2020 THE JOURNEYS THAT NEVER HAPPENED

 Given that we are still in lockdown, I thought that I would share how 2020 was supposed to have happened. I had planned one long tour, two short ones and had thoughts for a third. With my role at Sustrans I had arranged the first guided ride of the season in South Devon and this was fully booked with 30 people. 

My main tour was to be in May when I had arranged to meet my friend, Dagmar from Southern Germany with her partner to celebrate the tenth anniversary from when we met while cycling the North Sea Cycle Route. 

7 July 2010. At Harwich having just finished the NCSR while Dagmar is part way through hers

The first to be postponed was a mini tour of the Somerset Levels at the end of March with a group of Sustrans volunteers from Somerset who were to host our South Devon group. Another was my long planned tour to discover the Lakes and Dales Cycle Route in NW England. I had also imagined the possibility of a short tour in Northern Island 

Like everybody else, my plans fell into disarray because of Covid. Our groups were looking forward to the Somerset Levels. We had met for the first time in 2019 and cycled the Dartmoor Way.  We enjoyed it so much that we organized this ride and were considering another later in the year.

Dagmar with her partner had planned to cycle the Tour de Manche, a 750 mile journey that comes through Plymouth and invited me along.  It is a circular route that goes through Normandy, Brittany, Devon and Dorset.  We first met in Wilhelmshaven on our fully loaded touring bikes in 2010 and cycled together for a week. We have met several times since and our tours have always been adventures. We have toured the Alps, Pyrenees, a long distance tour in the British Isles and other shorter ones.

The Lakes and Dales Loop feels that it should be a spectacular 200 miles tour in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales. It looks awesome and is drawing me in like a bee to nectar.  

Accident in Yorkshire 2012

Fellow Cyclist in Ireland 2015

Well, we are still in lockdown. Let's hope for better things to come