisk northwesterly winds ensure at least and hour and a half into a headwind on any such trip.  The Ottawa Valley runs more or less East-West on either side of Ottawa, and creates a venturi effect for any northwesterly.  As the days warm up, the higher pressures means serious gusts in the mid-to-late afternoons -- 60-plus kms are not uncommon.

Below, a few photos from recent rides. The first two show early spring foliage, a roadside forsythia bush, and a willow tree blowin' in the wind. (Willows are not common in pur northern landscape -- this, and the forsythia, are planted by gardeners.)  The last three are from a ride eastwards to town, beside the river behind Parliament, across the locks of the Rideau Canal, and eastwards along a gravel walking and cycling riverside path.

The staircase of locks you see in photo 3 is an uncommon view:  In the winter, it's full of snow and ice, and in the summer and most of the fall, it's full of water.  This view is taken from the walkway between Lock #1 behind me, and Lock #2 in front. (There are 8 in all.) You cross a lock via a walkway atop its wooden gates, which, er, have to be closed.  Heroic types carry their bikes, but I don't:  the walkway is a little more than  24 inches wide, and the steel railings on each side require that you either push your bike ahead of you, or hoist it above your shoulders.  A misstep, and your precious Thorn goes into the drink.

The Canal runs north-south between Parliament Hill to the west, and the Chateau Laurier hotel to the east.  The Chateau, shown in photo 4, was one of a series of railway hotels across Canada.  It's a Tinkerbell-like landmark in town, and we're very fond of it.  It's been more than a hotel: the Karsh brothers had their photographic studios in it (dunno if Yusuf's famous portraits of Hemingway and Churchill were taken here), and for many years the local CBC station broadcast from the Chateau.  Its ballroom has been used for things other than what you might expect: years back, I heard Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker in the same bluesy evening.

It's now owned by a Soulless Furrin Conglomerate (sold, as is the pattern, by its Wishy-washy Canajan Conglomerate Predecessor) which is planning to build a giant parking garage on the back, a cross between a filing cabinet and a shipping container. I will not be taking any photos of that.

[John Saxby]

And the three remaining photos:

[Andre Jute]

Love your travelogue, John. The attention to detail...

While the strongest photograph here is of the series of locks repeating almost to the horizon, with the bizarre Chateau Laurier looming beside the industrial age artefact, the one that bring a sympathetic tear to the eye is of the willows whipping in the wind. That sky is just amazing: it tells you the winter isn't releasing its grip yet.

[Danneaux]

So enjoyable to see, John, and Osi looks simply grand!

Thanks for sharing.

Best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

Thanks for your kind words, fellas.

Andre, those willows tell of a fierce northwesterly: My there'n'back on that day was out to the little village of Carp, past that log farmhouse I photographed last autumn.  Total distance was about 52 kms. The outbound 26 took me about an hour & 40 mins, the return about one hour ten.

That cobalt sky is what we get with high-pressure low-humidity days, the wind typically from the northwest, occasionally the north.  I call it "Saskatchewan weather".  It's more manageable in the summer than in the winter.

One thing that doesn't stand out from these photos is how low is the level of the big river -- at least a couple of metres below where it normally would be at this time of year. The snowpack was relatively low further upstream, and both March and April have been quite dry.  On my ride up into the hills in early April, the seasonal streams were nearly dry, and even permanent ones were low.

Strange times.

[Andre Jute]

I remember the log farmhouse, on a calmer day, a rural idyll.

[Rouleur834]

A river genuinely that big only looks placid. Underneath it surely has rippling muscles. I also see in several of the photos a nasty little wind chopping up the surface: not a day for dinghy sailing.

Compare "the Mighty Torrens" in Adelaide in South Australia: it has a whopping great weir across it upriver, just out of sight from the Festival Centre's expansive plaza, so that a rather insignificant stream is suddenly a fairly impressive river (by Australian standards, not Canadian). Mind you, the Lee, which most international cycle tourers will tell you is a largish river in which Cork City zentral makes up two long islands and which at Cobh Harbour is a big estuary, to serious local cyclists is more notable for its origins among pretty and easy-cycling back roads within striking distance of a far (by Irish standards!) shore, where it is a fingerling you can step over without noticing the origin of a famous river unless someone tells you or you're paying close attention to topographical lines on the map.

