2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Prairie Dog]

I was watching a youtube video of westerners buying old japanese classic houses because they are worthless to the locals, no one wants them.
You can end up with a beautiful vintage house for buttons and change ithe interior to a modern style.

The family abode where we are staying at is likely one of those homes that you referred to. However, seeing that it’s facing a mountain side, there’s a good chance that it could be wiped out by a landslide. Same goes with some of the other homes and businesses along the street.

 

[MartsEbike]

You are correct about Jerry's enthusiam, he lives and breathes aviation but he would never want to see a crash like all of us that watch! I have been a paying member of BigJetTv for over 4 years! He travels the world streaming and is actually live form DFW as we speak, its a members only show though...

Yeah he's a great host, and like you say his enthusiasm is the draw for me watching it every now and then. I must admit I work for the orange airline based at LTN. You'll know which one! So would never want to see anyone come to any harm. But the pilots certainly earn their money on the windy days!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I must admit I work for the orange airline based at LTN.

Good that you do not work for another airline based there!
Never flew EasyJet but the Wizzair'/LTN combination makes me shudder
Nowadays, it is RYR/STN or BAW/LHR or LOT/LHR for me!

Our main Chopin Airport (WAW) is located very close to the centre of Warsaw. Although I cannot describe myself as a plane-spotter, I like watching aeroplanes, especially as I sit outside Burger King Okęcie The other airport Modlin (WMI) is small (so beautiful) but is far away from the city. WMI only serves Ryanair.

 

[MartsEbike]

Good that you do not work for another airline based there!
Never flew EasyJet but the Wizzair'/LTN combination makes me shudder
Nowadays, it is RYR/STN or BAW/LHR or LOT/LHR for me!

View attachment 184803
Our main Chopin Airport (WAW) is located very close to the centre of Warsaw. Although I cannot describe myself as a plane-spotter, I like watching aeroplanes, especially as I sit outside Burger King Okęcie The other airport Modlin (WMI) is small (so beautiful) but is far away from the city. WMI only serves Ryanair.

Haha I'm a little biased as you might expect but you should give them a try one day!

The best part about LTN airport is the speed you can get out of it! It usually only takes 20mins to wait for baggage, get through customs and be out the door.. You can get to central London in around 30mins down the M1 motorway, or by using the train station linked to the airport. Businessmen / celebs often use LTN for its quick access to London, so lots of private jets to look at.

WizzAir are a funny airline, they appear to be constantly busy, but not really making any profit! They have flights (often delayed) landing at 3/4/5am some days. Engineers then have to do a daily check and carry out any minor repairs, ready for it to fly again from 6am! It doesn't leave much time.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The best part about LTN airport is the speed you can get out of it! It usually only takes 20mins to wait for baggage, get through customs and be out the door.. You can get to central London in around 30mins down the M1 motorway, or by using the train station linked to the airport. Businessmen / celebs often use LTN for its quick access to London, so lots of private jets to look at.

I like the size of LTN but would say the transport to London is not the airport's best asset

Once, I arrived in LTN by a train from South London. So far, so good. Then, it turned out the Wizz flight was cancelled! There was some 200 people queue to the handler. It also turned out the next connecting flight would be available in 2 or 3 days. Instead of waiting for a hotel provided by the airline (that would be located in the middle of nowhere, haha), I tried to get back to London. It then turned out there were so many people trying to get out from the airport any transportation means were unavailable!

After several hours, I was back in South London, and re-booked my hotel in Old Kent Road to patiently wait for my return flight...

Never Wizzair again and at best avoiding Luton!

Nothing beats taking the Tube from LHR

 

[MartsEbike]

I like the size of LTN but would say the transport to London is not the airport's best asset

Once, I arrived in LTN by a train from South London. So far, so good. Then, it turned out the Wizz flight was cancelled! There was some 200 people queue to the handler. It also turned out the next connecting flight would be available in 2 or 3 days. Instead of waiting for a hotel provided by the airline (that would be located in the middle of nowhere, haha), I tried to get back to London. It then turned out there were so many people trying to get out from the airport any transportation means were unavailable!

