Preperations for the free feast

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 28/11/08 at 11:11:08 am

It’s been a pretty busy few days as preparations for the free economy feast step up. I was getting rather worried that the yarrow beer I brewed for it would not quite be ready in time but it is starting to settle and it looks ok. I did try some after the first fermentation and it was palatable although full of sediment, so fingers crossed it is ok now.

The free feast is open to anyone who turns up and will be held at Cafe Midnimo in Bristol starting at 4.30pm on Saturday 29th Nov in Bristol. The feast will be served around 4.30pm in Café Midnimo, 163 Ashley Rd, St. Paul’s, Bristol BS6 5NX.

The Yarrow Ale won’t be served up at Cafe Midnimo as it has a no alcohol policy the local of serving it is as yet undisclosed. I did make an extra gallon for myself, which I am going to give a lot more time to mature just to judge the difference in taste, I have no other ulterior motive with making my own brew, honest.

SO WHAT ABOUT FOOD?? Well we did manage to find a massive haul of wax caps yesterday. Enough to feed at least 20 people as a soup or starter anyway. I say we as Dave and I were joined by another forager called Fergus who is desperately trying to rid himself of his TV name “the roadkill chef“. So I am sure he won’t thank me for mentioning it again.  He is trying to rebrand himself as Fergus the Forager and I think it seems to be working. It was good to talk to him about foraging courses especially finding out how he sells them as Christmas presents. As this is to be Dave and I’s wage next year we really do have to learn how to sell them. We were also joined by a local helper called Dan who seemed to enjoy just spending the day out. It is always good to go out picking with good people.

Good people carried on as a theme this morning as a bloke from BBC radio Bristol turned up with his radio car. I asked where the crew was and apparently they don’t need them for these live links. This was a bit of promotion for the free feast, I basically had to do a live talk about foraging. It might be on the listen again thing, for another week. I was on at about 8.40-8.50 ish so right at the end of the 3 hour show, about 2.50 hrs. It was unfortuantely cut short as there was a big fight near where I used to live in Bath, off the London Road. Quite odd as if I had taken a different course in life I would have been there.

So this afternoon we are now going to be off around Bristol looking for more foraged food for the feast. I will have to get on to that now.

Brewing 100 pints of Yarrow Beer, free Economy and new desk

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 19/11/08 at 03:11:24 pm

Brewing 100 pints of Yarrow Beer for the Free Economy

Last week I turned up to a meeting in a pub regarding the free economy. More on that later. The free economy lot are throwing a party offering free food and drink to anyone that turns up at the end of the month to celebrate the founders experiment of living without spending money for a year and of course buy nothing day. The party is to be held in just over a week on buy nothing day (29th November) and I agreed to supply some home brew. Having never brewed anything over 40 pints before this was indeed to be a challenge. The ingredients were no problem being just Yarrow, Malt Extract, Sugar, Water and Yeast - I wrote up the recipe and a brief introduction just here.

The interesting thing I found out about Yarrow is that it contains Thujone an ingredient also found in Absinthe. So I am going to assume that Yarrow ale/beer could be slightly psychedelic. Well as I am brewing 100 pints of it for over 100 people I am doubtful that it will really matter as I can’t see anyone having enough of it to have any effect.

Yarrow has been used by humans for the last 60 000 years and apart from being used to brew a psychedelic beer it has had many other medicinal uses including treating toothache, kidney disorders, toothache, piles and to stem the flow of blood. In fact soldiers throughout the ages have gone into battle with a pocket full of yarrow for this very reason. Indeed, in some circles it has been called the warriors herb. I love it as it grows everywhere and I tend to take an infusion of the stuff when I am feeling a bit run down, it seems to help.

Making the beer itself was a bit tricky to say the least, I got my 100 litre (22 gallon) water butt (see below) and filled it with steralizing solution and warm water. This involved getting the hose out or I could have been there for hours; as I had no tap attachment I had to tape the hose to the tap and flooded the kitchen a little as it kept firing off. I then rinsed it out with colder water and had much the same experience.

Now knee high in water I added the malt and sugar to the brew bin which I then moved to a warmer room – The dining room. My girlfriend seems to be grinning and bearing it as my home brew collection starts to take over, I have not told her that I intend on having something brewing constantly now for ever more. She does make the odd comment that makes me think she might disapprove such as, “if that f*****ng thing bubbles one more time”, or “I can’t come into the kitchen I am going to heave”.

