Old Bloke On An Old Bike
The story of the restoration of a 1950s classic bicycle for a Land's End – John O'Groats charity ride in aid of Alzheimer's Society
19 Jun 2016: Stage 8 completed
I took my leave of a big family gathering in Stone and set off for Dore, where I’m staying with friends Allan and Monica.
It’s been a hard day with lots of climbing. I got in a mess with my GPS device, which failed to record the first 10 miles or so. After I managed to get it switched on properly, it recorded 53.7 miles, so I’d guess the day was about 63 miles altogether – more than I’d planned, but we had added a detour into Ashbourne for a coffee break and some other variations. It was the hardest day’s climbing yet – and has left me with a painful lower back.
I was joined on the ride by Allan and it was good to have a cycling companion again. We did a stretch of about 12 miles on the Tissington trail, encountering a few of the riders taking part in the Eroica Britannia festival, based in Bakewell.
Today’s stage takes the total mileage up to 399, so the ride is almost 40% done. Tomorrow’s ride will take me to Shipley, where my Ellis-Briggs bike was born. It will be another difficult day – not because of the distance or terrain, but because of the tricky navigation in built-up areas with lots of traffic.
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Old Bloke On An Old Bike 
It’s a wonder that magnetic attraction of all that old iron didn’t draw you down into Bakewell. (I survived, and my tubular tyres survived the medium-length Eroica, with 22 miles of non-tarmac.)
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