It seems we're in a stop-start situation in terms of planning rides with the pandemic still in full swing - I have a couple of sorties to France planned (hoped for!) in June and July 2022 but who knows?

In the meantime for those of you that looked at the News section in December 2020 here are this year's additions* to the decorations on the front fence at my home . . . lots of smiles from the children going to and from the school at the end of the road, and few adults to.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

* not much cycling this year so I've been doing quite a bit of woodwork - making tables, gates, fences and other bits of furniture.

The site has just listed a JOGLE ride planned for MAY 2027!!

The rider will be celebrating his 70th birthday in March 2027 and is compiling his bucket list.

Hopefully the website will still be live then, and me too!  Rob, webmaster

Writing this the day after the Prime Minister has eased the Covid related rules and restrictions from 19 July 2021 - my personal view is that it's great news but must be tempered with caution and common sense.  The development of an effective vaccine in such a short period of time has been a major achievement - I'm double-jabbed (Pfizer in early February and then April, with no side-effects)

The best news is that cycle-touring can start again - especially End-to-End rides which I'm sure lots of people have had on hold for the past eighteen months.  Not many rides listed in the site's online calendar at the moment but from the enquiries and orders for the Route Pack and maps from the Online Shop it looks as if there will be a good few coming through in the next few months - as well as plans for 2022.

Touring for me this year will be a (probable) couple of days in mid-August over about 100 miles and then a five day tour of Oxfordshire in mid-September with the cycling club (a change from our usual annual overseas tour for obvious reasons) - we're starting and finishing at home so no issues with trains or ferries.

Next Monday sees the lockdown rules changing to permit some group rides, and the change of the clocks to BST is always a positive in my book.

I've been out on my bike, with just short loop rides as cafe stops aren't very enjoyable - and also indulging in my other hobby : woodwork.  Making lots of stuff with quite a bit from re-cycled pallet wood or plywood.  Remember the snowmen last December ? - these cut-outs are just using some offcuts for some fun and to amuse the children that walk past our house each day on the way to school and back.

How's your End-to-End planning coming along?

With the announcement of the Government's "road map" there's a glimmer of hope for cycle touring, and the End-to-End, being possible again in the coming months.

Planning is key so don't forget the Resources and ready-made routes in the Shop here on the Cycle : End-to-End website - your purchases help to support the site.

Bikexplore offers a wide range of cycle tours, both in the UK and around the world. Each holiday reflects the leader's cycling personality leading you in their own careful way, to the special places they have found, along the kinds of roads or paths they love to travel.

The business is owned and run by its leaders, each of whom us has a passion for the places they visit and a wealth of previous experience in organising cycling holidays (mainly, but not exclusively for CTC Holidays) 

The roster of leaders is: Brian Curtis, Richard Dugdale, Chris Ellison, David Goodworth, Tony Gore, Martin Jamieson, Chris Juden, Steve Millard, Neil Wheadon & Greg Woodford.

See the listing on the site under: Resources/Planning/Holiday organisers

. . I stumbled across this quote again and thought it was appropriate to the pleasures derived from riding the end-to-end :

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.  Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

~ Ernest Hemingway

Long distance cyclist Richard Lake posted his thoughts on a cycling forum together with a YouTube video :

Richard has a series of other E2E videos on his YouTube channel - with permission from Richard there is a link to the channel under the Resources/Planning/Links section.