Boiling the yarrow did smell a little and it had to be done in two large pans that I have for home brewing, one 7 litre and one 4.  Picking the yarrow was easier than I thought as I found a spot with loads of it, I would suggest doing the same if you are to make this as you when there are only a couple of plants in one area they are best left totally alone to give them the best chance for survival; you need about 1 pannier bag or roughly one carrier bag full so you will need a lot. I later found that trying to measure out almost 2 kilograms of yarrow is not the easiest in a small kitchen with tiny scales. So to add to the water there are now bits of yarrow, grass and clover all over the kitchen.

Anyway, if you want to recreate this then here are the ingredients and the full recipe is over here.

Ingredients

• 3.4kg organic Barley malt extract (10 jars)
• 2.7 kg Brewing Sugar
• 1.75 kg Fresh Yarrow leaves
• 56 litres of water
• 1 cup of good ale yeast
• a small jar of honey (for priming)

You may ask what on earth is going on in that picture, the thing on the far right is my water butt  wrapped with a fleecy sleeping bag to keep the brew to a regular temperature without having to have the heating on all night. It is being propped up by a few bricks so that when it comes to draining out the brew into its beer barrel the job will be slightly easier. No need for siphoning tubes with this set up. I am slightly concerned that if the bricks get cold they will radiate coldness and cause the brew to cool down this is why the local paper has been pushed under as an after thought.

Free Economy

….Which according to it’s founder Mark Boyle, “It’s about making the transition from a money-based communityless society to a community-based moneyless society”. You might have heard about Mark in the past as he was the bloke who gave up everything he owned and decided to walk to India.

Dave and I have got involved with them on and off over the last few months, mostly offering free forages. What happens in short is rather like freecycle but with your skills instead. People list what they can do anyting from house building to scrabble playing. You sign up, putting in your address and it tells you who is nearby so if you need a head massage, want to borrow a drill or need help with your dahlias then it is worth a look.

New Desk

On Saturday we popped into the Bristol branch of Emmaus a big warehouse type shop full of second hand furniture. Everything there is donated and all the procedes go to help desitute people in need of a home, work and support. It is one of my favorite shops as I love second hand furniture. I saw a massive desk and immediately wanted it, my old one although it has served me well is just too small, once I have a couple of books on it, it is filled.

So I excepted delivery of my Edwardian second hand desk yesterday. Great I thought it is perfect so big that I could sleep on it. Then I awoke in the middle of Sunday night; the day before delivery. I realised that it was so big that it would not fit in the house. I measured up the staircase and the front door and indeed I felt sure it would not fit.

So all credit to the three blokes from Emmaus who worked out that by taking it around the back, through the french doors then, taking apart the bannister we could fit it in.  It was odd but I think there was a real sense of winning in the face of adversity when we eventually go it in.

Bycycle diaries – day 4 and 5. Midlands to the North

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 14/11/08 at 01:11:59 pm

Day 4 Northampton – Redmile

Awoke early in the Morning, having moved out of my parents house  in my early twenties it seems odd to get up before them having drank less than them. I was full of energy and decided to nip over the road to see my Nan. She seemed pretty pleased to see me and I stayed chatting to her for longer than I should have, got to know a bit more about the family history. I am glad that I never met my Great-Grandad (on my Dad’s, Dad’s side) as he sounds like a right nasty piece of work. He used to chauffer for the Rothschilds and it seems that he was rather envious of their money. He tried to get money from relatives going back to the Irish Hamiltons in County Cork but they told him where to stick it.

Anyway, it was odd to follow the first bit of the route through Northampton as, at one point, I used to cycle this way to work every morning. I then had to turn off and find the cycle route 6. I got to the point on the map where I thought this was and ended up cycling through Kingsthorpe Village, (made famous as the tarty one from Birds of a Feather used to live there).

This route did not seem one of the greatest I thought as I pulled my bike over a fence. It got worse as the path seemed to follow the quagmire that had built up under a bridge and I had to maneuver my bike across thick sticky mud with a fast flowing River Nene only inches away. Then I crossed shoulder high nettles and stumbled through massive ditches before finally getting to the end of this bit of the path. Then I discovered the real route 6, a pristine tarmaced, level cycle track. This must have added a further hour onto my time I thought and felt a little daft.

