After my bike tour through the UK

Please find the stories, photos and GPS tracks of my Land’s End to John O’Groats bike tour in the UK in September 2010 here. More details and a big thank you for the amazing 1,361.82 € which were donated for Oxfam in Germany can be found here.

For giving you a short overview, the following shows the GPS track of the complete route, plus total elevation/distance/time/average:
the complete route from Land’s End to John O’Groats [elevation/timing shown behind this link are incorrect - only the route itself + distance is displayed correctly]:
These are the correct totals: ascent: 14,156 m; descent: 14,223 m; dist.: 1,598.95 km; travel time: 104:09; moving time: 83:51; overall avg.: 15.4 kph; moving avg.: 19.1 kph; max. speed: 61.9 kph
The route displayed day by day including correct daily summaries of elevation/distance/time/average can be found here.

Somehow time didn’t allow to write a lot about the trip during or after the tour, however, you still find many interesting details about the trip preparations and the planning. And of course the photos and GPS tracks tell very well how I made my way from Cornwall to northern Scotland.

In detail, you find the following posts on my cycling blog (bike tour #2: Land’s End to John O’Groats (September 2010)):

Land’s End to John O’Groats bike tour (September 2010)

The route

Please help me supporting Oxfam Germany!

Equipment list

A day before the start!

Berchtesgaden to Flensburg instead?! Or: boycott EasyJet!!

still alive

Leeds Met is also trying to support me

made it!

GPS data of trip online

route details (incl. GPS)

Oxfam & I say thank you!

Photos of the tour are finally online!

A few impressions

Enjoy watching the photos and reading the rest of my cycling blog. And please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you want to learn more about the tour; I’m always happy to provide you with input, no matter if you’re planning a similar trip or if you’re simply an interested reader. Just keep in mind: there’s little more enjoyable than bike touring (there are ideas for at least four different future bike tours stuck in my head already again )!

I’ll leave you with a few randomly chosen impressions of the tour – all photos can be found at ”Photos of the tour are finally online!“

before the start in Land’s End

ready, steady, go! – 1,598.95km lying ahead of me

one of endless descents and ascents (here: at the western foothills of Peak Distric National Park)

Peak District National Park near Buxton (strong high winds)

ridiculous 524m seriously was the highest point of my entire tour – still the overall ascent of the tour accumulated to 14,156 metres!

at my favourite pub in the UK – The Old Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales (which wasn’t en route at all)

but the ‘warm chocolate pudding with white chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream’ (best cake on earth!) was reason enough to include a 1.5 hours detour

Lake District National Park near Windermere/Kirkstone Pass

crawling up Kirkstone Pass straight into the fog

my most loyal companions along the tour

beautiful Lake District National Park – unfortunately a little foggy/rainy/cold

crossing the Firth of Clyde via Erskine Bridge near Glasgow

best suggestion for bike touring: expect anything anytime

cycling along my favourite lake in the UK: Loch Lomond

impressive scenery in the area of Glencoe – despite the grey morning

Scottish mountains – often explored on foot during previous years

waterfalls in Invermoriston next to Loch Ness

my private campsite next to River Beauly

view from Struie Hill towards Dornoch Firth near Bonar Bridge – the wettest day of my trip has started

wearing waterproofs or not, it didn’t make a difference anymore

cycling through the remotest area of of my tour between Lairg and Bettyhill – here just before Altnaharra at Loch Naver

he had a 4WD, I had a bicycle for crossing such “puddles”…

reaching the British northern coast line

at Dunnet Head (the most northerly point of mainland Britain) on my last day, some 20km away from my destination

I’ve made it – in John O’Groats after 1,598.95km!

Oxfam & I say thank you!

A great thank you to everyone who supported my fundraising activity! Having done the UK bike tour for charity – Oxfam in Germany – led to an amazing 1,361.82 € in donations. As I found, my initial target of collecting 1 Euro per mile of cycling (i.e. 1,000 €) was quite optimistic already. I’ve never actually thought that we’d even exceed that target. No matter how much people gave, it was very good to see the support of not only family and friends, but actually also by complete strangers whom I met in pubs or campsites along the way.

Through your great support – which also made me push a little harder in reaching my cycling goal – we were able to help Oxfam in getting a little closer to reaching its aim of minimising poverty and injustice through advocacy campaigns, development programmes and emergency response.

Don’t expect me to cycle 10,000 kilometres next time, however, I’m more than happy to take your positive response to that appeal as push for similar campaigns in the future. Again, thank you VERY MUCH!!

Please help me supporting Oxfam Germany!

