We have done it .....!!!!

Since Norwich we have made our way into the wind towards our destination. Bill joined us for the last 3 days and accompanied us over the finishing line in Colchester, where we started on the April 22nd. The day matched that back in April, with the sun shining and little wind. It was a magic feeling knowing that we have completed the North Sea Cycle Route without any hiccups, dramas, stress, illness or injury. Even our bikes performed brillantly.
We are both totally elated at our achievement but have mixed feelings that it is all over. We have had so much fun.
Thanks to everybody who has followed our blog and we look forward to catching up when we return home to New Zealand.

THE END

Continuing south- and the penultimate blog posting

Continuing our travels southward from Market Rasen we followed the River Witham on a tarmaced rail trail through Lincoln and all the way to Boston. Wind in our faces- deja vu from early days in Holland- flat and windy. Lincolnshire has been a friendly and very scenic county to ride in and we even saw some sun! As we arrived in Holbech the news headlines warned of an 'amber weather alert' - hurricane force winds were due to hit the country that night, "bringing the biggest storm to hit Britain since 1987, with widespread devastation forecast. Even though the next day we battled the winds to Kings Lynn as yet the south hasn't been overly affected. Tradgey struck 6 kms from Kings Lynn when Chas' rear gear cable snapped, defaulting to high gear- very hard work with a heavy load. Sunday, bike shop closed, so we decided to catch the train to Norwich and on Monday find a bike shop to carry out repairs.

Well folks, this is the penultimate posting for our intrepid cycle journey around the North Sea with only 4 days cycling left. We will post our final blog after we cross the 'finish line' in Colchester.

Old pub in Lincoln

Old church in Lincoln

Lincoln cathedral

On route down the Witham Water Rail trail

Interesting sculptures along the way

And many barges and some locks

Coming into Boston

Boston cathedral

Boston town hall

Boston main street

...and again

Norwich market place

Colmans mustard shop and museum- made in Norwich

RAF band at the Battle of Britain rememberance parade. We represented NZ!!

The Brits love a parade





Mayor inspects the troops

Norwich castle - began building in 1067 AD

Archway over the ancient moat to the castle

Making our way south....

After a very relaxing time with Bill we hit the hills of the Yorkshire moors. A few "pushes" were necessary up some some quite steep and long inclines...the views on top however were gorgeous, the heather was flowering as far as the eye could see (when it stopped raining of course!) We made our way to the coast through Sandsend, Whitby then on to Scarborough. York was a short train rine inland so we spent the day in this very nice city checking ou York Minster and the National railway Museum amongst other sights.
Travelling south we passed through Hull and over the Humber bridge into Lincolnshire. Bike riding is superb in this county but already we are seeing trees turning into their Autumn colours and leaves falling.

Whitby

Whitby harbour

Whitby

Another great rail trail- Whitby to Scarborough

York

York art gallery

Part of the York old town wall

Gracious buildings in central York

York Minster

 Chas, the tourist in York

An old Royal beauty- I was talking about the train

Interesting sculpture commemorating the men from RAF Lissett

Humber bridge

Sandsend holiday resort

Hull waterfront

York railway museum

York railway museum

Days off in Northumbria

Our days off in Bellingham coincided with the English bank holiday weekend and as Chas' bike needed a new spoke in the rear wheel it was an opportune time for our host Bill, to show us some of the Northumbria countryside. This included a day driving to the Lakes District to visit a climbing friend of Bill's.
Previous posts have commented on the Scottish and English weather and tonight it was confirmed on BBC news that this summer has been the coldest since 1993, with 25% more rainful and 25% less sunshine than average. We can only hope that autumn brings more settled weather as we cycle south to Colchester on the last leg of our circumnavigation of the North Sea. Tomorrow we catch a train through the very built up areas of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesborough and come out the other side onto the Yorkshire moors.
Surprisingly England is proving to be the most difficult to forward plan campsites. We have needed to spend quite some time on the computer sorting out our daily itinerary because there are no comprehensive campsite maps and information. Our plan is to complete the cycling in Colchester, where we started, on the 19th of September

Roped in to timekeep at a National Series Roller skiing event

Alston- England's highest town

Lakes District countyside

Lakes District countyside

Lakes District countyside

Keilder forest stream

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Edingburgh to Newcastle

After a fabulous few days in Edinburgh, unfortunately it was time to head south once more. To exit the city with little hassle we used the local Scotrail commuter train to get us into the countryside. We thought the £4 each was well worth it! The day we left was very pleasant with a nice ride along a disussed railway line for part of the way and believe it or not we were back into shorts as we made our way to Dunbar and a local campsite. The welcome from the Scottish manager was overwhelming, one would have thought we were long lost cousins. Chas' old climbing buddy Bill had decided to bike with us from Dunbar to Newcastle and we met up with him the next day.
Another milestone was reached the following day when just before Berwick on Tweed, we crossed the border into England. Our Scottish section, although with much rain and mixed weather, had been great and were frankly sad to leave.
From Berwick to Newcastle many small villages and castles were passed..typical old English architecture from days past.
Bill provided us with transport to his home in Bellingham where we are now spending a few days in the area before he gets us back on track south of Newcastle.

Dunbar harbour and ruins of Dunbar castle

Dunbar harbour

Bill, Chas' climbing buddy after he joined us in Dunbar

Another country lane

Coldingham Priory

Crossing the border into England

Looking back towards Berwick on Tweed

Farm cottages

Coastline south of Berwick

Bamburgh castle

One of the many old English pubs

English seaside essentials...!!!

Grain harvest in full swing

Warkworth Castle

Main street in Amble

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne



The many bridges over the River Tyne



Kielder Castle