After several hours, I was back in South London, and re-booked my hotel in Old Kent Road to patiently wait for my return flight...

Never Wizzair again and at best avoiding Luton!

Nothing beats taking the Tube from LHR

Haha! If you arrived anytime in the last 3-4 years (In fact I forget exactly how long myself! Its felt like forever) the place was manic - LTN was voted worse airport in the UK , but they were doing a lot of building work behind the scenes. The airport looked embarrassing while they were undertaking it! Everyone rightly slated it at the time because it did create delays and confusion for travellers. Since then many of these works have now completed, with new departure area upgrades, new security area -much larger and quicker than before, new bag drop areas, customs improvements etc and outside bus station improvements. Also relocated the taxi rank for better access, and opened a "Dart" system (like a monorail thing) connected to the train station - so no more of those packed shuttle buses. Its quite funny really because when they finished the building works the brand new multi-story car park burnt down, hundreds of cars were ablaze, and it partially collapsed! They're building another one now.

Around this time of all this manic building works, I made the big mistake of walking through the terminal wearing my company branded jacket - everyone (and I mean hundreds of people!) flocked to me like I was customer support asking where they needed to go, what they needed to do. I was out of my depth big time! Being an engineer just trying to buy my lunch I hadn't a clue - I wasn't expecting it, I couldn't handle it and quickly got the hell out of there!!!!! I learnt a lesson that day and have never worn my work coat in the terminal ever again.

Never ever fly WizzAir.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you Marts for your eye-opening post!

The main issue is the WAW-LTN destination is only operated by the infamous WZZ Yes, there are direct flights of EZY from LTN to KRK, and that explains the big number of Englishmen in our old capital city!

 

[Chargeride]

This my enduring memory of Luton airport.

 

[JGcycle]

A couple of pics from today's 23km ride:

 

[Chargeride]

The week so far of married men let loose on ebikes mules from home.
My mate Brain has never been to Devon before, so I did a grand tour

The pubs, lanes, and cute little Coves first.

Then the impossible trail, he was quite confident for this, but collapsed quickly.
His super trick unrestricted bike was of no use.

Followed by guess how deep it will get.

Then miles of muddy bog.

Followed by the Devon bull run, two of them gave us the 'shall not pass', we ran at them shouting and turboed past, pretty scary.

His brand new motor outperformed mine, his legs and lungs also.

An hour on the coastal path blew him away, it was hard trying to keep up and after one climb I nearly puked up from the effort.

It reached 16 degrees in late October and not a soul on the track, pure bliss.

Sharing the view is actually more fulfilling.

The visibility was 30 miles, very little wind and just two old men challenging each other against the terrain

I got some amazing footage of our descents.

Leg wobbling drops

Soul satisfying scenery to roll into.

Ended the day in a cute pizza bar, gorgeous waitress, rum and coke and
tired limbs

Got home to zero bars.
Simply perfect first two rides

 

[MartsEbike]

That looks like fun

The week so far of married men let loose on ebikes mules from home.
My mate Brain has never been to Devon before, so I did a grand tour
View attachment 184873

The pubs, lanes, and cute little Coves first.
View attachment 184869
Then the impossible trail, he was quite confident for this, but collapsed quickly.
His super trick unrestricted bike was of no use.
View attachment 184870

Followed by guess how deep it will get.
View attachment 184867

Then miles of muddy bog.
View attachment 184868

Followed by the Devon bull run, two of them gave us the 'shall not pass', we ran at them shouting and turboed past, pretty scary.
View attachment 184871

His brand new motor outperformed mine, his legs and lungs also.
View attachment 184872

An hour on the coastal path blew him away, it was hard trying to keep up and after one climb I nearly puked up from the effort.
View attachment 184863

It reached 16 degrees in late October and not a soul on the track, pure bliss.
View attachment 184864

Sharing the view is actually more fulfilling.
View attachment 184865

The visibility was 30 miles, very little wind and just two old men challenging each other against the terrain
View attachment 184862

I got some amazing footage of our descents.
View attachment 184859

Leg wobbling drops
View attachment 184860

Soul satisfying scenery to roll into.
View attachment 184861

Ended the day in a cute pizza bar, gorgeous waitress, rum and coke and
tired limbs
View attachment 184874

Got home to zero bars.
Simply perfect first two rides
View attachment 184866

Great photos, what a great place to ride! Those wet muddy sections are what I love to ride myself on my Frey EX! If you get too bogged down just hit the throttle and plough through it!

