Two weeks on two wheels

From Lands’ End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) on the National Cycle Network, passing through “devolved” Covid-19 restrictions and through the eye of Storm Aiden.

I am not one to blow my own trumpet, but I did cycle the length of the UK solo. The main purpose of this blog is to raise awareness of people with Cancer, thank people that donated to Velindre Cancer Centre and the topical issues I debated with people (across socially distanced dinner tables) and what I saw with my own eyes. My only warning is my views may challenge prevailing opinion. I am not always offering solutions as the issues are too big for me alone, but collectively as humans we can make change happen.

My day to day account was posted on Twitter and Instagram (both new to me) and must say I am now hooked and see the potential and value of these social platforms. Maybe one day I will use Facebook. The video tweets of support posted by Welsh Rugby greats, Shane Williams and Jonathan Davies were what got me through some very cold, windy, and rainy days.

I was born to be just another kid from a small town in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Life had a clear path: I would be a Captain of an oil tanker, sailing out of Milford Haven Port. Yet, that Neil is now a distant memory. I have since gone on to build a successful global career in engineering and construction and worked with so many great people and teams. With over 39 years of experience behind me, majorly leading large enterprises, 2020 is my year with a personal aspire goal to better myself through executive education and supporting professional bodies like the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), and a personal inspire goal where I am raising money through cycle challenges for Velindre Cancer Centre. But due to Covid-19 after March 2020 my cycle challenges got cancelled or postponed. Because people had already donated, my Plan B was to cycle LEJOG solo but using quiet routes, trails and tracks more than 200 miles longer than the fastest routes using A and B roads. In parts, the route also overlays the Great North Trial, off-road adventure route. The only times I deviated from this was due to road closures or when I felt unsafe.

During Covid-19 I could have used it as an excuse and stayed at home. However, I wanted to make a connection with the people that had already donated and in these times raising awareness for people with cancer is even more important. They fall in the category, people at high risk (clinically extremely vulnerable). This is where I think we have it all wrong. If we make a greater effort to protect the vulnerable, those in care homes and those supporting this group etc. this will then allow most of us to get on with our lives to support the economy. Suffice to say, I took all the recommended precautions (a face mask and Hybrisan Hand and Surface non-alcohol sanitizer) and set off from Land’s End Thursday 17 September and got to John O’Groats on Friday 2 October. For me it was never a race, but I had a goal of two weeks to complete Britain’s biggest cycle challenge on a gravel bike. The trails that stand out for me include the Tarka and Camel Trails in the South West, the Wyre Forrest in the West Midlands, the Trans-Pennine Trail and Forrest of Bowland in the North West and pretty much all of the Scottish Highlands particularly the remoteness of the Flow Country.

Here is some of what happened in between. 

By the numbers

·      1105 miles (according to Garmin)

·      2 weeks riding

·      79,000 calories torched (according to Garmin)

·      15,600 m accent (according to Garmin)

·      65 mile per hour headwinds (according to Met Office)

·      5 days of rain

·      2 punctures

·      1 tyre replacement

·      2 tubes of ibuprofen gel

·      2 x 140 ml of chamois anti-friction cream

·      3 tubes of savlon cream

·      1 tube of deep heat

·      Numerous splattered animals

·      Tons of roadside rubbish

·      1 fridge, 1 headboard and 1 bath

·      Numerous acts of kindness received

·      My just giving target for Velindre remains at ￡10,000. Please donate www.justgiving.com/Neil-Reynolds20

Politicking

Like the classic joke, one evening I found myself in a bar with an Englishman, a Scotsman, and a Welshman (me), sitting on socially distanced tables. Missing was the Irishman. After Rugby we got into a conversation about how well or not, the Government is handling the pandemic. It was a safe place to exchange views and we were too far away from each other to throw punches!! One thing we all agreed on was there is too much politicking going on instead of just getting on with the job. What needs to happen now is more cross-party consensus than ever, we turn down the one-upmanship and the ridiculous parliamentary debates and focus on the greater good. We need to find a way – together – that balances the needs to suppress the virus while protecting the NHS, protecting the vulnerable people including people with cancer, keeping children in schools, keeping students in Universities and Colleges, and keeping the economy moving over what is going to be a challenging winter. Come winter, we will not know if we are Arthur or Martha, with a cold, flu, or coronavirus unless we sort out the tracing and testing. A vaccine will come when it comes. It may take years. Until then let us put all our efforts into tracing and testing, using common sense and above all follow the rules of being human so that we do not have to get through this situation on our own. But we must not use Covid as an excuse. Far too many companies today in both the public and private sector are charging more, offering less, delivering slower and wriggling out of commitments. The trains are just one example. At one point I thought about cycling home. I paid for a first-class train ticket home for missed connections and no catering facilities. You guessed it; the excuse was Covid-19. We all need to step up, put our best foot forward and make up for lost time. If we do not the Politicians will only mirror us, and the future for the next generation will be dismal. As for the devolved governments I am not a fan, particularly when it comes to matters of public health and consistency of communication. At the end of the day we are an island, and the virus knows no boundaries.