Now on the Brampton way I was making good time, this bit of the route from Northampton to Market Harborough is all off road. This I find has it’s plus and minus points, you don’t have huge trucks passing you by or have boy racers trying to knock you off the road. What you do have is people and close to ‘places of interest’, you can have lots of them. People cause you to slow down more then anything else. I urge anyone reading this to please spare a thought for us cyclists, we don’t want to run you over so when walking on a cycle path please keep to one side, either side will do and please keep your dog and kids under a watchful eye as we don’t really want them running under our wheels either.

I carried on this path, this long straight path with bushes either side of it for ages. After cycling through villages and next to open fields with game birds flying over your head this was a little different. As I cycled it started to become hard work, I puzzled as to why. I was rested, well fed and was only a few days in. I puzzled for a little longer then it dawned on me, “It’s because I am bored”. This was not what expect when I started this journey, there was nothing to see other than the odd dog walker or rambler and to be frank I was getting fed up of them, they might see the odd cyclist but I was saying hello every 2 minutes (god, I can be a miserable bastard sometimes).

The bordom of this path was briefly interupted by Kelmash Tunnel a long dark tunnel with an uneven path. I cycled through slowly, bouncing around as I went. I could hear a scurrying noise which I can only attribute to rats. I got through the tunnel and looked at the otherside to see a sign that stated “Cyclists dissmount and push”, ah well always liked being a bit of a rebel.

A bit further on was a slightly shorter tunnel, I could see a light inside this one it looked like a bike light and was travelling very, slowly towards me. I reached it and saw a women stairing at the floor pushing her bike. I said hello to her and got a mutter back, I had the distinct feeling she highly dissaproved of me cycling through the tunnel and not getting off and pushing. It is odd how you can put a sign up in places and people will immediately comply to such an extent that they will try and get others to comply too.

I did want to get to Newark today, but I think due to the wrong turn at the start of the day I had run out of light and it was starting to rain. I decided that I would stay at the first place I found, unluckily this was a posh ‘Inn’ in Redmile 10 miles south of Newark and was to cost me £55, plus a further £10 for my meal. This was the first time I felt a little lonley, it is fine being on your own I don’t mind that at all. In fact I often prefer it, but being on your own with other people around I am not a big fan of. I wolfed my dinner down and and had an early night.

Day 5 – Redmile – Great Limber

Set off the earliest I have done far, quite happy to get back on the road. The first noteworthy thing on this route was the crows/ravens or whatever they were. I looked up at one point and hundreds of them were circling me after cycling for a bit I saw a dead one on the ground, it seemed that they were circling their dead. I thought that they were plotting their revenge against humans up there, away from us. Then I remembered I had been on my own for quite a while now and no doubt my mind was starting to make a few things up for me.

It was not just my over active imagination that was keeping me entertained it was myself, realising that I was out of earshot I decided to start shouting and singing to myself. It felt rather freeing as here in Bristol I am normal only ever a few feet away from someone and therefore it is not easy to really shout without causing a bit of a stir, I am sure my neighbours already think I am not quite right in the head.

I did not see much of Newark, someone had written on the cycle path just outside Newark “Tramps this way”. I think it was supposed to be a statement rather than an instruction. I passed through Newark, I pondered for a little while as to if it was worth a look around and decided to crack on. I could always return here when I had more time.

Onwards and upwards, I got to Lincoln and that looked pretty amazing. I amazed myself when I cycled up the hill that Lincoln sits on without feeling it. It must be that I was starting to get fit. I liked the look of Lincoln and thought to myself that it would be worth a visit in the future.

One thing I noted was just how stunning it was, old buildings nestled in with the new and even parts of the town wall were still intact. There also seemed to be a vibrant art scene (yes I noticed all this from my bike). Well when I say that what I really mean is I saw this big sculpture on the side of a building and thought that it looked pretty cool.

The downside of Lincolnshire is the driving, it was here that I felt the most vunerable on a bike. I again got a little lost coming out of Lincoln and realised that towns and cities add an extra hour onto your journey time as they are so fiddly to navigate. When I got to the main road heading north from Lincoln I could almost taste the danger, cars were shooting past me at speed and were not keeping their distance nor for that matter were the massive articulated lorries. Saying to myself this is very dangerous being on this road, I have to get off it as quickly as possible. To set my mind at rest I saw a sign telling me how many accidents their had been on this stretch of the road in the last month, one a day, great!

