Adventure with Adam

  • Blog
  • About Adam
    • About
    • Now
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Adventures
  • Cycle Touring
  • Tips and other Useful stuff

WALKING OR CYCLING: WHICH IS BEST FOR ADVENTURE?

24th March 2017 By Adam Hugill Leave a Comment

  • WALKING OR CYCLING: WHICH IS BEST FOR ADVENTURE?

  1. 1

The time was 8:23 pm on a grim, pitch-black winter night in the North of England. My back is aching. There are blisters between my toes and Storm Barbera is battering the UK. The relentless gale force winds were blowing the rain horizontally into my face with fierce intent. There was no point putting my waterproof trousers on as I was already soaked to the bone.

With only 20 miles left to the finish line, I was powering through this torrential rain. There is nothing more dismal than walking head-first into the main beam of oncoming traffic, on a busy road in the middle of Lincolnshire. With System of the Down songs blasting in my ears, I picked up the courage to keep going.

"Stop being weak. It's only 20 miles to go." I kept reminding myself. I was exhausted. I let my rucksack slump to the floor and I took a quick rest by sitting on it. "This is dog shit!" Who in their right mind would be sitting in the rain in the middle of nowhere on December 23rd? I should be at home. It's Christmas time after all.

I looked at google maps to see how far I have travelled and couldn't quite believe I had almost done it. Life on the road was simple. Wake up, walk, eat, sleep and repeat. Every time I stopped, I also checked my JustGiving page as an extra source of motivation. At his point, I had raised £1861.68! 

Quitting wasn't even an option.

I got up, threw my rucksack on and picked up the pace. "I can do this! Come on Adam. Yaaarkshire!" I shouted at myself in the dark. The Humber Bridge was within reach. I was going to do it.

Motivation

This may sound like something that would be normally completed as a military exercise but no, I was walking 220 miles across England voluntarily. But why? I previously mentioned that I was doing it to raise money for a charity. Walking with the Wounded support wounded veterans to find new careers outside the military. Raising money for this fantastic charity was how I justified this adventure to my friends, family and to myself. However, this was not the real reason I choose to take on the challenge.

I was doing it for the adventure. To push my boundaries. I wanted to see if I could walk 220 miles unsupported in 10 days.

I started at my home in Wiltshire and was walking unaccompanied to my parents home in Beverley, East Yorkshire. After the first day of struggling through farmer's fields and the boggy countryside, I ended up staying on the quicker but busy roads. I had a deadline to make and needed to cover the distance in the most efficient way possible.

Previously my adventures consisted of sitting on something such a bicycle, kayak or even a horse. Did I enjoy these adventures more? Possibly. But it depends on what you mean by 'enjoy'.

Keep walking Infantry

Some of the soldiers on a course I instruct on. They are carrying the 81mm Mortar in the dismounted role. Carrying lots of kit is hard work.

As an Infantry Officer, I am used to walking long distances. In the Army, when we carry our equipment on our backs it is called tabbing or to tab which is short for 'tactically advancing to battle'. Tabbing is a routine part of the training we do. Usually, it is over distances such as 5 or 8 miles. Rarely do we train to tab much further.

For this challenge, I was to tab over 22 miles a day for 10 days. This would be different to what I was physically used to. Before I set off, it's the first time I've felt nervous or apprehensive about my chances of completing an adventure. My chances of success depended on a bit of luck as well as being able to walk the distance. An injury could have halted the challenge at any time.

Physically, this was much harder than any of my previous adventures. When you are riding a bike, you can put all of your kit and equipment into panniers and have the bike take the weight with a rack. Rather than struggling with 20-30kg on your back, you can quite comfortably load a bicycle with 40kg. Sitting on a saddle is much more comfortable than walking, even if your bum does get sore after a while.

Cycling can still be tough at times. When going up a long, steep hill with a fully loaded bike, you have to work your legs and lungs hard to get to the top. Especially when your body shape is better designed to play rugby than to peddle up hills. Once you reach the top of the hill you have the enjoyment of sitting back and free-wheeling all the way to the bottom. Some of my favourite moments on a bicycle have been spent gliding downhill, with my hands out to the side and the wind in my face. Effortless free miles.

