Island 6, North Island, New Zealand - a bit of it biked on 27th April 2014

In Raglan, south west of Auckland, we did a bit of biking as we are on an island which is not a country - the North Island of New Zealand. This is a lovely town with some of the best surfing in New Zealand. I managed a body boarding session there - see my travel blog for that pic!

Thanks to the ever-helpful Information centre in the town, we found bikes to rent from Raglan Water Sports at Raglan Sunset Motel. There isn't much flat biking around here so they were mountain bikes which was a bit of overkill for our leisurely potter along the shore and over a lovely bridge which would have been a candidate for biking bridges last year, but this is the year of biking islands, so on with the task.

Finishing, by coincidence, at a great fish and chip shop

With my Kiwi one-woman support team (thanks Treasa), I pottered around, pausing and/or posing for photos in front of typical New Zealand flax and Pohutukawa trees. Treasa, who was also my support team for Waiheke island, had quickly grasped the drill. Get the bike, cycle a few yards, pose for a picture, cycle a few more yards, take another pic. Cycle over and back to get an action shot and so on. The lovely fish and chips at Raglan Wharf was more than we deserved for such a fun and undemanding biking trip!

That's all the New Zealand islands that I can bike for the moment. Next plan is the Scottish midsummer odyssey, starting on Arran on June 21st. Watch this space!

Island 5, Waiheke Island, biked 23rd April 2014

Waiheke Island - 40 minutes from Auckland City Centre

Renting the bikes

On a beautiful 'autumn' day (what passes for high summer in Scotland), my sister, Treasa, and I biked Waiheke Island. This place has lovely memories for us as we have been coming here since I first visited New Zealand in 1990. This time we are biking some of this hilly island, some of which is just like it was all those years ago. Like the bike-hire man. We sign the form and pay the money but he requires no ID or deposit and just asks us to lock the bikes on our return and pop the lock key through the letter box. All very 'waiheke'.

So, after a brief photo stop in Oneroa, the main town, and a check with the tourist office that the place we plan to get lunch is open, we set off towards one of our favourite beaches. I am already blown away by the lovely views from just about everywhere. Why don't I just move here and settle down?

Lunch being cooked in a trailer

Lunch and swim spot - Little Oneroa

A short while later (it is not  a big island) we arrive at Little Oneroa Beach where the amazing Dragonfired people prepare pizzas and pitta fillings in this oven. It's worth a trip to the island just to taste this amazing food - all prepared and served from a trailer. A rest in the sunshine after this substantial lunch and then we went for a swim - my first of the year and Treasa's last (maybe) of the season. Delicious. Not very warm but a great deal warmer than the North Sea will ever be.

We bestirred ourselves after this lovely interlude and biked to another side of the island (there are lots of sides as the coastline is very 'wiggley') via Palm Beach where we stopped for yet another session of gazing at the sea. Going past my future retirement home (I've ear-marked it) we end up back in Oneroa only because Treasa knows her way around these windy roads. There we have delicious ice-creams - Treasa's was salted coconut and passionfruit. Amazing! Then we bought some things from 'Upcycle', a shop which sells things made from stuff found on the island. We bought an apron made from Ralph Lauren sheets from the 1970s and tea lights in wine bottle tops, filled with recycled candle wax.

A wonderful day, topped off by a double birthday celebration meal in 'Mexico', back on the mainland. Yum! Brought back lovely memories of my recent holiday there.

Island 4 - Enoshima Island, Japan, biked 20th April 2014

Very cute train

First find your island

Enoshima is a tiny island in Japan, near Kamakura. It is only 4 Km around the edge but there is only a road some of the way and one into the centre and up through a shrine (tons of shrines here, of course) to an observation tower where you might see Mount Fuji on a clear day. It's not a clear day so we didn't try that but did find a nearby convenience store which rented bikes incredibly cheaply.

Then find a bike

We took the cute local electric train to Enoshima station and picked up two bikes from this valiant lady who spoke little English and whose machine refused to do the necessary booking in English but we managed fine in the end.

at a convenience store

We cycled over the bridge to the island, among the tourists on the pedestrian way. Cyclists and pedestrians share the same paths here and tolerate each other in a way that is amazing to us who are used to open warfare between the two tribes.