I carried on and cycled past a church with a flat spire aparently one of only a handful in the country. Round here were some real free range chickens too, wandering into the middle of the road and they were absolutely everywhere. There did not seem to be a chicken shed in the vacinity either, I thought about looking for eggs as that would be a great thing to say I had foraged but then remembered the logisics of carrying single eggs; especially whilst on a bike.

I really wanted to get as far as the Humber Bridge and thought that I could even see it from some areas, well the humber river anyway all lit up. In hindsight I think it was a road. Realising that I had done around 80 miles this day I decided that crossing the Humber was to be for another day, well the next day any road.

I stopped at another Inn, really I was looking for a B & B as more often than not the people that run them like people and will chat to you. Although I was too knackered to talk, and was again a little freaked out by people having fun around me. Not great having to eat on your own on a Saturday night, I think the waitress thought I had crawled out of a pond too. Mind you I had not showered and my beard was coming on so she might not have been far wrong.

So tomorrow the Humber bridge, gateway to the true North of England.

The bycycle diaries part 3 and Leaf mould

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 12/11/08 at 02:11:25 pm

Oxford – Northampton Day 3

Got up nice and early at Paul Kingsnorth’s house and made faces at his baby whilst eating a nice hearty breakfast. Just round the corner was the Oxford Cycle Co-op and what was to be the first nice bike shop. I got talking to a bloke called Stephen who took my bike in and had a look at the gears, there were bikes queued up but they still took a look. There was also an odd coincidence, as Stephen lived in the same house as Dave used to, just up the road from the Co-op.

These were some of life’s nice people (not like the bloke in the bike shop at Clifton).  I would strongly urge anyone in the Oxford area to go to this bike shop in fact, I am almost tempted to get the bike trailer I have my eye on.

The journey to Northampton was a dream, the wind was behind me, the sun shone and I even enjoyed getting lost. I did have to pull over once to give a newspaper interview to the Bristol Evening Post about this bike ride not sure if they have run that article yet.

There seemed to be signs everywhere on the way protesting against an eco-town. I was not sure what it was and no one else seems to know either one to look up when I got back I thought (which is now). It seems that Weston on the Green is one of 15 sites proposed by the government for the first new towns in 40 years. Although I am generally 100% for eco towns; I am starting to have searious doubts about how green placing 10 000 people in the middle of rural England really is. After cycling up thought the North and seeing countless empty properties I would suggest that it would be much more ‘eco’ to do up existing properties and invest more in the public transport structure that we already have. I guess this is not a vote winner though, can you really boast that ‘this government has invested in the transport system it already should have invested in and has retrofitted houses in areas that it should have invested in back in 1997! Perhaps not, an eco town right in the middle of undecided votesville would be a much better idea.

Cycled on a bit past the controversial eco-town area and got to Silverstone, I had a quick look at the racetrack, which is massive and saw a car whizzing around it. Perhaps if the Grand Prix moves next year then Silverstone racetrack could be converted into eco-flats or it could be covered in yurts.

Arrived in Northampton in really good time, you have to cycle down into a bowl that Northampton sits in. It has one sight, the express lift tower which is also the highest building in Northampton. Each time I cycle in I always think that this tower poking out in the middle looks like the whole town if giving you the bird. Perhaps this is also the best way to describe my home town.

Visited a few friends one of them John Randal said to me, “kind of wish I had joined you”. I told him he could do and it was then obvious it was not much of a heart felt wish more of a whim as he made some mutterings.

Got to my parents house, the stop for the night only to find they were having a party to celebrate the local history book my Mum had been working on for the the last year or so.  3 of the people their had a routine to the Beverley sisters “Sisters” song and proceeded to show us. It was rather amusing especially as one was a man with a beard if a little odd after cycling on my own for two days.

Leaf Mould

Luckily we have a park on our doorstep so I was able to nip out and fill up a couple of bin liners with Autumn leaves in order to make leaf mould to dig into my allotment in a year or two.

Leaf mould makes for a really simple and free soil improver, here is how you make it.