When you walk to the top of the hill, you have the worst bit to follow. Walking down the hill with a heavy pack. Not a pleasant feeling, especially on the knees.

Freedom

Repairing another puncture. Something you don't have to worry about when walking.

Walking allows for freedom like no other form of transport. You can avoid roads, paths and tracks and make your own way to a destination.

There is no need to worry about locking your bike up or repairing broken parts (which inevitably will happen on a long cycle adventure). Walking is pure, simple and cheap. It's what humans are designed to do. You can walk through mountain passes, jungles, snow covered glaciers and vast deserts. It would be almost impossible to cycle in some of these environments.

Cycling provides a different type of freedom to walking. Being able to travel large distances without the cost of fuel (other than your food) is liberating. I think cycling is the perfect speed to take an adventure. It's fast enough not to get bored of your surroundings and be able to travel considerable distances in a short space of time but slow enough to soak in the atmosphere and your surroundings.

Walking or Cycling?

Both walking and cycling have their merits. I love both for different reasons. If you choose to go on a cycling adventure, you will be in less pain, that is for sure. You can carry more kit, which usually makes life a little bit more comfortable.

Walking is much simpler than cycling. Setting off from my house in Wiltshire and walking in a north-easterly direction is as simple as an adventure gets. Repairing flat tires and broken racks can become tedious. Especially when you are in the middle of nowhere. At least with walking, all you have to look after is your body (especially your feet). Almost sounds too easy!

It definitely isn't easy for most people. Being self-sufficient on a long walking adventure means carrying all of your own equipment. This is physically draining after a long period of time.

Verdict

If I had to pick a favourite, cycling adventures would be at the top of the list (but only just). A cycling adventure is, in my opinion, the best way to start a life of adventure.

I felt more achievement from the walking challenge than I have from any of my cycling adventures. But I'm not sure if achievement is what I am solely looking for. For me, the most rewarding part of an adventure is to embrace local cultures, be closer to nature and to meet new people. For others, the physical aspect is more important. There is no right or wrong way to go on an adventure. It's good to be able to have a mix of both. Physically demanding but also exciting and awe inspiring.

Either way, by walking or cycling, you can have an amazing adventure for very little money. You don't need an expensive bike or expensive boots. The size and fit of both are much more important.

One key lesson I have learnt is that an adventure without a a strict time limit is much more enjoyable. Part of an adventure should be to have the ability to be flexible. Having a tight timescale to achieve a task reduces this and takes away some of the fun.

If you are thinking about what to do next, all you need to do is book a weekend in your busy diary to go out and do something different. Put your boots on or get out your bike and head off to the hills, the beach or a forest. Camp out for the night and return home the next day. Start small and you might be surprised where you will end up.

Walking to places you would struggle to take a bicycle.

 

Filed Under: Advice, Thoughts and Ramblings Tagged With: cycle touring, cycling, walking, walking with the wounded

Busking to Belfast – Part Two

5th February 2017 By Adam Hugill 1 Comment

This was my first real solo adventure. I usually have a Platoon of men to command or a friend to travel with. This time my partner was the bicycle and a ukulele.

Cycling through Yorkshire was a real unexpected highlight of the trip. As a Yorkshire man, I almost take the beauty of my home county for granted. It was great to visit small towns and cities that I have never been to.  Places such as Halifax, Bradford and Harrogate were full of friendly people who were more than happy to stop and talk to a complete stranger. One man in Harrogate even bought me a pint after I sat on a patch of grass next to a pub to recover from climbing up a big hill.

Nothing beats an ice-cold pint after a hard day of cycling on a hot day. To the friendly guy in Harrogate who bought me this, thank you.

The first performance

My first busk in Ripon was terrifying. It was around 5pm and I had been cycling all day on what was one of the hottest days of the year. I sat on a bench, got my delightful pink music stand out and started to tune the ukulele (the music stand is the wife’s, I promise). Playing those first chords was easy enough but plucking up the courage to sing was much harder. My singing was far too quiet. With no amplification, my ukulele was getting drowned out by the sound of distant cars and the bustle of a marketplace in the summer. I had to sing louder to get noticed.

