Hereford

Hereford is really lovely, and it is so good to spend some time with Ally.

One of the unforseen benefits of cycle touring in a foreign country is that you really have to exercise your brain when you are memorising maps and complicated routes. We have downloaded Sygic maps, and Osmand Maps on to our Samsung Tablet, both of which are stored off line, so we should be able to find our position easily without having to worry about wi fi. The GPS always works, regardless of where you are. Google maps won't work offline unless you pre-save an area beforehand. One can also do screenshots on the tablet of the planned ride map, as well as satellite screenshots if any intersections are complicated.

Today we are going to go for an exploratory ride around Hereford, just to make sure that the bikes are OK and to orientate ourselves with the maps.

London to Hereford by train

We were wide awake at 6 am on Friday , in our apartment in Bayswater, so we decided to go for a walk in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It was nice to see the sun come up through the trees and hear all the birds. We are very pleasantly surprised to see literally hundreds of cyclists riding through all the streets of London. The number of cyclists has grown enormously since we were last in London two years ago.


We cycled from our apartment back to Paddington Station, and caught the train to Newport and then on to Hereford. Hereford is as beautiful as ever, and it is really good to see everyone here.

Our bikes are fine, and the batteries survived their journey, so now we just have to orientate ourselves and study the local maps carefully, before we set off for Wales in about a week's time.

Perth to Paddington, Thursday 10 Sept.

ASH: Our  bikes survived the trip to London. I had to find a corner of Heathrow to re-assemble them, which went without a hitch. As I finished off, I bumped into a cleaner who showed me where the recycling compacter was for the boxes.

We also got the news that the batteries have been released by British Customs and on their way to Hereford.

From the airport we caught the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station (15 minutes), and then cycled to our apartment in Inverness Terrace in Bayswater. Very easy.

The Bayswater area has an olde worlde, leafy street, type feel. It's kind of shabby chic, with lots of expensive cars, but also quite a lot of young student-looking people. Maybe they are rich students.

Tomorrow, we make our way to Hereford by train.

Cycle Tour preparations.

Ash: Our bike batteries are made of Lithium Ion, and are classified as dangerous goods by the airlines. This means that we can take our bikes with us on the flight, but not the batteries. EBikes without batteries are not quite as much fun.

So, we had to drop off the batteries to Pack And Send in East Perth a couple of days ago. Today we got an email from DHL in England , saying that British Customs won't release them until we fill in a form saying that they are only temporarily in the UK.

Our baggage allowance with Air Emirates is 30kg each in the hold, and 7kg each in hand luggage. Our bikes weigh 27kg and 29kg each. This means that we can only have an extra 4kg in the hold, plus 14kg in hand luggage, so we are going to be travelling light!

New bikes and new tour planned

Pelicans on Swan River, Perth

View of Perth from the south.

Statue in Hay Street Mall, Perth.

Part of our usual cycle route around the Swan River.

After cycling over 30 000  kms on our trusty Scott bikes(non electric), we have taken the plunge and bought two electric bikes. We very nearly bought 2 Scott E-bikes with the Bosch motors, but at the last minute decided to buy the Kalkhoff and Focus Bikes, because they have such a good range on a fully charged battery. The range is advertised as 180 kms , if the rider is not too heavy, and the road is flat, and there is no wind, etc.  The whole idea with E-Bikes, is that you still have to pedal or they just won't go - there is no throttle. It's just that you can go much further and much quicker up the very steep hills, for the same effort that you put in on normal bikes.

After riding them for a couple of months, we have found that Les is getting close to 200 kms on her bike (she is as light as a feather), and Ash is only averaging about 100 kms on a full charge. (He is not as light as a feather!) Ash's bike is the Kalkhoff Agattu Premium Impulse with a 250w motor and a 36 volt battery with 17ah. Les' bike is the Focus Aventura with the same motor and battery. They are both made in Germany by Derby Cycles.

So, we are leaving Perth and flying to Heathrow Airport on 9th September, taking the bikes with us, and have planned a tour of Wales , following which we will be cycling from Wales back to London via the Thames River valley route.