Pub lunch bike ride

Nicky and I cycled north to Stewkley then back to Wing where we found a good place for lunch, The Cock Inn. They do Sunday roasts for £7.99 - I had beef and was offered sausage and stuffing with it, but settled on Yorkshire Pud. I plan to call again when some Lejog friends meet up in Nov. We then had a 10 mile trip back up Mentmore hill and with a blustery headwind. 25 mile round trip making my weeks total 75 miles

Fitness Campaign Update

I've lost about half a stone now basically by eating and drinking a bit less and exercising a bit more, and it feels good! My BMI is still around 27 though so I've still got a way to go before reaching a 'not overweight' 25. It would be easier if I hadn't shrunk from 5'6" to 5'5" over the last 10 years! I'm also not sure that BMI is a realistic measure, as it doesn't take into account your muscle weight.
In terms of diet I've been loosely following the ideas of the F2 high fibre and Gi Plan diet, which seem healthy in that you fill up on fruit and fibre and keep fat intake down. I did consider the Dukan diet but decided it was crazy and unnatural. The only real modification to diet though, apart from eating a bit less, is that I have added a grapefruit drink or half grapefruit for breakfast and I suppose we eat a bit less meat and more salads. I already was eating plenty fruit, veg and fibre.
My exercise consists of cycling to/from work usually 3 times a week with one swim, one or two gym sessions and sometimes a 3 mile run. Then at weekends I usually go for a short or long bike ride or a walk with my wife. I've also been working on my allotment which can be quite energetic.
I tried calorie counting for a few days using http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ - but probably won't do this regularly. It does however give you an idea of how much food and exercise you need to do to reach a target weight in a number of weeks.
I'm not sure if I'll manage to get much below 11.5 stone, but at least I plan to keep a trim waistline whilst building up my upper body and leg muscles. Hopefully I can get down to 11 stone.

Wallingford Again

Woke up to a clear blue sky and sunny day. Packed panniers with picnic and swimming kit and Nicky and I set off for Wallingford at about 9:45. We had a coffee and snack, then arrived at sunny Wallingford at around 12. We both had a brief swim in the cold Thames, had our picnic and sunbathed for a couple of hours. We made a slight detour on our return on some minor roads and nice villages such as Brightwell Baldwin and Sydenham, with pretty churches and pubs (Sydenham church pictured). We had a stop at the Chinnor Garden Centre just before 4pm closing for an unbelievably cheap 2 teas and cakes for £5.48. Got home around 5:30, a mileage of 62 miles, making my week's mileage 157.

So the day trip has shown that 60 mile a day should be ok for planned Lands End trip. We've decided to do the trip at May half term, and just cycle one way. That way we'll still have time for 2 week somewhere hot and exotic in the summer!

Fitness Campaign

It's been dry and sunny all week, so I've cycled to work every day and went on an hours ride late this afternoon. So my week's total is so far 95 miles. I also had a swim, gym session and a couple of hours on the allotment. My wife and I are trying to loose a bit of weight and are on a bit of a fitness campaign. We're trying a high fibre low fat diet (F2 or Gi) and have lost 3 or 4 pounds in 2 weeks. Trouble is we've got 2 scales and there's a difference of half a stone between the 2, so we're not sure when we'll reach our targets.
Today's ride was over Ashridge at about 5:30 pm, past Ivinghoe Beacon (pictured), and Tring reservoirs.
Tomorrow we plan a longer ride to Wallingford, Oxfordshire .

Lake Balaton

Our second week in Hungary was in a rented house in Szigliget on the north western shore of Lake Balaton. Although we'd a hire car we decided to hire bikes too for around £20 each for 5 days. The bikes weren't up to much - heavy with mountain bike tyres, 21 gears and no suspension, but we only wanted them for short trips to the local beaches, towns and sights. Cycling is very popular here with whole families cycling, and good cycle paths away from or parallel to the roads. In fact there's a 200 km bike route that goes around the entire edge of the lake, most of which is on purpose built asphalt bike tracks. If I had my road bike and it was cooler I'd be tempted. It's pretty hot and sunny this week - 35C at midday, so we plan to cycle mostly in the mornings and evenings. However today (Tuesday) we cycled west to Keszthely which took most of the day, including stops at a palace, museum, restaurant and beach, and was a round trip of about 35 km, almost all on cycle paths. I managed to cycle over a 2 foot grey green snake, but it seemed to survive! Most of the other cyclists were day trippers on hybrid or mountain bikes, but there were a few road bikes and quite a few heavily laden bikes with front and rear panniers on camping trips presumably.