After the first five songs, I had received nothing in my pathetic empty baseball cap. I was ready to give up but I thought I would give one more song a go. Then the most amazing thing happened. I received a pound! I had been paid for singing!  That person will never realise how happy that pound made me. I eventually made another pound and called it a day with £2 in my pocket. I felt rich. Having made that money by using my limited talents felt so much more satisfying than any pay packet I had received before.

Setting up in Bradford to play for the crowds on a busy Friday afternoon. This was the first town I plucked up the courage to stand up and play rather than sitting down. I found that by standing up I engaged with those passing by more. Not sure if it led to any more money though.

Catching up with old friends

In Bradford, I played for about two hours. I made over £5! Never before I set off did I think I would make that much money in a day. An old friend from university saw on Facebook that I was in the area so he popped into town to see me. It was fantastic to catch up with someone I hadn’t seen for six years. We went to the local chip shop for lunch but I wouldn’t allow him to buy me lunch as that would have been cheating.

The cycle from Yorkshire to Liverpool was beautiful. I followed the Rochdale canal for as far as I could. It was much slower than the road route due to the gravelled surface but it was worth it. The canal is a cyclist’s paradise. I didn’t want to leave the canal but I had to get onto the quicker route to make it to Liverpool on time.

The route 66 national cycle route on the Rochdale canal. This was taken after just entering Lancashire from Yorkshire.

Across the Pennines

The route to Liverpool after leaving the Rochdale canal was long and tedious. Hugging the A580 was dirty, polluted and boring. My aim at this point was purely getting miles under the belt to get to Liverpool.

Upon arriving in Liverpool I had four spare hours until I needed to get the ferry. So at 6pm on a Saturday night, I got the ukulele out and started playing my set list. Two songs in (and £2 up) a man with long silver hair came up and asked how much longer I would be. I told him I was going to play five more songs. He then offered to give me £5 if I would move on. It turns out I had picked a great busking slot and he usually performed there.

After agreeing to move (I was more than happy to make a quick £5) I asked the man what his act was. He told me he plays music on his speakers, puts on his roller blades and skates around the streets. I laughed, thinking he was joking. He wasn’t. He told me his alias is ‘quicksilver’ or Jeff to his friends. Jeff quicksilver made about £20 in 5 minutes!

It was quite astonishing how quickly he had made the money. He was entertaining and unusual. It’s not often you see a pensioner roller skating to music in the streets. I told Jeff I was heading to Belfast, it turned out that was his home town. He wished me well and I was on my way with £7 from my stint in Liverpool.

The border between Yorkshire and Lancashire.

I got the overnight ferry to Belfast from Birkenhead. Travelling with a bicycle through the metro system in Liverpool was a bit of a pain. I had to get to the other side of the River Mersey and you can’t just cycle across. After lugging my heavily laden bicycle into elevators that were far too small to fit my bike in I got to Birkenhead and made my way to the ferry port.

The ferry across was pleasant enough. Priced at £30 each way, it was a bargain. I didn’t pay to get a cabin so got my roll mat and sleeping bag out and got a few hours’ sleep under a coffee table. This was also a good place to charge all my cameras, phone and GPS.

Northern Ireland 

After three days of scorching summer weather (by English standards anyway) arriving in Belfast to rain was fairly pleasant. I set off from the port at 6:30 am with no real destination as my target other than to follow the coast west. After an hour of cycling in the constant rain I started to feel tired and sorry for myself. I started following the coast initially north, then west towards Larne was my first leg.

Having the sea on my right-hand side was nice, for some reason I have always enjoyed following a coastal route. Stopping on the beach in fine weather always puts a smile on my face. This wasn’t going to happen today. The rain was becoming tiring. I was cold, wet and hungry. All the shops were still closed as it was about 7:30 am. I spotted an underpass for the small A road I was following and decided to get some shelter. Slowly I placed my roll mat and sleeping bag on the floor of the heavily graffiti-laden underpass and got an hours sleep. I was that tired that I wasn’t even particularly bothered by the strong smell of urine in the tunnel.

I woke and the rain had slowed. Time to get back on the bike and stop feeling sorry for myself. In Larne, I stopped at a Lidl supermarket to buy some food with the money I had made in Liverpool. I bought an absolute feast for £3. I got a jar of olives, bunch of bananas, a cheesy bread roll, eight tortilla wraps and a pack of ginger nuts biscuits. More than enough to keep me going.

