Lost and found

This time last year I added up the miles I had covered in the first month with the new bike,and realised it would be enough to reach Paris. This year it has taken me almost two months to cover the same distance. 

Unimpressive, but after a feeble start I'm gradually catching up with the goals I set myself at the start of the year, and a fairly long ride this evening has helped to close the gap.

I hadn't intended to go so far, but I started to follow a road that I didn't know, so that I could add it to Open Street Map. Then another, and another. After a while I realised that I wasn't heading in the direction I expected, and had only a vague idea where I was.

I had the GPS with me of course, but I had left my glasses at home, and without them I can't make much sense of the GPS map. So I had to rely on instinct to get back on track.

In the end it worked out. 24 miles in total, and not even late for dinner.

Loudon memorial, Pinner

I diverted through Pinner on my return journey on Saturday, because I wanted to see this curiosity. This is Charles Harper, writing about it in "Cycle rides around London" in 1902...

"Bear to the right at the fork in the road for Pinner, entered by a cluster of cottages and " villas," built since the opening of the Metropolitan Extension to Harrow and Aylesbury a few years ago. Pinner is a large village in process of being spoiled by its railway facilities. A very broad street, lined with old-fashioned (and some new-fashioned) houses, leads up to the imposing church, which has a singular tall cross on the summit of its tower. Note on the way the "Queen's Head Inn," its sign a contemporary (and very bad) portrait of Queen Anne, dated 1705."

"An odd tomb, in the shape of a tower, is to be seen in the churchyard. Now thickly overgrown with ivy, it is a picturesque object, but the peculiarity of it is that the body of the person "buried" here a certain William London, in 1809 is contained in a stone-encased coffin, projecting from the tower, half-way up. The end of the coffin bears an epitaph, which, however, affords no clue to this freak. Legends, that may or may not be well founded, tell that the descendants of William London, a Scotch merchant, retain the property bequeathed by him so long as he remains "above ground." This tower is supported on arches filled in with ornamental ironwork, on which appear the mysterious words, " BYDE-MY TYME." The inquisitive stranger naturally wants to know what he is waiting for, but the mystery is insoluble."

More than 100 years later, much remains the same, though the ivy has gone.

Metroland

Today I've ridden 58 miles around Slough, through Uxbridge and a big chunk of the part of North-West London known as Metroland (Ruislip, Pinner, Harrow and Northwood). 

A sensible question might be "why?".

The reason was to reach St Mary's church in Harrow on the Hill, which is the next in the list of fine English churches that I am trying to reach by bike as part of my Jenkins Quest. 

I often find in this exercise that the church itself is interesting enough, but not particularly memorable. This was no exception. It contains a few treasures, including this fine Jacobean pulpit, and there is a plaque in the grounds to mark a spot that the young Byron was particularly fond of. However, it is the high location and the distant views that are particularly striking.

As for the rest of the trip, I passed through an awful lot of London suburbia, with a few highlights such as the footbridge over Western Avenue north of Uxbridge, the Celandine Route along the river Pinn, and the Loudon memorial at Pinner (more of this later). 

There is a surprising amount of variety in metroland, and at worst it is not as bad as you might expect. As a stranger, I found it difficult to follow a route through the back streets, and this tended to force me onto the busier roads. I suspect that with more local knowledge it is a pretty good area for cycling. A fellow cyclist on a similar route agreed that it is surprising how much you can discover: once you stop worrying about getting lost.

In summary, it's been an interesting day, with a pleasant destination. The weather has been near perfect. I am happy to have crossed off the 16th church in my quest, and covered a mile more than this year's magic number, and I think I've logged a few roads that haven't been plotted on Open Street Map yet.

A challenge

Sometimes it can be annoying to be told how much more wonderful things are somewhere else. But this is just great. I challenge you to watch it without smiling.


Two Wheels is All. Amsterdam from Jay Sav on Vimeo.

With belated thanks to Amsterdamize for the link.

Onwards and upwards

I've just got back from this evening's ride, which added nearly 13 miles to the weeks total. That makes this the first time this year that I've managed to reach my weekly goal. Which means that the graphs are no longer heading in the wrong direction, but I've still got a way to go before I close the gap that has opened up, and get on track for the bigger objectives.  Still, encouraged by examples of others, I'm confident of getting there in the end.

Twit

I'm trying to work out what the Twitter fuss is about. I've signed up, but I can't get SMS updates working.

When I followed Downing St they followed me. We were going round in circles like Pooh and the heffalumps.

So now I'm following Andy Allan (http://twitter.com/gravitystorm) - because at least he has a Cycle map.

Lance Armstrong's stolen bike

Apparently Lance Armstrong has had his bike stolen, and used Twitter to ask for help finding it. There is an article about it on the Guardian news blog.

The bike is unique, and not exactly inconspicuous - so let's hope he gets it back.