Not todays but over the Thursday and Friday. I basically told a friend at work about a car I'd found for him as he was looking for 'exciting to drive' cars. It didn't look too dissimilar to this one, a Subaru Legacy Spec B of 08 model year. A rare thing indeed and well out of my price range. He wasn't interested so in the morning after the night shift, I called the seller anyway (enquiring on my friends behalf obviously). Thankfully the seller didn't answer...
After a bit of a sleep however I got a call back from someone and it turned out to be Phil. The lovely owner of this gorgeous thing of a car. We got talking and I told him that it was just a bit of window shopping. Next thing my wife had agreed to loan me some money as did my mate Zubair and suddenly the super low price Phil had quoted me seemed within reach. So I called him back and arranged to try and come over by the weekend and if it was gone, then it was gone.
My past 2 cars (same engine) have all been collected by car and train, so I wouldn't be making this one amy different. Only problem was that whilst they were about 90 miles and 180 miles away respectively, they were still in reach of a major train station and tickets were fairly easy to come by. I'd ridden maybe 50 miles for the 180 miler and about 60 miles for the closer one in Stoke.
Now I was perplexed as the train tickets were all coming up to about £100 no matter which method of connctions I used. Suddenly I whacked the nail on the head and found a £30 ticket to Birmingham from Wakefield. A day earlier for Friday too, so I called up Phil and agreed the time. Obviously I told him I'd be coming by bike and obviously he thought I was mental. Phil was (is) in Trowbridge on the other side of the Cotswolds.
I had the day of Thursday to ensure some (more) wallpapering was done (to appease the missus) but time was tight. Almost late for the train I packed a waterproof jacket, my PHD gilet (thanks yo whomsoever off here decided to kindly sell it), tools, no food, water, a quilt and mat, skullcap and the expanding Osprey tennis ball sized backpack. Only just had time to strap the Revelate Spinelock (Alhamdulillah for it) to my saddle and I was off.
Whilst the missus thought I was waiting outside for the lovely food she'd been preparing whilst I finished the wallpaper, I was pedalling like mad them 8 miles to Wakefield for the 2023 train. Me leaving home with only 45 minutes left, I knew it was a bit of a mission impossible... for me anyway!
I peddled as hard as I could without my knee breaking - still recovering from ITB syndrome - and managed to ger there with a few minutes to spare. Always time for a picture isn't there
On the train , with no food to hand and no route from Birmingham across the Cotswolds, I had teo itches that needed sorting. Food trolley came with half price sarnies so I got two and then sat down to make the route. Two clicks on the CycleTravel.com website and a route that took many lost lanes was made. Straight through the centre of the Cotswolds which was good but limited supplies shops, which was not so good.
Off the train at the other end and I statted feeling the chill. Thankfully for the waterproof jacket I managed to get some warmth and was off. 110 miles to the car at hand, surely how hard could it be. Well I was tired so that would need sorting soon and I also needed to try and get at least a smidgen of supplies. Stopped at a takeaway but it was £5 minimal spend for using card, and I only wanted a Ginger Beer. So the grumbly face of the chap behind the counter meant I just rode on. Tried to get a proper 'see ya' out of him by making my hoodbyes known but I barely got a grunt... Flossers, can't stand em.
The plan was simple: get past Redditch and keep aiming for one town at a time after that. Find somewhere to pray and sleep and pray, then continue on my journey in morning light. Came past this spot and thought to explore what it was. Turned out it was the shelter (just for me) with a nusy road running above. Thankfully 0020 meant it was quiet enough so I laid down my mat and bag, made ablution and used the mat to protectthe knees. It was dangerously rocky.
A good 4 hours deep sleep later protected from the elements I got up just in tim for morning prayers, felt freezing cold so popped on the PHD gilet and wished good for the persom that sold it me (cheap), cover it with the waterproof jacket and rode away. Hoping I'd earm up and the day would get as warm as yesterday. Only about 2 hours later though I was back in my merino jersey smiling away. This was the first pic of the morning and what a wonderful sight...
Ever since the start of the route being loaded on the device it wss this sharp but that kept stressing me. But I need not have worried as, although steep, the Yorkshire hills would laff at it. I went from about 66m (edit after actually seeing the gps pic again) elevation to the peak at a staggering 220m or thereabouts.
I spent the previous and next few hours thinking about the battle of the knees, hands and bottom. An interesting relationship they have indeed. The bottom wants you to ride out of the saddle, but the knees prefer you to drop gears and spin away. Then comes in the palms of the hands who are never really happy!
I've always wanted to properly explore the Cotswolds and wondered how beautiful it is. It definitely didn't fail to deliver. Though the country lanes of singletrack meant that you had to at times fight the cars away and prove to them that they didn't have a gap to pass. One lady coming the other way almost went head on into me and looked annoyed that I was there with my bright orange (second hand) Crikey, how much Brevet jersey. Pretty certain she'd have had a head on collision had I been a car as I had to swerve in such a narrow lane.
The other (almost) incident was me coming round a blind corner thinking how lovely it all was and almost going into the three walkers taking the whole of the road. My fault entirely as I'm the bike but they were the ones apologising for not taking only half the road. Taught a valuable lesson reminding me to stay 100% alert at all times.
As always the birds didn't hang around long enough to allow me to see em properly, let along any photos. But at least the buzzards are always comfy up in the air (sometimes) and this gorgeous thing was hovering. Another one I saw was a khakhi coloured bird with a yellow head. Too fast to get any more details but definitely had them two colours going for it and it was the size of a fat robin.
I did find a couple of petrol stations enroute and realised I'd bought too many biscuits. So when I finally found a small post office - cafe I was sure to grab some pasties. Almost within reach by now and a few pics later I was 10 miles.
Cor blimey, it's a Spec B.
Once again thanks to Stu and so many on here to help make these rides achievable. Alhamdulillahi-Rabbilaalameen (All praise Allah, Lord of the Worlds).
THE END....
I'm doing a sea swim in a couple of weeks and bricking it a bit now... Glad you're ok, but yeah I bet that knocked the stuffing out of you for the bike and run bits.