20160722_111241
Shopping at Lidl to keep down the costs. All of this for under £3.

The scenery past Larne was a pure coastal cycling dream. Long winding roads with the occasional fishing village with nothing more than a local post office and pub. This type of scenery was what I was looking forward to the most before I started the trip. I continued past the lovely town of Ballygalley heading west. The only problem with my route was the distinct lack of towns to busk in. Most towns didn’t have a town centre as such. Just a handful of shops on a road with little or no people on the streets to perform to. I had enough food to get me through the day and had some money left over from Yorkshire but I needed to busk at some point.

The real Game of Thrones

Like most of the rest of the world, I am a big Game of Thrones (GoT) fan. Northern Ireland is the major filming location for the series so I was keen to visit some of the sites made famous by the series. The first GoT filming location I stopped in was the coastal town of Cushendun. Here are the caves where Melisandre, the red woman who gave birth to a demon that eventually went on to kill Renly Baratheon. The caves are easy to access, I took my bicycle all the way to them and parked it inside the cave. There were only a couple of other tourists about who had probably gone there due to the GoT link as well. I considered wild camping in the cave but a hard floored tourist destination didn’t seem to be the best place I could sleep that night.

I continued west along the Torr head scenic route. It was glorious weather and you could see the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland over the sea. The route was beautiful but also very hilly. I had to stop and push my bike up the hill on a number of occasions. My water was running low and I was miles from the next town. I pushed on, soaking in the scenery and enjoying the steep downhills. It was still light at around 8 pm with the sun setting at around 9:50 pm each night. I spotted a small forest on the downhill towards Ballycastle and picked that as my camp for the night.

DSC_3784

It was a great wild camping spot. Close enough to the road that I could get back on route quick enough in the morning but far enough in cover that nobody would ever see me. It was also next to a small flowing stream. Always great to freshen up in the morning.

The next day I continued west to Ballycastle. A nice enough town but I arrived early so everything was closed. From Ballycastle, I moved off the coastal route and started heading South-West towards the Dark Hedges. This has again been made famous by GoT.  It is a road with huge looming trees, interwoven to create almost a tunnel. It is an impressive sight. Almost as impressive is the number of coaches and tourists that they manage to squeeze into the narrow functioning country road.

A local half marathon being held and the dark hedges were the highlights of the route so the police stopped the tourist buses for an hour or so whilst the race was being held. Once the race was finished the hordes of American and Asian tourists flooded back into the area; snapping away with their DSLRs. It’s not like I should be complaining as after all, I am just the same as the rest of the tourists.

DSC_3797
My photo of a lone half marathon runner at the Dark Hedges and the same location below as shown in the Game of Thrones.

56KingsRoadAryaGendry

I was still struggling to find a busking spot. At this point, I should have got my ukulele out at the dark hedges but I didn’t feel comfortable ruining the tourist’s day with my awful singing. Running short on money, I needed to busk, so I headed to the next town on the coast with the aim of busking regardless of the amount of people there.

I headed quickly downhill towards Ballintoy Bay, again made famous by GoT. This is the location of Pike, one of the Iron Islands. I could instantly see why they used this site to film the Iron Islands. The small Bay looked old, almost like it was from another time. On a rough day, I could imagine the waves would come right over the craggy rocks with only the man-made walls there to protect the boats. There was a small cafe in the bay and a good number of tourists. I popped into the cafe to ask if it was ok to busk. They gave me their blessing so I set up for the first time in Northern Ireland. After an hour and half of performing, I made £3. I was more than happy with that amount. It meant I wouldn’t go hungry.

Taking the scenic route

The road down to Ballintoy Bay was great fun to cycle down. It is a long, winding road but fairly steep in places. Rather than retracing my route up the hill, I decided to follow the Causeway footpath. It hugged the shore of the coast west towards the Giants Causeway.

This was a mistake.

The route was boggy mud in places which meant getting off the bike and pushing. This meant lifting my heavy bike onto my shoulders and crossing the deep mud, gates, stiles and fences.  There were large boulders and rocks blocking my path which meant carrying the bike again and there was lots of loose dry sand. Wet sand is fine but dry loose sand I discovered is an instant handbrake for a bicycle. However, despite all of that taking that route was the most enjoyable part of the whole trip.