There is not much cycle-able (or drive-able) road here but we cycled what there was and then went onto the sea wall where we had fun cycling over and back. We came across a do-it-yourself reflexology space - there were spaces of different kinds of bumps on the path and a notice showing you what to do. See pics below.

After our lovely cycle we took the bikes out along the mainland coast for a couple of hours and enjoyed seeing Enoshima on a holiday. There was a major volunteer beach clean-up happening and lots of surfing, either training or having fun. People here bike their surfaceboards to the beach - see final pic.

What a lovely morning! Many thanks to Debbie for her support and enthusiasm.

Reflexology area

Reflexology instructions

Getting to the beach, Japanese style

Island 3 - Miyajima, Japan, biked 15th April 2014

Thanks to Tomoyo for lending me her green bike

Miyajima is a wonderful island off Hiroshima. It is most famous for its sacred Itsukushima Shrine - an orange arch which 'floats' in the sea at high tide. We came to check it out for a place to visit and for an island to bike. We loved it so much that we tried to find a place to stay but had no luck with that.

Thanks to Debbie for being photographer

Being on an island, and in the Pacific, I inquired about renting bikes. No. 'Could I borrow one?' I asked various people. No.

This is too beautiful an island to be put off by these setbacks and then I met Tomoyo. She owns this lovely green bike and was very happy to let me rid it around for a while. Thank you Tomoyo!


With the lovely Debbie taking photos, I cycled up and down, weaving my way through the crowds and trying to avoid the deer (see my other blog for those pics, when I have a minute to update it!) which roam around the waterfront trying to eat paper and anything else that tourists might have on them,

It would have been nice to have had a bike for longer but I am so grateful to Tomoyo for making it possible for me to bike this extraordinary island in Japan.

Island 2- Holy Island, biked 15th February 2014

Setting off at the crack of dawn, literally

In spite of dire weather forecasts of gales and rain, I was thrilled to be joined in this mad venture by Heidi, Mark and Alan. We met at Berwick-upon-Tweed at 07.40, warmly clad and armed with tons of food and chocolate.


There was a lull in the wind for several hours and so we set off on the back-road route which I had planned after the far-too-challenging reccie of the 'cycle route'. It was a lovely morning and the route was mostly on empty flat (ish) back roads. The slightly 'soft' (Irish for rain) weather was no problem to us. We got to the causeway (13.5 miles) in good time and headed across so as to make the most of our time before the tide closed it again. The sand on the causeway was a bit tricky for Alan and me who were on Bromptons, but Heidi and Mark were able to fool around (and did). We enjoyed the electronic sign which welcomed us and warned of rain and high winds. Well done to Heidi for getting pics of these notices which were only there for a few moments.

Arrived!

We did like the 'real' 'Welcome to Holy Island' sign, although, like all these signs here, they were followed soon after by a warning of the tide times.  People regularly get stuck, some of them actually drive through the incoming tide when the vehicles are not high enough to get through.

Refuge box

This is a refuge box for people caught out.
The image is a bit smudgy because of rain on the lens.  Since the safe crossing times are well advertised, it is hard to see how so many people get stranded so often.



There was a handy stone structure, which looked like a bus stop, as we came to signs of human life. We seized on it to have hot coffee and some food but mostly chocolate brownies.  Heidi and Alan were very cold so we didn't linger too long.  The weather cleared up so that we were no longer getting wet and we had a wonderful time exploring the island.  The highlight for us (apart from the free tastings of sloe gin and mead in the museum) was the Church which was like a mini, but living, museum.  A wooden sculpture (Fenwick Lawson's 'The Journey') of monks carrying St Cuthbert's remains (a 40 year hobby) in this church is sufficient reason to visit the island. I loved that you could donate money to make a kneeler and it would have your dedication on the back.  Images of the Lindisfarne Gospels were everywhere and the connections with Ireland at that time were so strong that a tea-towel which I bought in Ireland in December was also on sale here - depicting celtic symbols and such-like.

How smashing to have been able to do this today and in such congenial company. After a bracing cycle into the wind back across the causeway, our post-island refreshments at the Barn at Beal were as good as I expected.  The staff are always so welcoming and didn't seem to mind Heidi and Mark drying their socks on the turf fire.  A key attraction there is watching the causeway closing over on a big screen and vehicles getting stuck.

