My earliest experiences of cycling would come under the category of touring, from short Sunday morning rides with my father as a young child, to youth hostelling tours with him throughout my teens; even a 3 month camping tour of Europe. And of course many other day rides either on my own or with friends.
I continue to enjoy touring in all its forms, in particular riding on my father's 1970's Evans 531 tourer which I have had restored.
Whilst touring with my father he would always write an account of where we had been and what we had done, making multiple updates during each day. I plan to add details of some of those rides here in due course, as well as any notable rides I make from now.
Charlotte and I had been wanting to try out riding a tandem, and the best place to do this is at JD Tandems in Gargrave, North Yorkshire, which just so happens to be about 15 miles from the checkpoint at Settle.
One way of picking up cycle quest checkpoints is by taking advantage of being in a different part of the country for another reason to squeeze in a day ride. Just one such circumstances arose whilst Charlotte was giving a lecture at Edinburgh University, leaving me with 6 hours in the Edinburgh area to explore. With input from a friend who lives in the area, I plotted a route of just over 40 miles, taking in three cycle quest checkpoints and a real variety of riding.
A day off work and a weather forecast of clear skies and 10C in February provided a good excuse for a day trip to the North York Moors to collect the two cycle quest checkpoints within the National Park and to make an attempt to ride the somewhat infamous climb of Rosedale Chimney, sometimes referred to as the steepest climb in the country.