York to Gilberdyke

We started today with a brunch in York before heading off on our travels. After an emotional goodbye at the station Mr H was safely heading north and I set off south. My plan had been a quick 10-15 miles but after noticing a favourable wind direction (such a rarity that I felt I had to make the most of it) I decided to push on towards Hull. 

I’ve been following NCN65 and the Transpenine Trail. This is one of the sculptures dotted along the route. 

It’s quite flat round here so I rolled along for an extra 20 miles putting me within striking distance of the Humber Bridge, my next ‘highlight’. 

Before I set off I’d made two additions to my bike that have made a huge difference to today’s ride.  Firstly I’ve added bar ends so I’ve got a bit more variety of hand positions. This makes things far more comfortable although I’ll have to do a bit of adjustment to get them perfect. My other addition was a bit more challenging but absolutely worth it. 

You may remember a pre-tour moan about a delayed (then lost, then reordered, then delayed again) parcel. Well, it eventually arrived and Mr H bought it with him to York. I have bought myself a ‘cycle2charge’. It’s a little unit that sits on the top of the head set and converts the power from the hub dynamo (when you go at 12km/h + ) to a constant charge delivered via USB to whatever you want to charge.  In my case, my phone. 

The fitting of the unit was a bit tricky, first time I tried I screwed in the bolt and severed the wire but, with the use of a bit of tape, I put everything back together, tried again for and, lo and behold, it only blinking well works!  I’ve had my phone satnaving me through Yorkshire all afternoon, playing the radio at the same time and even stopping to take photos and the power has been fine. It’s only now I’m off my bike that I’ll need to use my storage batteries. Which I can also charge via the device. Great huh? 

Tonight I feel like I’m back in touring rhythm. I’ve had a huge bowl of pasta for tea, and I’ve got chocolate for afters. I’ve got bread for breakfast and fresh farm eggs to go with it. My legs feel good and the weather is a little less oven like. All in all a good day’s touring.