UPDATE – NEW PAYMENT METHODS AVAILABLE!!

Dear friends, family, colleagues and other supporters, 

After more than three years, the time has come again: As mentioned in the previous post, my bike is calling, and I’ll go on a cycling tour again.  

An appeal for everyone – Please support my fundraising action:

http://www.helpedia.de/spenden-aktionen/lejog

Even though challenges and possible pain can be expected, I’m pretty sure that I’ll enjoy the tour very much. Despite that, or actually because of it, I want to use this “non-everyday-activity” to support a charity. The fact that I’ll be able to cycle all over Britain for two weeks just like that, reminds me of all those amongst us who have to cope with completely different issues than answering questions such as “How to get from Gatwick Airport to Land’s End?”, “Are 14 days enough for the planned tour?” or “Should I bring my tent or sleep inside in B&B’s and Youth Hostels?”.

One of the independent, non-governmental aid organisations whose aim is to minimise poverty and injustice through advocacy campaigns, development programmes and emergency response is Oxfam. Whilst very well-known and popular in the UK, Oxfam is based in 13 other countries as well. One of these other affiliates within the confederation is Oxfam Deutschland (Oxfam Germany). More on www.oxfam.de (German site) [site of Oxfam International: www.oxfam.org].

In connection with my cycle tour, I want to support the efforts of this organisation, such as help after the Pakistan flood or the Haiti earthquake, improvement of labour conditions in third-world countries, campaigns against the negative aspects of climate change, and a lot more. And as more people are able to have a greater impact than an individual person, my target is to collect 1 Euro per mile that I’m going to cycle. That adds up to 1,000 miles = 1,000 € (approx. £830 or US $1,320). Whilst I’ll take care of the 1,000 miles (approx. 1,600km), I’ll very much depend on your help to reach the ambitious target sum.

It’s all pretty easy – even it’s is all in German:
For holders of a German bank account: Just click on http://www.helpedia.de/spenden-aktionen/lejog, then click on the big, red button “Jetzt spenden”, enter your name in the first field, select the amount you want to donate in the second field (or “Freie Eingabe” if your amount isn’t shown), and feel free to enter a message in the last field; then click on the now slightly smaller red button “Jetzt spenden”, and that’s it! You’ll be able to pay through direct debit from a German bank account

For all those of you who don’t have a German bank account, I’ve set up two other alternatives which will make it possible for you to make your donation from outside of Germany:

Option 1:
You can transfer money onto a German bank account which I’ve set up solely for that purpose (it can also be used for payments from abroad!). I’ll forward your donation including other entries to Helpedia online then. Therefore, please include the following two things in the reference/purpose of payment section of your bank transfer which I’m going to copy onto the Helpedia site:
“name” as you want to have it displayed on the website
“comment” (e.g. “Save journey” or similar)
The details of that purpose-bound bank account are (IBAN and BIC are to be used for foreign bank transfers):
Owner of the account: Martin Karl
Account no.: 40233330
Sort code: 74250000
Name of the bank: Sparkasse Niederbayern-Mitte
IBAN: DE33742500000040233330
BIC: BYLADEM1SRG

Option 2:
Alternatively, you can transfer the amount you want to donate onto my PayPal account. As in option 1, please include your name and comment as you want to have them displayed on the Helpedia site.
The data of my PayPal account which you need:
email address: martin@karl-martin.de

Both options mean that you can’t make the entries on the donation site itself – however, obviously you can fully rely on the fact that I’ll pass on your donation without any deduction and in a timely manner to Helpedia and consequently to Oxfam. By that, your donation is going to be directly displayed online and adding to the total amount donated so far. Just have a look at the site from time to time and check out how far we’re still off the target!

As the start of the tour isn’t that far away anymore, please don’t hesitate too much – and please pass on the link to your friends, relatives, colleagues etc. too!

Of course, all donations go straight to Oxfam Germany, without any deductions of Helpedia.

Let me say thank you very much for your support already now! THANK YOU!!

Land’s End to John O’Groats bike tour (September 2010)

Short and sweet: I’ll go touring with my bike again – 2 weeks in September, 1,600km (1,000 miles) and 12,000m (approx. 40,000ft.) of ascent through the UK, from Land’s End in the southwest of England to John O’Groats in the very north of Scotland.

Please click here for all the details or click on the link in the “Favourite Links” column.

Most of the blog updates during the next couple of months are going to take place in that section: General information about the trip, specific details on the course of the route including elevation profiles, equipment list, the progress of my journey, photos and a lot more. So, watch the space!!