The return was a bit breezy but I was fine since Mark pushed me up the hills - thanks Mark!

Here's to the next 19 islands.  Keep an eye on this space - maybe link up to follow it.

A very challenging reccie

Note the ice in foreground!

In preparation for the official biking of Holy Island on 15th February, Lora and I set off to reccie the route yesterday. After a cold night, we were anxious about ice on the path as it was still below zero when we arrived at Berwick on Tweed by train.  We were going to travel on the official route, the National Cycle Network 1 (NCN1).

Note the NCN1 sign!

After a lovely ride along the sea as far as Spittal, the route went off-road.  Here in Scotland, a cycle way means that it is reasonably fit for bicycles. We quickly learnt that in England (and other parts of the UK?) it only means a right of way. The first off-road section was very scenic - it goes right along the coast - but is only fit for mountain-biking. The ice and the mud were major issues but it would have been a challenge even if the ground was dry and clear.  There was just only a mile of that and we thought the the route would be feasible if the rest was better.

After some nice back-road miles, the route headed off-road again. At one point it went through a muddy field of bullocks and you can imagine what the mud was like. The track from there to the causeway was beautiful, in terms of scenery but almost impassible on our touring bikes.  It took us 2.25 hours to cycle 11 miles!  Then we got the first puncture.  Happily this happened near the lovely Barn at Beal coffee stop where they were kind and nice to us in spite of our muddy, cow-dungy appearance (and smell, I presume).  We were so pleased that we could change a wheel but neither of us could master the fancy pumps we had and, it being January, there were no other cyclists around.  After wonderful soup there Lora got a taxi to Berwick and I carried on, checking out what looked like a better route.  It would have been hard to be worse but it was bad in a different way.  It was pot-holed and full of sharp stones and so I got my puncture just one mile in.  I was off-road and it took a long time to find myself in a place where a taxi could collect me.  Yes - I should have turned back but that didn't seem a good plan at the time.

Buckie for lunch!

On the way to the road I had to cross a level crossing with no barriers or staffing. There were dire warning signs, as there should be on a line where trains go about 120 miles an hour and are very frequent. I had to open heavy gates, get my bike across and close the gates again - this meant traversing the line 5 times. That was easily the worst moment of the day.  In the process I damaged my front brakes when the bike fell.

The weather was cold but lovely and bright all day so that did help.  My taxi driver then talked me through an on-road route, showing me the bit of the A1 which has an off-carriageway path.  On the train home I caught this 'Buckfast' moment!

The next reccie should be less challenging!  Who is up for it?

Island 1 - Crammond Island, biked 7th January 2014

Ready for action

In spite of the dire weather forecast, I set out today with Bill, Linda and Lora to bike to and on Crammond Island.  This is accessible by causeway two hours either side of the low tide.  It turned out to be a beautiful, if windy, day and we got the Crammond with three hours of safe crossing time in hand.  A notice board gives the safe crossing times for each day but there are still people who get stranded there.  While the lifeboat would come and rescue us, I did not think they would be keen on rescuing our bikes so we were careful about

Fun on the causeway

the timing.

We had a glorious run along the seafront, then took pictures (this project involves more photo-taking than cycling) of the island and us and us in various groups and stages of readiness.  Bill and I took our bikes onto the causeway, Lora walked and Linda kept an eye on the local coffee shop.  The causeway is quite rough underfoot, as it might be expected as it lives under the waves for most of the day.  Bill helped me with my bike down some treacherous steps and scratched his own beautiful new bike in the process.  Well, these are honourable battle scars, surely.

Muddy and slippy terrain

Job well done!

The short crossing  was lovely, with all the shore birds doing their stuff in the sand and the shallow water.  The island itself was challenging because we didn't have mountain bikes but we did cycle a bit in order to fulfill the promise.  We then had coffee and cake looking out from the most sheltered spot we could find.  We all wondered why we had not been here before.

This might be very local to me but it might well turn out to be the most challenging of the islands to be biked.  Having said that, last year's bridges each had their own challenge and I expect it will be the same with the islands.

A smashing start to this project.