1. Gather up loads of leaves and put them into a bin liner
2. If you can be bothered cut them up a bit and wetten them, I just pick them up after rainfall (don’t use evergreen leaves)
3. Make holes in the sides of the bin liners and tie them up
4. Leave in a shady spot for a year or two*. – After one year they can be used as mulch or can be dug into the soil as an improver such as when gardening advice says “use organic matter”.
5. *After two years you should be left with a dark crumbly mixture that can be used as a potting compost or as part of a potting mix.
6. That’s it, it is that simple to get some free stuff for your garden/allotment.

The Bycycle diaries – Day two – Lower Shaw Farm to Oxford

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 11/11/08 at 11:11:41 am

I awoke to sunshine on the farm a welcome respite to the rain. Breakfast was the typical Lower Shaw Farm of eggs and whatever else they might have; this farm has slowly become a refuge for me over the last year and I thank all that live there for that. I explained that on the way I was smelling food such as apples then filling my bags with them, “Gosh, you are like piggy”, exclaimed Claire one of the inhabitants. I have been likened to many a person in the past but never a pig, so that was first.

It was difficult to leave, something I had not accounted for and despite being up at 7-8am I did not leave until around 11am. One of my gloves had disappeared perhaps due to the confusion of having most of my clothes hanging around the farm to dry and the prospect of cycling with just one glove and the thoughts of blisters, cold and chaffing were worrying me somewhat. Luckily I took the wrong turning thanks to Claire’s directions and ended up finding a pair of gloves on a roundabout.

The cycling was great for the rest of the morning as I whizzed through countless picturesque villages and watched the game birds as they flew above my head in sillouetted by the warm autumn sun. Then my gears went, if only I had learnt some simple cycle mechanics. I tinkered for a while outside an Oxfordshire village called Colehill which seemed to cause great fascination for the locals (of course none stopped and helped just staired, how very English).  I refused to get wound up by the gears and knew that I could still use my bike, I did curse the man in the Bristol Bike shop a little, thinking that really he should have done his job properly.

I decided that Autumn was a good time to see this country especially after a wet summer as this made the autumn colours that much more vibrant. Round here there are many thatched cottages, stone churches and country villages all empty as people only use them to commute from, good to look at but I imagine very boring to live in.

So Oxford, I arrived in good time at around 5.15pm having only got lost once or twice. Stayed at Writer Paul Kingsnorths house. Someone I have met due to doing the literary festivals and I guess my only published writer mate. Had another traditional English bit of fare with some stewed mutton, it was delicious. Slept in his office and wondered if I would absorb any inspiration from being in the same room that two books were written, decided that I would not and questioned my sanity instead.

Part one of the Cycle Adventure and this weekends home brew

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 10/11/08 at 02:11:29 pm

Part One of the 677 mile journey Bristol to Swindon October 20th 2008

I got up early in the morning and walked Emma part way into work so that I could say my goodbyes to her and drop my bike off at a bike shop in Clifton (posh bit of Bristol). It was a very sunny day and rather warm too despite the forecast of rain in the morning clearning for the afternoon.

I was informed at the bike shop that it would be ready by 5pm, I asked if it could be ready sooner as

previously disscussed and proudly announced that I would be cycling to Aberdeenshire that day. Instead of sharing my excitment as I thought they would I got a small lecture about leaving things to the last moment. Which had only happened as this bike shop would not take my bike the week before. I bit my tounge and left them to it and was informed that my bike would be ready by 1.30pm and not a moment sooner.

When I picked it up I got another lecture and was told that I needed to know some basic cycle mechanics as my bike was more likely to fail after a service (I wondered why I bothered) and I would have to bring it back to that shop should this happen. “but I am cycling to Aberdeenshire this afternoon”.

“You should leave tomorrow”. – I did not like the owner one bit, it was more than just this attitude towards me the owner of the shop was just a conceited ass, he did not seem to have much respect for his workers either. In hindsight I should have gone to the Kebele cooperative just up the road from me. Next time I will, that bloke is never getting a penny of my cash again. I won’t be petty and mention the name of the shop as others might have a better experience. But there are not many bike shops opposite the BRI and close to the Christmas steps on the edge of Clifton.

I left the shop grumbling to myself for a second, then the task ahead hit me. I was to cycle to Scotland, I grinned to myself and forgot the pettiness of some people (including myself). a little feeling inside my chest reminded my that this was to be exciting, hard work and potentially dangerous. Fantastic!