Hello again!

Well, well, my most loyal readers of this blog and all those who’ll hopefully soon become loyal again: After quite some mileage, I’m finally back again.

Obviously, I’ve not just been driving around during the past two years (quite the opposite actually). But I guess it’s true that Gwyneth and I live in the Bavarian Rosenheim for almost two years now, and time has flown by real quick.

No point in writing too many tales about the past months. Most of you’ll probably know more or less what I’ve been up to anyway. However, as I was asked by a Scottish member of the British army (a complete stranger to me) while walking in the Belgian Ieper that he had just recently read my blog, I was slightly ashamed after the first surprise because of the “outdatedness” I was very well aware of.

So, a brief summary of the highlights should do it for now – and during the following two months you’ll get enough updates on the bike tour in the UK which I’ve planned for two weeks in September.

Talking about ‘highlights’: There hasn’t been any New York, or Alaska, or other things along that line recently. But since I’m back in Germany, there have been many very nice things I was able to do. Firstly, to live right at the doorstep of the Alps! Not a lot can beat that.

Secondly, my job at a medium-sized company is going well, including a very dynamic and ever-changing work environment which rules out boredom.

And last but not least, all the activities that make life even more interesting. To name just a few out of the last two years: Several shorter and longer hiking and cycling trips in the Alps (sadly still no mountain above 3,000 metres on my list – that’ll still have to change this year [not really sure though when]). Unbelievable for a north-and-winter-loving-heat-hating-person such as me, but true: Two holidays on Greek islands: Kos last October, and Crete around Easter this year. Both were great holidays with Crete really having impressed me by its nature. Rough mountains, gorges, the sea, an unbelievable diversity of flora. And very good food! Also joined the annual 100km of Ieper march in Belgium for which I’ve practised a little better this year than last year – so one of the things I’ve done in beforehand was walking around Chiemsee Lake near Rosenheim. With 56km the longest walk I’ve ever done, and towards the end not the most enjoyable one anymore, I have to admit (one has to walk next to the motorway for a little while in the last section – and you’d never guess how long the “1km exit countdown” indicated by different signs is when you walk it… unbelievably long). Frankfurt and Geneva auto shows were as interesting as trips to Prague, the rural France, Lake Garda and more. In order to get a better idea, I suggest you have a look at the photos which are going to be uploaded during the next days, plus the GPS tracks which show some of my outdoor activities since the beginning of 2010.

Updates to the Blog

I’ve made some slight changes to the blog, mainly added some categories or features.
Check out the links on the right hand side (“Favourites”):

All you shouldn’t forget about my cycling tour from Calgary in Alberta, Canada to Anchorage in Alaska, USA in June/July 2007 – it continues being interesting. The whole story can be found here.

All you need to know about my cycling tour from Land’s End to John O’Groats in the UK in September 2010

Upcoming events: All that’s planned during the next months – maybe you are interested in joining in?

GPS tracks of all sorts of outdoor activities (mainly hiking, cycling, skiing and similar) [apart from the max. speed it’s pretty accurate data; make sure you enable elevation correction; also, you can set units to ‘metric’ or ‘English’, and change between displaying ‘speed’ or ‘pace’]

Photos: The long-established link to my photos (soon up-to-date again!)

Other Favourites: A fairly random selection of web links, such as friends’ websites, other interesting pages and more – this is going to be expanded further

Believe it or not!

A miracle has happened: after more than a year, I have finally managed to sort 15GB of picture files, more specifically, roughly 14,000 pictures of my time in the USA 2006/07. What you find online now are the remaining, Martin-style sorted 8,500 USA photos (or rather North America because several trips to Canada are included as well), starting from mid October 2006 (photos from the end of July 2006 (the beginning of my time in America) until mid October have been online for ages already) until the end of May 2007 (i.e. the time when I left New Jersey for my big bike trip through Canada’s west and Alaska). Only downside of the newly uploaded photos is that they’re not named – it would have simply taken me another year to do that; and that’s why I decided to leave it at the way it is.

If you are interested to have a look at some of the photos, just click on “Photos” in the right column (“Favourites”) and you’ll find them in the section North America 2006/07.

