A particularly long bike ride

On Wednesday 23rd September I did something pretty cool. Well, I think it was pretty cool anyway.

With my Dad for company/navigation, I set off at 8.30am for the longest bike ride I've attempted for some time (or ever). We rode out from Teddington with the aim of reaching the coast.

We started out by cycling through Esher and Oxshott to reach the other side of the M25. We continued using a variety of cycle paths, roads and bridleways. We'd planned in three stops to break the journey up. The first was for a much needed coffee in Fetcham. Once we'd had coffee, we continued for another twenty miles or so before stopping for lunch in a place called Rusper. For future reference, a large lunch right before getting on a bike for 40 more mies is not a great move. No matter how hungry you feel. It was made even less sensible by the fact that the hills after Rusper seemed to increase in frequency. The climbs were challenging but I made it up each one and enjoyed the ride backd own.

Using an old railway line that has been turned into a cycle path we headed towards a gap in the South Downs. In parts, the cycle way was really well surfaced but sadly in many others, it wasn't. Making the climbs and descents more of a challenge at times. After completing another twenty miles or so, we took another coffee break. Much needed as by then, my energy levels were starting to dip. We'd done 45 miles but still had twelve to go in order to reach our destination of Shoreham.

The final twelve miles was a push for my endurance. My previous longest ride had been about 44 miles and I'd probably (definitely) not done enough training for this. Finding my inner sports mentality (which is generally under used), I pushed on. It was all made worth it when we reached the beach at Shoreham shortly after 5pm - yay!

 

Awkward bike pose on Shoreham beach

Mileage at the beach

After 57 miles of cycling, we chose to get the train back to Teddington so cycled up to Shoreham station to catch a train to Clapham. From Clapham, we then caught another train to Twickenham before cycling the final few miles back to Teddington. By the end of the day we'd covered 60 miles of cycling and I was shattered. It was definitely worth it, I'm still really pleased I did it four days later. Onto the next challenge!

Return to Japan

Time for my celebratory turning 30 trip to Japan! Again! I know I only went about eighteen months ago but unexpectedly, I persuaded my friend Robbie to join me for a return trip.

We started in Tokyo and although I'd been there before, Robbie hadn't. We covered a lot of ground in the two days we had to explore the city. We visited a few temples, Japanese gardens and explored areas like Akihabara. We even met a little Japanese man in Shinjuku station who joined us for a trip to Harajuku shrine telling us lots of fun (yet confusing) stories about the Japanese Emperor and Japanese history in general along the way.

Shinjuku park

Tokyo station

After a few days in Tokyo, we activated our 7 day Japan Rail passes and caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka. Getting the Shinkansen was something I'd wanted to do for a while and was something I didn't have the opportunity to do during my previous visit. A journey of about 300 miles took just under three hours and ran exactly to the schedule set out for it. An opportunity to embrace my inner train geek and have a cheeky nap.

Once in Osaka, we spent our first day exploring the city. Osaka is a fairly industrial city but had a rebuilt castle and a large aquarium to explore. If you're a regular reader of my occasional blog, you'll know that I love a good aquarium. The aquarium was apparently one of the largest in Japan and featured various marine creatures including otters, capybaras, sharks, rays and jellyfish. The castle was a replica of one that was bombed during the war. The queue for the lift was too long so we chose to climb up the seven flights of stairs to the top level. It nearly killed me despite my improved level of fitness but there was a nice view of the city from the top which made it worthwhile.

View from Osaka Castle

Using Osaka as our base, we spent the next few days taking day trips out to other places of interest. Starting with Kyoto. I went to Kyoto last time I was in Japan but the Golden Pavilion was still just as impressive the second time around. We also headed over to the Silver Pavilion and explored the Philosopher's Walk which featured several other temples and shrines. It ended up in the middle of a suburb of Kyoto where we found an overcrowded commuter bus to take us back to the station. Forty minutes standing uncomfortably close to other people is a little bit awkward for me.

Golden Pavilion

Silver Pavilion

The following day, we went to Nara. Nara was apparently the capital of Japan at one point and is known for it's free roaming deer and temples. The deer reminded me a lot of the monkeys I saw in Malaysia. They were very friendly and were particularly interested if they thought you had some food for them. When I got some special deer food for them, I found myself surrounded by several deer who in their enthusiasm tried to head butt me to get to the food.

Buddhist temple in Nara

Meeting one of the Nara deer

By this point, we were getting a bit tired of temples and shrines. Shocking I know but there's a point where you reach overload. To take a break from this, we spent the next day in Himeji. Himeji Castle had only just reopened after a five year refurbishment so we picked the right time to go. It was probably my favourite place that we visited in Japan. We got tickets to explore both the castle and the nearby Japanese garden. Part of the fun of the castle was removing shoes to explore inside before climbing some wooden staircases in socks and trying not to fall over onto other tourists. The view when we got to the top of the castle was worth the potential accident risk. Getting back down the stairs was equally scary but luckily I didn't display any clumsy behavior and cause chaos.

View from the castle

View of the castle

The next day, we caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo for our final two days in Japan. We spent the last day visiting a cat cafe (essential for any trip to Japan), exploring a few areas and picking up various souvenirs. Ended up spending far too long back in Akihabara helping Robbie decide between different manga/anime figurines.

New friend at the cat cafe

Next month, I am off to Paris for a few days to celebrate my birthday. I'll try and remember to write an update which is at least as enthralling as this one once I get back.

Livin' it up in Liverpool

I should start by apologising for the awful title of this entry. There are numerous better Liverpool related things I could have gone for but I can't think of them right now.

A second apology for how long it's been since my last entry. Since that entry, I've been to a few places in the UK as well as the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, I forgot to write something at the time and am not convinced I'll write a good entry several months later. The most recent trip I made was at the beginning of this month so I'm hoping the memories are still fresh enough to get something vaguely interesting for the blog.

I went to Liverpool with my family as it was my Mum's birthday. Since Liverpool was the Capital of Culture a few years ago, she's always wanted to go and see the city so it seemed like a good destination for a short weekend trip.

On our first day in the city, we found a free walking tour to join. It was free in the sense that you didn't have to pay but you were expected to put in a donation at the end depending on your level of enjoyment. We had a three hour walk around the key sights of the city centre along with some interesting stories. Obviously The Beatles formed a big part of the stories but there was also a lot of interesting history stories about Liverpool's role as a key port during the British Empire.

Statue of Prince Albert and a slightly scared looking horse

Eleanor Rigby statue

short John Lennon statue outside the Cavern Club

On our second day in the city, we covered a few of the museums and the dock area. For me, the most interesting museum was the Maritime Museum which incorporated the Museum of Slavery. It was laid out really well and was really good for a history geek like me. We also visited one of the art galleries and went back to some of the sights we'd covered briefly on the walking tour.

The ferry across the Mersey was the main activity on our final day. Unfortunately, I get sea sick far too easily and the Mersey was very choppy that day. An hour on a choppy river in the cold and rain is not my idea of fun but I guess it's one of the essential things to do if you are in Liverpool.

In May this year, I have another trip to Japan planned. After my last trip (featured in earlier blog entries) I felt there was more to see so persuaded a friend to join me for a return trip. Assuming I don't forget again, I'll try and write a blog entry for that trip. Hopefully, it will be a bit more exciting than this one!