Taking my bicycle where it wasn’t meant to go got strange looks from the local ramblers but they often stopped and talked to me, asking why I was going this way with the bike. They often told me that I wouldn’t be able to get the bike through the next part as it’s too wet/rocky/sandy. This was just the motivation I needed to get through the next part of the route. The long beach between Ballintoy and Dunseverick was brilliant to cycle across. Miles of wet sand, rugged coastline and even a herd of cows sat relaxing on the beach!

DSC_3823

When I arrived at the Giants Causeway and thought this was my time to cash in. I played two songs and had made £2 already. I was on fire! That was until the nice lady from the National Trust extinguished my act and told me I couldn’t play there. I followed her direction, packed up and made my way towards Coleraine.

This was the last part of my short adventure in Northern Ireland. I found the Northern Irish people to be friendly and always happy to stop and talk, even to this English man. Not once did I mention that I am in the British Army or talk about politics. It is always easier to avoid talking politics anywhere in the world.

I got the train from Coleraine back to Belfast and stayed in a hostel that night where I met a fantastic busker performing in the hostel kitchen area. His name is Ruben and is the Swedish Street performer champion for the last three years running. We shared our tales of busking and travelling and went for a well-needed pint in Belfast.

Lessons from the Road

I am always looking for different ways to push myself and to have different experiences. I joined the Army to deploy on operations and test myself in the most challenging environment possible.

War.

Unfortunately (or many would say, fortunately) during my six years as a regular Army Officer I have never deployed in a combat role on operations. I deployed in a staff role to Afghanistan and never once left our largest base, Camp Bastion. Due to missing out on this I feel a need to find ways to push and test myself in the form of adventures.

This adventure ticked many boxes. Not because of the hundreds of miles spent on the saddle of a bicycle. It was the learning of a new instrument and singing in the streets for the first time. The cycling almost took a backseat for this adventure. The busking is what pushed me out of my comfort zone.

Don’t get me wrong. Physically, the cycling was at times challenging.  I learnt that ‘scenic route’ actually means the route with horrible hills that you may have to get off and push your bike up.

Travelling alone can be liberating. Having nobody to answer to, all your decisions become based on the here and now. I feel that everybody should experience solo travel at least once in their life. You learn so much about yourself.
I need to keep doing these types of adventures. Be it alone or with somebody else, the world is a big place and over a lifetime, we can all only scratch the surface. I also realised how important my wife is to me. She is a Saint. She puts up with my constant escapades and I shouldn’t take that for granted.

Filed Under: Adventures, Cycle Touring, UK Tagged With: budget, cycle touring, cycling, game of thrones, lancashire, Northern Ireland, wild camping, yorkshire

  • Blog
  • About Adam
    • About
    • Now
    • Press
    • Contact
  • Adventures
  • Cycle Touring
  • Tips and other Useful stuff

Categories

  • Adventures (15)
  • Advice (15)
  • Africa (3)
  • Books and Films (2)
  • Camping (3)
  • Cycle Touring (6)
  • Cyprus (9)
  • Dogventures (4)
  • Europe (3)
  • Finances (3)
  • Himalayas (5)
  • Inspiration (5)
  • Kit and Equipment (3)
  • Photography (2)
  • Planning (16)
  • Podcast (1)
  • Running (3)
  • Thoughts and Ramblings (7)
  • Tips and other Useful stuff (6)
  • UK (7)
  • Video (2)
  • Walking (5)

Archives

Top Posts & Pages

  • WILD CAMPING WITH A DOG
    WILD CAMPING WITH A DOG
  • HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN GIVE A FALSE SENSE OF REALITY
    HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN GIVE A FALSE SENSE OF REALITY
  • THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WILD CAMPING IN THE UK
    THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WILD CAMPING IN THE UK
  • From Captain to Civilian. Why I am leaving the British Army.
    From Captain to Civilian. Why I am leaving the British Army.
  • ADVENTURE GRANTS 2017
    ADVENTURE GRANTS 2017

Follow me

  • Blog
  • About Adam
  • Adventures
  • Cycle Touring
  • Tips and other Useful stuff

© 2019Adventure with Adam. All rights reserved