The only problem is if you do fall off you can't go to the pub afterwards!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Followed by guess how deep it will get.

Then miles of muddy bog.

Reminds me of Poland on some months

Followed by the Devon bull run, two of them gave us the 'shall not pass', we ran at them shouting and turboed past, pretty scary.

England is so different from Poland! You cannot ride across a private land in Poland but we have a lot of public land and trails instead.

I once met a bull that was allowed to graze on a public dirt road by a foreign shepherd I was scared to death!

Soul satisfying scenery to roll into.

I wouldn't dare to ride trails you are riding, even not on an e-MTB

rum and coke

My man!

 

[Prairie Dog]

A few images from yesterday’s 55 km brisk ride up to the village of Amehata and back.

Water levels of both the Amehata River and Lake were low and we noticed that the work crews on the dam were dredging sections of the river below the road. It was our guess that they were reusing the accumulated sediment created from the last typhoon as aggregate for other construction projects.

One of two tunnels that we rode through. We didn’t encounter any vehicles on these occasions but coming back was a different story.

The Amehata suspension bridge is the second one that we’ve been on. If you might recall, the other was on our trip to Narada.

It would have been nice to see the river flowing but with the dam floodgates diverting the water for the work crews, this was the view from the bridge.

For 200 yen, a tour through this Japanese ink stone (suzuri) museum and shop was well worth the price of admission for a chance to see some of the intricately carved works. The mine near the village is known throughout the country as one of the best sources of silica slate which the ink vessels are made from. The suzuri are used in the art of Japanese calligraphy but it’s the hardened charcoal stick that produces the ink when combined with water.

Sai tries her hand at the art form which she was taught as a young school girl.

The character symbolizes sky or heaven above.

Another 2km up the road was Kennshino Falls. At 500 meters high it was quite impressive. According to legend there supposedly is gold up at the second basin of the falls.

We start heading back down towards the main hwy but have to be cautious about the narrow roads and vehicles coming up in the opposite direction particularly along the wet roads through the tunnels. Otherwise it was an absolute blast hurtling down the descent.

Afterwards, we stopped at a tourist info center in nearby Hayakawa beside a nice restaurant where we treated ourselves to some warm bowls of ramen. Soo good.

Our rides up to this point have been outstanding and the mountainous terrain certainly makes up for the flatlands back at home. A little more than two weeks remain in our stay here and we hope to make the most of it.

Followup footage from our ride up Inokashira Rindo (Mountain Road)

 

[RabH]

Imperial century #20 for the year!

I looked at the forecast last night and it looked fine for a long ride out to Burntisland but when I woke this morning it was showing rain from 8am to after 10am! I looked outside and it was a little damp but certainly not wet at this point, the weather was supposed to improve as the day progressed so I set off before 8am and headed north for Kincardine! There was very little wind at this point and the temp was about 8C and it was a little misty, the wind was forecast to increase throughout the day from the ENE!

I made my way down to Falkirk on the back roads, hurtling down the big descent into Glen Village at 42mph! Up until now it remained dry and I was buzzing after that descent, I continued on into Grangemouth and grabbed a photo of the Kelpies! It wasn't the best day for photos as it was very murky but we can't have it all...

I then continued on to Kincardine where I felt the first spots of rain at just over 22 miles, the clouds didn't actually look threatening but soon the rain started to increase! I stopped for a couple of photos of the misty Ochil Hills just after Kincardine, at least I could see them!

