Around the Coast by Bike: Gower to Wiseman's Bridge

A while ago, inspired by Mike Carter's account of his journey around the coast of Britain, I mooted the idea of doing something similar. On my own. With a tent...and a bottle of whisky.

Tonight, sitting on a bench in a campsite at Wiseman's Bridge near Saundersfoot in South Wales, I am listening to the sea whilst sipping Ledaig from my enamel camping mug. My trusty 'Truck' (surly Disc Trucker) is beside me, leaning against the bench. I've had a couple of beers, chatted to Judith and all's right with the world.

Today's journey started very gently after toast and tea at Chris Dendle's house above Caswell Bay. I pushed off down the hill towards Mumbles and pedalled gently along the prom to the start of NCN 4 which, all being well, would take me to Llanelli and thence Carmarthen. It did. Eventually. I missed the turning to Llanelli and had done a fair chunk of the trip to Llangeneth on the tip of the Gower peninsula before I realised my mistake. Thereafter it would have been plain sailing but for the bloody hills. 17% was the steepest today.

I stopped for shopping (including the aforementioned whisky) in Carmarthen but made the mistake of not eating, except for a stray liquorice comfit which I found lying on the shelf. When I did finally stop, in Llansteffan, it was at the Village Stores. Quite frankly the place was a vision. Tables on the pavement, a menu promising a massive all day breakfast for £6.95 including coffee! And then I went in. The landlady/boss/proprietor is a fucking Goddess.Easily a 9, and that's without the bonus point for the lilting South Wales accent. Decent food, too.

And then more fucking hills.The old boy who'd accosted me at the shop told me I'd have to push my bike up one of the hills: "It's bad enough in a car, " said he. He was right. And I had to push it another five times after that, too. My seventh set of ten miles took over an hour. Perversely, I kept ignoring perfectly decent looking campsites because there was either no pub nearby or the wrong sort of pub. But here I am, more than seventy miles for the day, looking at the pub and listening to the sea. We're on our way!

Pushing On

I'm still applying myself using  a Berkeley Arms-style work ethic. In the last couple of days I've finished digging out the ivy from the long bed, painted the wall alongside it, fortified the soil and replanted seven redcurrant plants. Eight boxes of old render and sundry other rubble has gone to the tip as a result. I've sprayed off the allotment prior to rotavating and setting with spuds and planted a whole bed of Sturon onion sets. The long tree stump has been lowered and a few boughs of the pine trees are no more: any excuse to get the chainsaw out! The second batch of home brew is now bottled and clearing - actually it tastes quite nice right now.

Here's the thing, though. I have failed to sow or plant anything else. The washing line needs to go up. The fence and the compost bin need a coat of paint and so on and so on. And I've not even been out on the bike or been fishing. I guess things will settle into some kind of rhythm but I feel that I'm not achieving quite as much as I should be.

Here's a before and after of the bed.

Setting Some Co-ordinates

This blog is for me, really. It's a way of keeping track of where my time goes and an attempt to make sure that it doesn't slip away unused.

I was able to retire from full-time paid employment at the end of March so I am at the beginning of a new and very exciting phase in my life. It is a huge change in lifestyle, as big as leaving school and starting work, getting married, er... or divorced, becoming a parent.

I am indolent by nature and can let time go by whilst dreaming about all that I might achieve with a bit of effort. This blog is intended to hold me to account. To myself.

Right, that's enough for now. I have a dog to walk, a wall to paint, some veg to sow & plant and some home-brew to bottle. I should also try to get out on the bike.