A beautiful Spring day. A quick spin, 23 mile round trip, this morning along the flatlands of the Severn Vale north to Sharpness Dock to witness one of the highest tides of the year here at 10.36m at 10:03 am and grab a photo to compare with one at low tide (about 0.5m).
About 45 minutes earlier at Avonmouth Docks roughly 16 miles SW downstream, high tide was at 14.17 metres from a low of 5m.
Pleasantly surprised to find an Irish cargo ship coming upstream to enter the dock between the two wooden piers and then through the lock into the dock basin.
No coffee or cake today🙁

Photo 1 low water at Sharpness Dock 0.51m
Photo 2 Arklow Faith arrival 10 minutes before high tide
Photo 3 High Tide (Slack water( at 10.36m.

Snap-ish!

[PH]

I’m still to get away cycling, had a car based camping night last week, just in time for the weather to change, but enjoyable none the less.
I’m out most days on the bike for one mundane reason or another, so have been struggling to find the motivation to get out when I don’t need to.  I’ve missed group riding far more than I’d expected to, so glad that’s restarting, though the restrictions still make it a faff, hopefully we can return to normality sometime soon.
Other than that, yesterday was my first decent ride of any length this year and I’m feeling it today.  I took a trip up to Clumber Park, in the heart of the Dukeries, an area of the UK where all the Dukes use to have estates for hunting and other aristocratic pleasures.  The most well-known is probably Sherwood Forrest, thought there’s plenty around it and it isn’t always possible to tell where one estate ends and another starts.  The ride up was fairly hilly, up through some of the Notts ex-mining towns and villages, now either sprawling industrial/warehouse estates or desolate, I’m not sure which is worse, but then I don’t live there.  Then into increasingly empty rolling countryside, on some lovely quite lanes, before reaching Clumber Park, now a NT property.  I’ve been through this park maybe a dozen times, either on my way to/from somewhere else or an Audax.  This was the first time I’ve made it a destination and I wish I’d had more time there, it’s huge (3,800 acres, according to google) and criss-crossed with so many paths and bridleways that despite how full the car park looked it felt empty. The park covers an area either side of the river Poulter, which expands into a lake in the heart of it, I’m not sure if that’s natural or has been engineered.  I rode up one side and down the other, all on paths clearly marked as permittable by bike, and mostly decent quality, though slow going in places. I had a couple of hours there and could easily have spent longer, I may look for a local campsite and spend a day exploring sometime.
The ride back was deliberately less hilly than the ride there, though I hadn’t accounted for the headwind, so was actually slower!  I dropped down to Southwell, which has a magnificent Minster, though I didn’t dwell as it features in some future plans when Cycling UK launch the Cathedral routes later this month.  I then followed the river Trent all the way home,, mostly on a route I know well, though apart from the last few miles haven’t ridden in a while. 
Some obligatory bike photos, three from Clumber and one of the Trent on the way home.

And the route if anyone’s interested
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/218625
And the park info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clumber_Park

Clumber tree by Paul, on Flickr

Clumber bluebells by Paul, on Flickr

Clumber by Paul, on Flickr

Trent by Paul, on Flickr

[in4]

I know there’s a good ride on an old pit railway track that runs near Sherwood Forest. I used to join it at Vicar Water, Clipstone but think the track runs south to Nottingham and north to Worksop.

[PH]

I know there’s a good ride on an old pit railway track that runs near Sherwood Forest. I used to join it at Vicar Water, Clipstone but think the track runs south to Nottingham and north to Worksop.

If it's the bit I'm thinking of, it's part of NCN route 6 which starts in London and goes up to Carlisle (the route rather than that track), passing directly in front of my door along the way.  I've ridden it in two stages as far as Lancaster. There's a good selection of tracks around the mining areas, converted from what were probably pit railways, I did a couple of short sections on yesterdays ride, they're very pleasant but I wanted to make better progress.

[steve216c]

My final daily tour 2021 

Our office has been in a state of moving for several months, having worked on a split site until another department made way so that my office could all be housed at a single location. But this brings an end to the 8000km tour (approx 90% of the kilometers I've ridden on my Rohloff hub commuting each day) over the last 20 months or so back and forth through many of the green routes through Berlin. My daily commute/ tour of around 16km each way took me through parks and forest across the city and often away from the noise of city traffic where I could absorb and enjoy nature, being at one with my bike and, as an upside, save on a gym membership is no more. On Tuesday I disconnected the last networked device in one location, and on Wednesday started work at our larger consolidated office in the heart of Berlin.

My new commute is almost the same distance from home but without the opportunity for green shortcuts. Berlin may be blessed with a large number of bike paths, but the new route only sees an opportunity of around a mile where I can ride through the green and central Tiergarten park- but the is sadly rest parallel with busy roads through residential and industrial districts. Not what you would describe as enjoyable or tour like. Add the traffic noise to around 3 times the number of red lights I am likely to encounter- not inspiring.
As I left the office on Tuesday, I decided to share some photos of my 'daily tour' given that we were blessed with 30 degrees plus and sunshine which was extinguished by thunder storms and cooler weather since Wednesday this week.

