Hi,

Thanks for visiting my site.  So who am I?  These days I’m a 50 something ICT Advisor for the Department for Education, living in Teesdale in the North Pennines having moved here from Hastings; a seaside town in the South East of England (the town is also known for a big fight almost 1,000 years ago).  Before moving here I grew up in Wiltshire.  I did a degree in Archaeology and spent a number of years working all over the UK before venturing into the crazy world of I.T.

I setup this site a few years ago (in 2013) originally with the aim of using it to help me as I prepared to run the Great North Run.  I didn’t end up making much use of it then.  I did though complete the race (the fourth and, to date, last time that I ran it) but struggled with a dodgy Achilles injury throughout the year.  As a result I shifted my poor attempts to keep vaguely fit away from running and dug out my old bike instead.

As a child and through my teens cycling had always been a large part of my life.  I grew up in a remote village so cycling was the best way to get into the bright lights of Warminster and beyond.  Since learning to drive and going to University I had drifted on and off of the bike prior to taking it back up in 2013.  I had soon regained the cycling bug, invested in a new Ridgeback World Tour bike, and in 2014 set off on my first cycle tour; from London to Paris.

I’m now using these pages to record my annual rides, as well as writing about some other rides when I head off on a good day trip cycle ride that I think might merit some random scribblings (don’t worry; I’m not going to write about every little commuting ride I do).

You won’t find amazing tales of year long treks across continents.  Every summer I try to take a week off by myself with a couple of panniers and do a ride from A to B – though Covid and life has got in the way of that the last few years.  That’s mostly what you’ll read about here.  Hopefully my ramblings might be of interest to anyone thinking of doing something similar. I certainly came across other people’s blogs which have helped me to take up small scale cycle touring and if I can repay the favour in any small way I would be very happy.

Giving Blood

I’m very proud to have been a regular blood donor since 1999. It’s a great way to be able to get a lie down, a cup of tea and a biscuit 3 or 4 times a year. If you can (and indeed to find out if you can), please visit www.blood.co.uk. The map below shows all of my donations to date and which hospital my blood was issued at. I love this map – it’s a great way to see how taking an hour out of my day every few months has helped people across the country.

One of my proudest blood donation moments to date was finding out that I was making my 75th donation on the 75th birthday of the NHS on 5 July 2023. It was not planned but when I realised the significance of the date of my booking I had to make a badge!

Shop

As well as cycling I also enjoy photography.  The improvements in mobile phone cameras in recent years have allowed me to be able to easily and readily take photos on the move without having to lug lots of equipment around.  I have started selling a few of my favourite pictures.  You can find more information on my ‘Shop‘ page.

Thank You

Cheers for reading my blog and looking at my photos.  I hope that you might find some interest in these pages.  There’s a contact box below. If you’d like to drop me a line please feel free, it would be lovely to hear from you.

Richard May

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