2022 was my 50th year and I decided to do something 'different' to mark it. I had an abundance of annual leave (42 days, the answer to life the universe and everything!) so figured a mere 9 days of cycling across the UK was in order. I found an organised ride, https://www.rideacrossbritain.com/, courtesy of a company called Babble, who in hindsight organised the whole thing brilliantly. There was some additional complexity as I had to get both myself and my bike down to Lands End from Jersey and back to Jersey again from the finish at John O'Groats but frankly compared to the amount of time spent training that was a walk in the park! We started on September 9th 2022 and had fabulous weather for the first six days, although it did get noticeably colder as we headed north. You can see this in the photos - there's more layers towards the end - and there was also more rain and wind! Day 7 was the toughest as we hit some of the 'proper' hills in Scotland and 40mph headwinds - that day was a long 8.5hours in the saddle. At one point I had to peddle while descending a pretty steep hill because the wind was pushing me to a standstill!