I was now heading for Forestmill where I would take the back road to Saline, the rain was getting heavy now and visibility was getting worse! At Saline I started up the big climb which levels out and then ramps up again at Steelend, thankfully it had cleared up a bit but it was still raining!

The climb at Steelend!

I reached the top and could now feel the wind in my face, a direct headwind but not too bad for now! I was now heading due east for Kelty, I enjoyed the big descent down into the town and turned south for Crossgates! I had a beast of a climb ahead up to Hill of Beath, this is almost at the top looking back down! The last time I got to descend this one, that sure was fun!

Yes it was still raining but it didn't dampen my spirit as I wasn't cold, at Crossgates I turned east again towards Mossmorran wind farm and the wind was picking up but nothing like the crazy winds we have been experiencing for a while! At the wind farm I turned SE and had a lovely descent for almost 2 miles before the road ramped up again!

This was part way up looking back down!

Stenhouse Reservoir part way up the climb!

Looking back down again!

I then reached the summit and had the long fast descent down into Burntisland ahead, shame it was wet though!

The descent was still awesome though and I arrived in Burntisland with 50 miles covered, the half way point! Now it was time to head SW which meant I had the wind at my back now, not quite the 30mph tailwind I enjoyed on Tuesday but it made quite a difference! I stopped for this photo looking across the Forth at Burntisland!

I now had a big climb again for 1.5 miles but with the tailwind it was pretty easy, the road then flattens out for a bit and I stopped for these photos! Edinburgh is across the water but it was hidden today!

I was now approaching Aberdour where I had a lovely 16% descent, I stopped for more photos before hurtling down it!

Normally you can see the Forth bridges from here but they were hidden in the murk today, the rain still continued and showed no sign of letting up! I continued towards Inverkeithing where I stopped for lunch and headed south over the Forth Road Bridge, grabbing the obligatory photos of the iconic rail bridge to the east!

The Queensferry Crossing to the west!

After crossing I turned west towards Newton and got another couple of photos of the bridges while they were still in view!

At Newton I turned south for Winchburgh to get off the main road and enjoy some quieter roads, there is a lot of building work going on in Winchburgh with a massive new housing scheme progressing well but it will take a long time to complete! At least they have built some really nice wide cycle paths and I took advantage of them! I was now on the road to Threemiletown and like Tuesday I turned south there to take the road towards Uphall and once again I turned west towards Beecraigs Country Park and joined Burnhouse road to enjoy the descent down to Dechmont!

From there I used the cycle paths all the way to Whitburn and turned north on to the cycle path up to Armadale! Then I took the cycle path west to Blackridge and used the quiet back road that joins the main road from Harthill to Salsburgh, time for a big climb again but I turned for Shotts part way up and took the back road past the prison! Then I had the big climb up to Kirk of Shotts, part way up I stopped for a photo of the Ostriches at one of the farms!

Then I turned on to my favourite back road to Hareshaw which is pretty much downhill for about 3 miles and I had the wind at my back all the way, that sure was fun!

I usually don't stop on this road because its so much fun but I decided to stop for a couple of photos as I hadn't taken so many due to the conditions today!

Thankfully the rain had now stopped and I enjoyed dry roads all the way home! It wasn't the best day for a ride, certainly my wettest 100 miler this year! I wanted to get this done before the clocks change at the weekend to get my 20th imperial century for the year! By far the most I have done since 2012 when I managed 14!

 

[JGcycle]

View attachment 184919

Imperial century #20 for the year!

I looked at the forecast last night and it looked fine for a long ride out to Burntisland but when I woke this morning it was showing rain from 8am to after 10am! I looked outside and it was a little damp but certainly not wet at this point, the weather was supposed to improve as the day progressed so I set off before 8am and headed north for Kincardine! There was very little wind at this point and the temp was about 8C and it was a little misty, the wind was forecast to increase throughout the day from the ENE!

I made my way down to Falkirk on the back roads, hurtling down the big descent into Glen Village at 42mph! Up until now it remained dry and I was buzzing after that descent, I continued on into Grangemouth and grabbed a photo of the Kelpies! It wasn't the best day for photos as it was very murky but we can't have it all...