As soon as I got on my bike the heavens opened, so much for the forecast. I took the Bristol – Bath Cycle path turning off onto route 17 the Avon Link. I knew I had to come off this path at some point, unfortunately the map holder that I had on the front of my bike that I assumed was waterproof was not. In fact worse than not being waterproof it seemed to collect water turning the map I was using into a soggy mess of papier mache.

I cycled around some of the villages between Bristol and Swindon for the next couple of hours looking for signs to Swindon and a bus shelter to read my maps, the rain was far too heavy to do this any other way. But, just like buses, there is never a bus shelter around when you need one. By the time I eventually found a shelter my map was way beyond any use other than an emergency water supply or a modern art sculpture. Luckily I had picked up a very crude cycle map from Sustrains (who were very helpful incidently), it basically stated that I had to get to Marlmsbury and then stick to a B road straight for Swindon.

Night was beginning to fall, my soggy socks reminded me that my shoes were not water proof  and I was shivering but at least now I knew where I was going.  I had invested in some puncture proof tyres before leaving they were twice the price of normal tyres but I thought worth it. I noticed my back tyre kept deflating, I kept pumping it back up and due to the prospect of taking off the back wheel in all that rain I was deluding myself that it was not a slow puncture and the valve was just playing up.  After nearly swerving into an artic due to my flat tyre I decided that I could delude myself no longer and had to fix a puncture. I stood by the side of this busy B road and proceeded to take off my back wheel. My hands were numb with cold, it was hammering with rain and night had not just fallen by was refusing to get up; this simple repair was to be harder than changing them in the living room as I was used to.

The camber of the road had caused some puddles to form and it seemed that every BMW driver thought it hilarious to splash me. After about the 7th time I thought to myself I can get no colder or wetter than this and it became pretty funny after that with each splash. In hindsight I am guessing that I was laughing to stop myself crying.

So now aching, cold, hungry and tired I arrived at my first stop for the trip Lower Shaw Farm, Matt Holland met me on the path on the way there and it was so great to see a friendly face. It was 8.20pm so everyone had already eaten but some of the shepherds pie was left for me and some pasta. I had three portions, a scone and one the nicest tasting cups of tea known to man. Granted a cup of warm urine could have tasted good at that time, well a cup of Dave’s tea anyway which is not always distinguishable from warm urine.

Rather Zombie like I sat up for a bit before retiring for bed and a thoroughly deserved nights sleep.

Part two – I wish I had learnt some basic bike repairs will follow very soon (today or tomorrow depending on how long I spend up the allotment).

Home Brew Beer (From this Weekend)

Just before I left on my cycle ride I brewed some beer using the hops I have grown on my allotment the recipe I used can be found here. We invited our friends John and Garth over to sample some and they loved it so much we finished off a batch between us that evening. I was feeling somewhat happy about this until Garth drank a bottle of Cherry Lambrini that had been given to me by a neighbour with equally the same relish that he gave the beer. I wondered if it was just the alcohol content that was getting the thumbs up.

In the beers defence Dave and his new girlfriend also liked the beer and I know that they are not Cherry Lambrini drinkers, so I do hope I have grown a good brew. The trick I think is using just the best ingredients, I used youngs brewers sugar, fresh home grown organic hops and an organic malted barley. I would have liked to use spring water too and in fact might for the next brew as I plan a trip to Bath fairly soon and I know of a spring over there.

Back from my Cycle trip

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 07/11/08 at 07:11:31 pm

Well here I am back at the selfsufficientish office, it is good to see some friends again and of course my girlfriend but I can’t say it is good to be back as Aberdeenshire was so very beautiful and I did not want to leave. Although, if I had carried on pedaling I am sure I would have done myself a serious injury. I have started to ache all over and I slept for 14 hours today. I think my body is finally telling me that cycling how ever many 100’s of miles I did from here in Bristol to Scotland was enough.

I have just checked my sponsor page and wanted to say a big thank you to anyone that sponsored me. It is enough money to give us that kick start we need to get the cooperative working, so thank you and the be rest assured that your money really is going to help an area and to keep a smile on many people’s faces.

I have also spent this morning working out how many miles I actually did and it works out as a rather impressive 677 miles. I could have cycled to Leipzig in Germany or to Zurich or even (if I kept to a better route) right up to John of Groats. It’s no wonder I have had to spend the last couple of days resting.

Well I have decided to post up a few blogs about the journey and will be doing that next week as for now I need to spend time with my much neglected girlfriend.

..