I'm lucky insomuch that I will occasionally have reason to go to the old office building for meetings with two other departments in my old building. So I will get to enjoy the occasional tour, every 4-6 weeks if the timing of those meetings works in my favour.

My old office is close to the Gruenewald forest- and I'll share my tour photos from the entrance to the forest as I head home to the across the former British sector to Spandau.



Despite using kilometers, the Germans still use the word milestone (Meilenstein) found on the old stage coach route through the forest:


the forest being crisscrossed with mostly compacted gravel roads suitable for all but the skinniest of tyres


Used by the occasional forestry vehicle  the paths are mostly empty but for the occasional ramblers or cyclists


Not so visible with the fresh green leaves blocking my view, the former CIA listening station (and MOD one on extreme right). Remnants of the cold war on the Teufelsberg slowly decaying after investment projects to redevelop the land failed.



A short ride up the hill and I skirt the Olympic stadium of Jesse Owens fame. Behind my bike the Olympic bell tower, with the arena entrance currently under renovation.



Spot the mirrors one the left and right? This is the 'walk of reflection' winding through the Schanzenwald from near the bell tower to what was once a 2nd world war place of execution for civilians and their families who were accused of treason or who disobeyed orders. The dozens of mirrors on that route tell the tragic story of many who were executed on the way there such as the police officers who questioned the morality and sense of what they were doing and who were hung or shot on the spot for doing so. Not appropriate to ride along that route out of respect for those who were murdered on that route.



But a couple of hundred meters later a good forest path parallel to the S-Bahn city train takes you safely out of Charlottenburg district and into Spandau district. Despite being a recognized bike path with clear signs that dogs must be kept on leads- with a good steep descent you need to watch out for free running dogs as most of their owners are not educated in understanding pictograms or simply worded signs on the route.



A short road ride and I joined a railway foot/bike bridge across the river Havel as I approach Spandau town hall





from where I start the final leg of my tour


A long narrow stretch of parkland, once a busy multi track railway line, leads from the town hall right out of the city to the neighbouring town of Falkensee. With official shared bike routes with pedestrians and skaters you can avoid the main routes and traffic lights and enjoy the warmth of a beautiful spring day



and carefully negotiate the labyrinth at the pedestrian rail crossing as the bike path splits in different ways at a former gravel pit, now urban park



Play parks, volleyball, rock climbing, fitness areas, basketball, parkour, skateboarder/bmx zone? The park is littered with opportunities in the urban renewal built on the former rail route and the more recent gravel pits



with swimmers already swimming in the lake which was frozen just a few weeks ago




But you are never a tourist in your own back yard. And my backyard can be reached easily on the dedicated bike path parallel to the railway line. So I hope you enjoyed my 'final commute/tour' from my old office location. And although I will be sure to use many of those routes from time to time- it is a tearful farewell to those paths that have I've enjoyed riding almost every day since I resumed regular cycling in autumn 2019. My new route is not as picturesque or inspiring as it currently stands. But I love to explore, so I may try to find alternative ways home that turn my new daily commute into a scenic daily tour as well... 



Steve

[John Saxby]

Great stuff, Steve, illuminating story & photos. What an opportunity, and how well you've taken it!

I have just a little/localized familiarity with Berlin:  our daughter lived there from Aug 2010 to March 2015 (first in Neukoln, near Tempelhof, and later in Friedrichshein, just off Frankfurter Allee), and my wife and I both visited her many times. On a couple of occasions, we did cycling tours within the city, and in 2014 I ended a tour of Denmark, Sweden and northern Germany by cycling through the Brandenburg Gate.

What a city, and what a city for cyclists -- I envy you your extended velo-safari within it.

We all have various memories, I guess:  Mine include hearing friends of our daughter, leaving to see their parents, saying that they were "going to Germany for the weekend"; graffiti celebrating Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht; and a street sign at the intersection of "Pariser Kommune Str" and "Karl Marx Allee".  Where else, eh?

Cheers,  John

[Andre Jute]

The recent stream of photos of forests and flowing waters, even the freezing ones, have been most welcome to those of us -- I'm sure there must be more than me -- sitting inside waiting for our vaccinations. I've said in the past that we can't go everywhere, so these posts are vicarious tours for those who live elsewhere. That has proven even more true in the last two years. I count myself fortunate to know you fellows -- and your cameras!