View attachment 184921
I then continued on to Kincardine where I felt the first spots of rain at just over 22 miles, the clouds didn't actually look threatening but soon the rain started to increase! I stopped for a couple of photos of the misty Ochil Hills just after Kincardine, at least I could see them!

View attachment 184922
View attachment 184923
I was now heading for Forestmill where I would take the back road to Saline, the rain was getting heavy now and visibility was getting worse! At Saline I started up the big climb which levels out and then ramps up again at Steelend, thankfully it had cleared up a bit but it was still raining!

The climb at Steelend!

View attachment 184924
I reached the top and could now feel the wind in my face, a direct headwind but not too bad for now! I was now heading due east for Kelty, I enjoyed the big descent down into the town and turned south for Crossgates! I had a beast of a climb ahead up to Hill of Beath, this is almost at the top looking back down! The last time I got to descend this one, that sure was fun!

View attachment 184925
Yes it was still raining but it didn't dampen my spirit as I wasn't cold, at Crossgates I turned east again towards Mossmorran wind farm and the wind was picking up but nothing like the crazy winds we have been experiencing for a while! At the wind farm I turned SE and had a lovely descent for almost 2 miles before the road ramped up again!

View attachment 184926
This was part way up looking back down!

View attachment 184927
Stenhouse Reservoir part way up the climb!

View attachment 184928
View attachment 184929
Looking back down again!

View attachment 184930
I then reached the summit and had the long fast descent down into Burntisland ahead, shame it was wet though!

View attachment 184931
The descent was still awesome though and I arrived in Burntisland with 50 miles covered, the half way point! Now it was time to head SW which meant I had the wind at my back now, not quite the 30mph tailwind I enjoyed on Tuesday but it made quite a difference! I stopped for this photo looking across the Forth at Burntisland!

View attachment 184932
I now had a big climb again for 1.5 miles but with the tailwind it was pretty easy, the road then flattens out for a bit and I stopped for these photos! Edinburgh is across the water but it was hidden today!

View attachment 184934
View attachment 184935
I was now approaching Aberdour where I had a lovely 16% descent, I stopped for more photos before hurtling down it!

View attachment 184936
View attachment 184937
Normally you can see the Forth bridges from here but they were hidden in the murk today, the rain still continued and showed no sign of letting up! I continued towards Inverkeithing where I stopped for lunch and headed south over the Forth Road Bridge, grabbing the obligatory photos of the iconic rail bridge to the east!

View attachment 184938
View attachment 184939
The Queensferry Crossing to the west!

View attachment 184940
After crossing I turned west towards Newton and got another couple of photos of the bridges while they were still in view!

View attachment 184941
View attachment 184942
At Newton I turned south for Winchburgh to get off the main road and enjoy some quieter roads, there is a lot of building work going on in Winchburgh with a massive new housing scheme progressing well but it will take a long time to complete! At least they have built some really nice wide cycle paths and I took advantage of them! I was now on the road to Threemiletown and like Tuesday I turned south there to take the road towards Uphall and once again I turned west towards Beecraigs Country Park and joined Burnhouse road to enjoy the descent down to Dechmont!

From there I used the cycle paths all the way to Whitburn and turned north on to the cycle path up to Armadale! Then I took the cycle path west to Blackridge and used the quiet back road that joins the main road from Harthill to Salsburgh, time for a big climb again but I turned for Shotts part way up and took the back road past the prison! Then I had the big climb up to Kirk of Shotts, part way up I stopped for a photo of the Ostriches at one of the farms!

View attachment 184943
Then I turned on to my favourite back road to Hareshaw which is pretty much downhill for about 3 miles and I had the wind at my back all the way, that sure was fun!

I usually don't stop on this road because its so much fun but I decided to stop for a couple of photos as I hadn't taken so many due to the conditions today!