Hungary Cycling Tour Review

Overall:
It was a well organised tour and a good mix of cycling and sight seeing. The hotels and food were good quality and value, the £700 trip cost included all costs except lunch and drinks (visits to pools etc included). The fact that the tour organisers let some of our belongings get stolen was a bit of a blunder, and it seems they weren't insured for this. The scenery by the lakes and rivers with quiet bike tracks was nice, but the flat fields of maize and sunflowers that we cycled through on straight roads were a bit monotonous. What motorised traffic we encountered was used to bikes. Our daily distance was only 30-50 km (3 or 4 hrs cycling) so if you were wanting something more challenging and can't cycle slowly, this is not the cycling holiday for you!
The People:
Tony the manager of Velo Touring (Budapest) is quite an amusing chap who tends to speak non-stop in a mixture of Hungarian, German and English to anyone he meets - only stopping to eat (which he does a lot!) He's a good driver although does spend quite a bit of time on his mobile.
Victor our guide is a nice chap who speaks good English and has a good knowledge of local history. He's also a good driver.
The cyclists just consisted of my wife and I and the German. He was quite a slow cyclist, who had his saddle low and tended to use low gears. So we had to stop every 15 mins for him to catch up, which was ok by us.
The Bikes:
The Merida Classic 200 bikes were ideal for the trip. Although I wasn't sure front suspension was a good idea at the start, there were enough bumps to make them a necessity. The 700 x 35 Kenda tyres with road grips were good. Wearing my "cargo shorts" rather than padded Lycra was good - cooler and handy pockets. I was a bit surprised the bikes weren't fitted with bottle cages, but they fitted one on mine. Nicky's was a ladies bike and didn't have the fittings for a cage, but at least we had the little panniers. Having a big bike trailer meant they could carry several spare bikes and transport us along the busy road sections to/from nice bike roads.

Hungary Day 5

The first ride was 10 km or so on a new bike track alongside a road and we encountered a hill! Nicky described the area as "like Norfolk except flatter". We went in to a huge water park which was absolutely packed, and pretty horrid, although we did manage to find a decent pool and spot to sunbathe for a while. We were told to leave our panniers on the bikes whilst we used the park, but it seem 2 of them (mine and Reiner's) were stolen when our organisers went into a supermarket, and left the locked bikes on the trailer. My bag had my £70 Endura Photon jacket in it and Reiner had his small camera. So we spent the next hour and a half reporting the loss in the local police station for our insurance claims. It was all quite annoying, particularly as it would only have taken 1 minute for us to stow the bags in the minibus.
We continued on bikes another 10 km or so in 32C sun - but at least my bike was a bit lighter! We stopped at Kaba at a small quiet pool and had a late lunch (hot dog & beer) then continued on the final 12 km of our ride at around 6 pm, by which time it was pleasantly cool.
Our last stop was at a pottery, where we saw a demonstration by the potter, and his display of pots. He had a photo of his great great grandfather taken in around 1850 also a potter (must have been just after photography was invented).

Hungary Day 4

We set off on bikes from Hotel Balmaz then joined a farm track, or "splotterway" as Tony the tour organiser called it (he mixes up English and German). We rode for around 22 km across the Puszta to Hortobagy, where we visited the visitor centre then had a horse drawn cart tour of a farm area. The tour was impressive with a show of stunts by herdsmen dressed in their deep blue coats. We then had a good lunch in a restaurant, and set off again on the normal roads for 20 km or so to Nadudvar. The temp was quite hot by then - maybe 28C. Ended the day with a swim in some thermal & normal swimming pools. We then drove to our hotel - a remote hunting lodge where we were the only guests. No wifi though.

Hungary Day 3

We started the day with a boat trip on Lake Tizsa and a walk on an island. We saw various birds including a kingfisher and some night herons. At about 12 we started today's bike ride along the edge of the lake. It was a quiet smooth surfaced road at the top of the 'dam' lined with poplars either side. Weather sunny and around 25C with gentle breeze. Stopped at a restaurant by the river and had catfish soup with sour cream. We then headed inland into the Puszta grassland area to a hotel near Hortobagy, with a selection of thermal pools. We rode around 25 km before lunch and 10-15 km after. Not a huge distance but a nice day with lots of variety.

Hungary Day 2

We drove to Kunhegyes and visited a Protestant church, then started our bike ride for an hour or two through fields of sunflowers and maize, stopping at a village for coffee. Lunch was at a beach resort on Lake Tisza. The restaurant was nice enough with a shady verandah, but the beach itself was tacky with slide, noisy banana boat rides etc. Had a quick paddle and ice cream then headed off along a single track road with plenty bikes but few cars on the top of a dam on the eastern shore of the lake. Lake Tisza was created to avoid flooding and is bounded on all side by dams, the area being flat. It has lots of trees, islands and wildlife within it, and is popular for camping, fishing and cycling. Most cyclists use hybrid or mountain bikes, and I've only seen 1 road bike so far. Village folk use basic single speed bikes, and I suspect for many this is their only means of transport.
We cycled about 28 km along the dam in mostly sunny warm weather 25C, although we did have a bit of rain at one point. Total days mileage 46 km.