Travel Journal, 2017 April to June

30 Jun 2017

In brief, we returned from Spain on April 4 to help out with tending Teddy, Louisa's sick pug puppy, to get more work done on the van electrics and to head to Poole for a Carthago Owners' rally, then to the Yorkshire Dales for the Tandem Club rally. We've been back in London, at Walton on Thames, again helping out with Teddy and trying - not that successfully - to get this blog up to date before we go to do some walks on the Cornish coast.

19 Jun 2017

Louisa's birthday lunch at The Jam Tree, Clapham on the first really hot day of summer, 30°.

... with Oscar, not feeling 100%, especially in the heat, deciding to sleep through the singing of "Happy Birthday"

3 Jun 2017

After a nice lunch at the Mason's Arms, Gargrave, with fellow Bike Friday tandem owners, Ron and Fatim, from Vancouver.

Today marked the conclusion of another highly enjoyable national rally of the UK Tandem Club. Set just next to the Yorkshire Dales National Park, the hilly nature of the terrain had us walking more hills on this rally than we'd walked on all the other ones in total.

For more details of the rally, including routes, click here.

3 Jun 2017

Tandem games are a regular feature of the national rallies, with the limbo event shown here. Here was a great attempt to get below the bar, littl'un on the stoker seat.

... and they made it.

Another regular feature is the destruction of a tyre on the Bike Friday Twin Air. A nasty blow-out was saved by a Mr Tuffy liner. However I fitted a "boot" to get us home in one piece.

3 Jun 2017

Rally organisers Andy and Christine with son Will and dog Ralph on their tandem triple.

Yes, we could have done another ride on the rest day, but we elected instead to walk at Malham Cove, visible in the far right background of this photo.

It's a stunning set of cliffs, as the panoramic view shows, set in typical north country drywall fence fields.

21 May 2017

Great location, Lytchett Manor near Poole. That's us circled (or ellipsed) in red in lower left. (Handy having a drone enthusiast attending!)

We're not the only ones touring Europe in a Carthago van. The attached photo shows the Carthago Owners UK Spring Gathering from May 16 to today.

Met many other retired - or retirement-minded - couples, got some very useful tips and generally had a most enjoyable time.