Kindness

It was in these same venues I witnessed so much kindness. One lovely couple from Glasgow emptied their wallet and handbag and handed me ￡222 pounds in cash that I have subsequently paid into the charity. Put this into context, a Scottish couple donating hard earned money to a Welsh Cancer charity, all for the greater good. I must say this act of kindness was one of the highlights of my challenge. There was also the Englishman in the North West who found me slumped over my handlebars at the top of a hill in the Forrest of Bowland. He reversed his car back to check if I was ok. The Forrest of Bowland does not have many trees but it does have some demanding climbs. And the Welsh Couple who went over the Severn Bridge for the day for lunch in an English pub, where the spouse was treated at Velindre Cancer Centre. I could not get my Young's Pub Covid-19 App to work and more than one person offered to buy me a drink or lunch. There were so many kind gestures, including Ahmed at the Manchester car wash who jet washed my bike. After heavy rain it was clogged with mud from the Trans Pennine Trial.

Covid-19

I got to sleep in many hotels across England and Scotland. The best hotels were family run, those who have their lively hoods on the line. The one exception was the Radisson RED in Glasgow that was efficient and strictly followed Government Guidance. Every evening I would keep a note on adherence to safety protocols and following the rules with the 10pm curfew, groups larger than 6 people (I saw tables split into 2’s and people shouted from one end to the other) and touch points like menus and the use of disposable or sanitized condiments. And then of course not all the guests follow the rules with face coverings and asking for service after curfew. I appreciate that the food and beverage and entertainment industry has been hit the hardest, but if we all follow the rules – service providers and the public - we can work with the virus. The virus is going nowhere. Just like the Spanish Flu that morphed into something else, we will live with it and adapt to it. We must not also confuse people with spins and twist on communication, particularly for those on staycations and give people excuses because they do not understand the devolved rules. There must be a minimum standard and then only a higher standard applied if we must stay devolved on matters of public health. But I like many would like to understand the scientific evidence behind some of the rules. When people understand the need to change, they will change. As for staycations I came across many signs in the West Country telling tourists and “ET Stay Home” they are not welcome and must go home. How can we get the economy moving when people take this attitude? Right now, we must support one another.

Roadkill and farm traffic

On my route I lost count of dead Pheasants, Rabbits, Hedgehogs, Squirrels, Cats, Badgers, Foxes and unknown. And this is on less traveled lanes. But on these roads, you come across farm traffic that is putting an unprecedented strain on the road networks both around and through the villages in the UK. The sheer size of some of the machinery is damaging wildlife, hedgerows, and grass verges, not forgetting the safety of children and on many days also forced me tight into hedgerows. If in Scotland we have many signs to slow down for Red Squirrels and Lambs, why do we not value all our wildlife and livestock the same way. This seems like a good project for nursery schools. Instead of painting their school buildings, why not make signs to slow down and protect our wildlife. I have since come across a research project called “Project Splatter” with an App. This data can be used to highlight the highest risk stretches of roads to better place crossing infrastructure for the critters, as well as warnings to drivers to slow down. Please download the App to help build a data base to make change happen.

Another one I look out for is slurry spreading particularly after a rain event. The tractors pulling 4,000-gallon slurry tankers, the stench of slurry, and the damage to the environment is UK wide. I am very opposed to this as there is a solution to treat slurry either onsite or through community treatment plants, depending on scale. Today there is a lot of hype about wind farms, but we can also have “shit” farms and produce biogas for green energy. I am not opposed to farming. Post Brexit we need more of it, but we need to follow some rules. Today it is just so much easier for owners of large agribusinesses who ignore their responsibilities to their neighbors and ignore inadequately policed regulations and spread slurry over the fields. Please register with Too Much Slurry.