As it’s going to be pretty difficult to work yourself through the entire collection, here an overview over a few of the events/trips/actions which are included:
Halloween (incl. parade in New York City)
many, many New York pictures
several hiking trips (Catskills, Adirondacks, Abram S Hewitt State Forest, Harriman State Park)
New York Marathon
several trips to Boston
world famous Chicken Wings in Hoboken
Montreal
Toronto & Niagara Falls
NBA Basketball match at Madison Square Garden
Detroit Auto Show
Chicago
Flight in a Cessna across New York City and upstate New York (including me being the pilot)
Lancaster & the Amish country
several trips to Philadelphia
Newport (Rhode Island)
Delaware Water Gap
St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC
Quebec City
Washington D.C.
Maine
New Jersey shore
…and a lot, lot, lot more

Now that it’s over, it’s time to tell you what I really did in Leeds

I’ve had it in mind all year, and now that I’ve actually left Leeds, it’s time to tell you what I actually studied in Leeds during my past year. I’ve mentioned it before, my course at Leeds Metropolitan University (one of the larger UK universities with approx. 50,000 students) is called International Business with “Master of Arts in International Business” being the official degree in the end.

It’s a course consisting of core and option modules, is taught at the beautiful Headingley Campus bit outside the centre of Leeds (and not at the much uglier city centre campus), and helps students to gain understanding in a broad field of business-related topics including skills transfer such as communication, effective teamwork and handling of dynamics of multi-national teams and organisations. A very international student body being in Leeds from countries all over the globe very much helped to get new insights and to be faced with new challenges – highly interesting.

The modules I took were Corporate Strategy, Cross-Cultural Human Resource Management, Economics, Entrepreneurship, International Environments of Business, Strategic Management of International Enterprises and were a logical next step from my undergraduate studies in International Business which focused on similar subject areas.

My dissertation (Master thesis) has the topic ‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Public Corporations’ and highlights areas of public corporations being or not being socially responsible, why, how, what etc.

And now you know what I really did in Leeds (apart from some hiking, travelling and short but regular trips to Holland).

The above is a photo of my university. It’s not very up-to-date, but I haven’t really taken any during the past year, so I had to revert to a photo which I took in 2004. And that’s one of my links from 2004 to some more pictures of Leeds Metropolitan University: 041202-1 Leeds Metropolitan University (aerial view)

Martin and trains – it’s like fire and ice

Martin and trains – it has never been the best friendship ever. Delays, misunderstandings, by far not as much fun as cars, expensive… there were a lot of reasons why I’m not the greatest fan of trains.

Story 1:

But, well, what do you do if you want to go to Amsterdam, there’s no car available, plane tickets cost four times as much, and you are in Germany where there’s no particularly well-developed coach system (as for example in the UK)? Well, you take the train. And because you are pretty late with making a one-way booking to Amsterdam, you book the cheapest option available – which was a 1^st class special. Approximately 9 hours from Lower Bavaria to the Dutch capital. All fine, you think.

You think! First thing you realise when you enter the train is that instead of sitting next to a window and in a non-subdivided passenger compartment (as you reserved it), you sit in a subdivided compartment and in the middle seat. Ok, do I care? No, because it really doesn’t matter. I just want to work with my laptop anyway. Sockets? Negative! Internet? Yes – but only in the newest type of ICE trains… I happened to be in the older type.

Good, getting closer to Würzburg, the first place to change from one ICE (the fast trains in Germany) to a second one. You realise that the train conductor doesn’t manage to make up the delay, and you start getting slightly nervous as you only have 8 minutes for changing trains in Würzburg.

Relief in Würzburg – the second ICE train is delayed as well. You might start asking yourself, if anything ever is on time that’s arranged by the German train company? Well, you’d be surprised, yes, there is: my third and final train from Hannover (the second station where I had to change) to Amsterdam. Helpful train personnel, however, announced all the way from Würzburg to Hannover at every single stop what the alternatives for the big connections (i.e. with fast trains to big cities) were. ‘This train has left, but you can take the next one in one hour instead’; ‘This train will be waiting for you in the station’… etc. etc.

They must have, however, known that I was on board – and decided to not announce any alternative for my connection to Amsterdam (which, as I find, is a major city as well). So a lost Bavarian was wandering around at a station in northern Germany and sees as only solution talking to the “Service” Centre. The first thing this friendly woman there announced was ‘oh, that’s going to be difficult’, and the second thing ‘as long as there is some sort of connection on the same day, you’re not allowed to use the same ticket the next day’. Good, ‘some sort of connection’, yes, there was one! And I can tell you, it was a great one!

First of all, I took another ICE, direction: back! It wasn’t exactly the same route, but generally it was towards south within Germany, for 2.5 hours, i.e. where I’ve just come from. The next two trains where regional or local trains – obviously one of them being delayed so that my only option at another station in western Germany which was in the middle of nowhere (and I though the Ruhrgebiet was the most populated area in Germany) was to simply get off my train and take the other one which was standing on the opposite track. There were no people, no passengers, no nothing to ask. Not even a display, neither at the train nor at the station. Luckily it was the right one, and luckily it was still there, otherwise I’d have stayed overnight in, I really can’t remember the name. No man’s land – remember, with a 1^st class special!