View attachment 184944
View attachment 184945
View attachment 184946
Thankfully the rain had now stopped and I enjoyed dry roads all the way home! It wasn't the best day for a ride, certainly my wettest 100 miler this year! I wanted to get this done before the clocks change at the weekend to get my 20th imperial century for the year! By far the most I have done since 2012 when I managed 14!

20 imperial centuries--very impressive--congrats.

 

[Chargeride]

A few images from yesterday’s 55 km brisk ride up to the village of Amehata and back.

View attachment 184885View attachment 184886View attachment 184887View attachment 184888View attachment 184884

Water levels of both the Amehata River and Lake were low and we noticed that the work crews on the dam were dredging sections of the river below the road. It was our guess that they were reusing the accumulated sediment created from the last typhoon as aggregate for other construction projects.

View attachment 184889

One of two tunnels that we rode through. We didn’t encounter any vehicles on these occasions but coming back was a different story.

View attachment 184890
View attachment 184892

The Amehata suspension bridge is the second one that we’ve been on. If you might recall, the other was on our trip to Narada.

View attachment 184893View attachment 184894

It would have been nice to see the river flowing but with the dam floodgates diverting the water for the work crews, this was the view from the bridge.

View attachment 184895

For 200 yen, a tour through this Japanese ink stone (suzuri) museum and shop was well worth the price of admission for a chance to see some of the intricately carved works. The mine near the village is known throughout the country as one of the best sources of silica slate which the ink vessels are made from. The suzuri are used in the art of Japanese calligraphy but it’s the hardened charcoal stick that produces the ink when combined with water.

View attachment 184896
View attachment 184897

Sai tries her hand at the art form which she was taught as a young school girl.

View attachment 184898
The character symbolizes sky or heaven above.

View attachment 184899

Another 2km up the road was Kennshino Falls. At 500 meters high it was quite impressive. According to legend there supposedly is gold up at the second basin of the falls.

View attachment 184902
View attachment 184900
View attachment 184901

We start heading back down towards the main hwy but have to be cautious about the narrow roads and vehicles coming up in the opposite direction particularly along the wet roads through the tunnels. Otherwise it was an absolute blast hurtling down the descent.

View attachment 184903
View attachment 184905View attachment 184907
View attachment 184904
View attachment 184906

Afterwards, we stopped at a tourist info center in nearby Hayakawa beside a nice restaurant where we treated ourselves to some warm bowls of ramen. Soo good.

View attachment 184908View attachment 184909

Our rides up to this point have been outstanding and the mountainous terrain certainly makes up for the flatlands back at home. A little more than two weeks remain in our stay here and we hope to make the most of it.

Followup footage from our ride up Inokashira Rindo (Mountain Road)

Thanks for those vids, I would probably never have bothered to see rural Japan like that, not what I expected.

 

[Chargeride]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.
View attachment 184949

At long last, an ice cream for my vegan dog!

 

[BlackHand]

Posh end of the beach, menu for dogs.
.
View attachment 184949

Dogs were on the menu on my street this week. A coyote tried to take our next door neighbor's little dog for breakfast on Wednesday. She had to beat it off before it dropped the little guy then escaped through our yard.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

All Cycling Bridges of London - completed!

Just to let you know I have completed the ride over all cycling capable bridges of London UK:

1. Battersea
2. Albert
3. Chelsea
4. Vauxhall
5. Lambeth 2x
6. Westminster
7. Waterloo
8. Blackfriars
9. Southwark
10. London
11. Tower.

(Millenium and Jubilee are only for the pedestrian while Hungerford is a railway bridge. There are bridges upstream of Thames - westward of the Battersea - that are still within Greater London - but I decided to make the ride not to extend too far away).

I had to ride Lambeth Bridge twice because of a big political march that cut off Westminster Bridge from the Big Ben side!

I rode two subsequent Lime e-bikes. Let me only tell you it is very expensive means of transportation as for a 3.5 h gross ride!

Let me make a report next week as I want to show you nice photos and proper ride data!

Running is the favourite pastime of Londoners. Cycling is extremely popular and many people ride e-bikes there, too. In the Battersea Park.