Big Gert Brevet 1600
Populaire pace

Late April I set off, nerves tightly bundled, would I be able to do it? I hadn’t done any training apart from regular riding. I’d given myself targets for each day, packed several kilos of malt loaf, said bye to the family and was off!

Day 1:

Into Wales, on roads less travelled on audaxes, finding desolate hill tops quickly and constantly.The top of Hirnant Pass after Llyn Efyrnwy was welcomed as I knew the descent was a long one! Night drawing in as I scaled Bwlch Penbarras of the Clywdian Hills before skulking into Chester just before midnight to find a comfortable spot to sleep.

Day 2:

Up at the crack I’m off to Runcorn having to navigate (throw bike over a fence) roadworks. The result being the Jubilee Bridge is now open to bikes, buses and local traffic only so you’ll get to enjoy it a bit more. Weave through old industrial towns to Preston and to the Forest of Bowland. Nothing too taxing, a good mind easer as you question “WTF am I doing?”. Pennines: stunning, brutal, glorious, you’ll be raising that “WTF?” question again until you are spat out the other side. Hexham onto Kielder was done in the dark, it was a cold dark tonight. I crossed the border in the early hours and hunkered down for the night.

Day 3:

Glorious weather again I set off down the valley before more hills as I sped east to west across the bottom of Scotland to Galloway Forest and some forest tracks from Clatteringshaws to Glentrool. Desolation score off the chart! Heading north over the Southern Uplands I’m in Ayrshire; rolling countryside, hills deceptive. Descending into Glasgow at midnight, AirBnB tonight!

Day 4:

Up early, MDs for breakfast, head south again, all downhill from here. I followed the old road tracking the M74, the surface was diabolical; new route will be through Strathaven, more countryside and hopefully a better surface.

Back into England after Gretna, Carlisle then over the western edge of the Lakes where the hills began again. I was at ease with them now; over a 1000km done, I was almost home! Hardknott to walk was spectacular. I set near the top overlooking the Roman Fort, Eskdale and out to the Irish Sea as the sun sank. In the gloom Wrynose wa ticked off and I sped to Windermere and indulged in a last minute AirBnB.

Day 5:

Such a good sleep, wandered into town at 9am and sat in a cafe on the corner for a proper full english and proper coffee as I watched the world go by. At this point all my anxiety had gone. I’d figured out my ‘metric’ and calculated I had loads of time in hand. An hour later I picked my bike up and headed off. Crossed the Forest of Bowland the other way. Navigated old mill towns north east of Manchester. Slithered up Snake Pass, watched by some bemused coppers, in the fading light. The top, the highest point of this version, not yours – The Cam High Road steals it by an extra 75metres, before descending to Derby. 24hr MDs at midnight.

I’d keep going after coffee, and more coffee. Silently through the night, everything still, now the early morning. A Juniper tree on the outskirts of Stratford upon Avon made an excellent home for a few hours shut eye; its drooping boughs keeping the breeze at bay.

Day 6:

On a high down low, no hills to be seen. Cross the Vale of Evesham. The Cotswolds rise up in their quaint irrelevance to what has been before. But they still pack a punch by this point. Who cares? At the other end is Bristol. Dropping off the escarpment, still an hour away the emotions rose. Had I really just done that?

I had and I’ve never look at a ride the same again. Anything is achievable once you tell your brain to “shut up!”