(Photo: Stopping for the view wearing my Cafe de Colombia cycling cap kindly given to me as a present by my friend Toby before I left (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_de_Colombia).When I returned on Tuesday evening after completing the journey from Land's End to John O'groats my speedometer was showing 1077 miles. Mike and I completed the journey from Land's End in 15 days. It may sound a lot of miles and the ubiquitous hills of Cornwall to start with are certainly quite testing as an introduction to the ride, but muscles and stamina do develop more quickly than I'd imagined. Resting and re-fuelling are one of the most important parts of the journey, and we took a days rest in Glastonbury after seeing off the hills of Cornwall which had been recommended by many cyclists before we left.
Once you've developed a strategy for the sore butt, and accepted the the mental side of the journey (a lot of time alone on the saddle to think, which allows the opportunity for some psychological exploration), it can be a most memorable trip, and for Mike and I it proved a journey akin to self-realisation at times. The plains of Somerset, the ride down through the Wye Valley in Wales and the Highlands of Scotland were my personal favourites, but through the whole journey we gained a peephole insight into many different towns and people along the way, a kind of whistlestop socio-cultural meander through the UK happened in truth...... Shrewsbury was an odd place!
We camped down a few nights rough as well as generally in formal campsites which was most pleasant, especially on Dartmoor and then towards the North when the days were so much longer. We saw quite a few other 'end to enders' en route and it seemed most were staying in hostels and B+B's along the way. If anyone does ever consider doing this kind of thing in the future I would wholly recommend camping. Although it's nice to stop for a warm bed for the night and a good wash and clean, it's also nice to get out close to the elements. For us it seemed a more truer way to take on the challenge. We got wet on a couple of days and at those times used a B+B to get ourselves sorted out for the next day and dry our clothes out. We were somewhat blessed with the weather though which made camping much easier and allowed for us to take in the more outdoors experience throughout. Camping under the pine trees in an enourmous commercial pine forest in Scotland looking up though to the sky above was perhaps one of our more liberating experiences, as well as the night where we were directed by some fisherman to an especially scenic spot out of eyesight on the river in the Highlands.
The good side of human nature was in abundance throughout which made the trip all the more wholesome too. A lovely farmer and his family gave us a room and breakfast at no charge for the cause up near Lancaster when we expected only a space to pitch our tents. John the Stone in Scotland (who followed in his father's footsteps in becoming a dry wall stoner) was so kind too. Mike's chain snapped in a rather under populated area where a kind motorist asssited in introducing him to us (his house only 200 yards up the road from it snapping). He drove Mike to the nearest town 8 miles away to get the neeeded part, and then gave us some tea and custard creams in his delightful cottage. John was an enormous man!! There are too many little anecdotes in truth to try here to emphasise the profundity of the trip at times for us, but I do suggest it to anyone who's ever thought about taking it on, it can revitalise the spirit.
Thank you for all the very kind contributions towards my fundraising for coffeekids, they have passed on their thanks already and I am hopeful of clearing the £1000 target in the next couple of weeks. If you know anyone that may like to donate please do pass on my justgiving page if you could (www.justgiving.com/Neil-Le_Bihan), or if you haven't yet and would like to please do donate to an excellent organisation. Coffeekids are holding an event during the WBC in a couple of weeks and I hear that James Hoffman may be back competing again for the Coffeekids cause, a charity smack down with Gwylum I hear?....I shall post the dates and venue when I hear.
For anyone whose interested, I will be trying out some new stuff on my coffee stall at Lewisham market soon. If you haven't been down yet I am under the clocktower there every Saturday. On Saturday 3rd July my friend Lawrence will be roasting down at my stall, yes coffee roasting on a market stall in Lewisham! I'll post a blog with more of the details nearer the time, but I am hopeful that my customers and any newcomers that may be interested can come and have a coffee and chat with myself and Lawrence about roasting, (or Lawn Bowling) or whatever in truth. I have had an interest in roasting for a while now and am hoping to learn a lot from Lawrence and thought coffee drinkers out there might find it quite educational seeing it first hand. I certainly know that when I worked at Monmouth my understanding of coffee was heightened greatly from cupping sessions with the roasters, and generally being able to tap into their knowledge. I'll also have some tables and chairs from that date with some pastries and cakes. All ristrettos, espressos, macchiatos and picolos are now being served in ceramic cups too, which I'd wanted to do for some time. The book swap will be back soon and I'll have a nice regular range of varying single origins from varying roasters for my wholesale customers too again.
Thank you everone again for contributing towards coffeekids, and hopefully see you all soon either down at my stall on a Saturday or at the WBC in a couple of weeks (I am still trying to work on some etching for my signature pour for the World Latte Art).
I'll post up all the pictures from the trip on my flickr account soon.
Neil
N.O.B.
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