https://projectsplatter.co.uk/

https://toomuchslurry.co.uk/

Hunting and fishing

Along my route I came across a Fox Hunt (Trail Hunt) or maybe it was a Stag hunt on Exmoor and Falconry and Salmon Fishing in Scotland. I am not opposed to traditions, but I am opposed to hunting unless it is done humanly, and you are going to bring home your quarry for the dinner table. You do not see Fox Pie on the menu! And none of these sports should be exempt from the Covid-19 restrictions. This was a big group of people in Tweed. The good news is I saw a Fox scarpering across a field many miles from the hunt. As a keen fisherman it was nice to witness a Salmon being landed on the River Leven in Scotland that was humanly killed and taken home for supper. I am assuming it was later tagged. Further up the system on Loch Lomond I was chatting with a Pike fisherman and he asked me if the Salmon was returned. Apparently earlier this year some 50,000 salmon escaped from an open pen fish farm and the concern is they will breed with the wild stock and enter the rivers. Fisherman are being encouraged to remove these fish when caught. That is if they can tell the difference and it seems the perfect excuse to take all catches home and put even more pressure on wild salmon stocks. Being involved in aquaculture innovation with Hydro Industries, I went to the Shetlands earlier this year to do a course on fish health. As an aside I learnt about the dire state of the Scottish Salmon farm industry with ever increasing levels of sea lice which threaten Scotland’s wild salmon stocks, infectious diseases resulting in the deaths of millions of fish each year and contamination of lochs and coastal waters from chemical pollutants have shown that this industry’s business model is broken. As restrictions associated with Covid-19 have led to a relaxation of regulations it seems timely to review alternatives to open net pens. There is a solution where the future of salmon farming can all be done on land in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). Let us not use Covid-19 as an excuse to change. The development and uptake of new technologies that have minimal effect on the marine habitat will be more important than ever.

Deprived Areas and Council Housing

The route through the North West and the greater Glasgow and Clyde area often took me through greenways, pathways, and canal paths in deprived areas. In Blackburn and Darwen I somehow got lost and ended up in the very deprived Fishmoor Drive. Whilst I never came across any unsafe events, it did make me feel stressed and I felt much happier when I escaped to the hills. Shame on the architects and builders at the time to build such poor-quality housing using industrial building techniques, abstract architectural theory and councils obsessed with quantity over quality. It does not have to happen this way again. Surprisingly, there is a lot of green space on these estates where they could be remediated and redeveloped using the existing infrastructure and the old stock which must be working against net zero carbon, removed, and replaced. There must be a model where local authorities with more cross-party consensus can acquire and redevelop sites towards a net zero goal, partly themselves and partly through selling plots to developers. We have an opportunity to get rid of the stigma of council housing as shameful and unaspirational places to live and overcome the misery of too few houses, built badly at a high cost. This will also support leveling up the economy with motivated citizens working closer to home, requiring less major infrastructure development to get people to and from work, investing in education and skills all under the umbrella of entrepreneurial ecosystems of manufacturing, innovation etc. Again, the only thing stopping this is ourselves.

Dialects and accents

Besides cycling around my home in Wales, my normal mode of travel is plane, train and automobile. When you fly to a new city or to a new country you expect the accent to change. What I did not appreciate in the UK is how abruptly they change yet there is no physical boundary between countries, counties, cities, towns, and villages. In the West Midlands and North West over the course of a day I would come across Brummie, and Manc and then even smaller variations between Lancashire and Cumbrian. Even though I consider myself worldwide and world wise, I had never appreciated how one village could be different to the next, in how a person pronounces words and uses grammar and vocabulary. I certainly knew when I got to Scotland. As if a physical barrier had been removed, I checked into a hotel in Gretna allegedly with some bedrooms in England! Taking this a bit further I do not think accents should be ranked, which I know they are. Just like with race we are all the same, let us not let this become a self-fulfilling ideology.

Roadside rubbish and fly tipping

All along my route I came across roadside rubbish with fly tipping most prevalent in the West Midlands and North West. Very often this would be at intersections with cycle paths. There were takeaway coffee cups, food cartons, beer cans, and dozens of plastic bottles, some filled with yellow liquid. Upon research I learnt they are most probably filled with bodily fluids — presumably because drivers are too lazy to pull over to find a toilet at a service station. On a larger scale I came across a cast iron headboard, a fridge, and a bath. I also see these same things when I cycle locally in Wales. According to the environment charity Keep Britain Tidy, it costs the taxpayer more than ￡1 billion a year to clear up roadside rubbish and this excludes the networks handled by the local authorities. And it’s not just the monetary price: rubbish hurled from vehicles travelling at speed causes accidents, while the big clean-ups often result in traffic jams and delays as lanes or entire motorways are closed so the teams can work safely. Not only are these litter-strewn verges a hideous eyesore, but the discarded rubbish presents a real hazard if it gets blown on to the road, where it can cause a punctures, shattered windscreens — or even a collision. And it is also a danger to animals and gets into their food chain. Just think how else we could use this money to spur on the economy now. Its putting a huge strain on taxes. Again, this is in our control. We can simply take our rubbish home. This coupled with a shift towards tackling rubbish at source and moving to a zero-waste society like in Sweden. 

So, these are some of the things I saw on my route from Lands’ End to John O’Groats. I also saw immense beauty as the landscape constantly unfolded, but it will be the acts of kindness and the donations that people have made to Velindre that will stick with me forever. I also had plenty of time to think about my 2021 goals. But right now, 2020 is turning out to be the most important year for all of us. We need to accept and embrace change and become the change.

If you want to follow my daily cycling updates, they are all on Twitter and Instagram.

Take care,

Neil