Being in Holland, the thing became a bit more cheerful again. The first of the trains there was on time and everything, just on track 1 instead of the announced track 6 – which didn’t even exist on that station. And from Eindhoven onwards my first class special ended squeezed into the entrance area standing next to the doors together with thousands of Dutch all dressed in orange and celebrating their second win in the European championship – but I have to say, that cheered me up quite a bit.

And at an ideal time of arrival – at 2:40am! – I got to Amsterdam when they were just about to close the station, and if I didn’t have a nice girl friend who picked me up by car, I certainly would have been stuck at the station for the rest of the night.

Story 2:

Me visiting an old Leeds friend in Holland – but as every meeting and evening, things come to an end, so I had to get back to where I was supposed to be, a nice little Dutch town. And me being a big guy, I decided that I can take a train from one station to the next one, no problem. Bought my ticket, waited for the train, got on the train. Next thing I remember is seeing the station where I was supposed to get off passing by my eyes, the train I was in not even slowing down. Great! Wrong train. And that after having studied the schedule seriously and intensively, and I was absolutely sure that I’d get to where I wanted to be. Well, obviously not. Good, so that’s when the stress of taking trains really started (after story 1 and story 2 so far, anyone still of the opinion that taking trains is more relaxing than driving?!).

Well, when the train finally got to a halt somewhere far, far away, I got off, and, surprise, there was a train standing on the other track, appearing to go into the direction where I just came from. What made me even happier was seeing a train conductor standing at the door (so for the first time that evening there was actually a person whom I could ask something) – and he confirmed that this train would leave within a few seconds and would go back to where I started from (still not really where I had to be, but good enough). Well, only problem: buying tickets on Dutch (and I guess it’s the same for German and other) trains, not possible. He offered me to get on the train anyway, but then he’d fine me 35 Euros. So I had to get to the ticket machine at the other end of the station – and by the time I got my ticket, the train was long gone. So I had to wait for the next – and last! – one that day (uhm, night). I don’t think it comes as a big surprise to you that the train had some delay as well, but I was freezing to death in that station anyway while waiting for more than an hour, so didn’t really care anymore.

And that is why they’ll never become friends, trains and Martin.

100km van Ieper – or how to best avoid blisters

As indicated already, this is about walking a loooong way somewhere in Belgium. In order to provide you with some insights about the background why we went there, the reason for that walk, with what intentions, I simply stole one of the Leeds Met Walking Club Committee member’s entry on the university homepage and will supplement that with a few own comments in the end:

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/internat/reflects/B2AB54C0930A4EE8AE16E0FECDF745A8_55CF6BE223084F818579E9430E3CF31C.htm:“This year between the 2nd and 4th of May, the town of Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium hosted the 37th annual 100KM walk over Flanders Fields to commemorate the tragic events of the First World War. The walk itself is an amazing opportunity to come together with people of many different nationalities and though we were all walking with the same goal of completing the 100KM, there was a much greater sense of unity in tribute and remembrance. The 100KM walk is a definite physical and mental challenge but when considered and put into context after visiting the countless cemeteries and memorials scattered amongst the Ieper countryside, such as Hill 60, Larchwood Railway Cutting Cemetery, Blauweport Farm Cemetery and the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, the physical discomfort and mental strain seem wholly insignificant.

The Walking Club returned to again pay tribute to all of the servicemen who fought and gave their lives in this conflict by laying a wreath at the Menin Gate during the incredibly moving Last Post ceremony. The entire experience was conversely enjoyable and yet understandably sombre, however the opportunity to show our respect (as both Walking Club members and Leeds Met students) has made it completely rewarding.”

Going away from the historic background of the walk, more towards the actual challenge of walking 100km in three days, I can say that preparing yourself well definitely helps. Whilst I had to skip the last day (i.e. the last 20km) two years ago when I was there for the first time, all sorts of anti-blister preparation in the form of Compeed, needles, crèmes, anti-blister socks, 5 different pairs of shoes (although I walked with one pair only all the time in the end), Ibuprofen, Paracetamol, and the whole thing gets pretty much doable. Although walking the majority of the day on roads is probably the hardest part of the whole trip. And I can guarantee you that neither the British, nor the Belgium, nor the German soldiers who joined the walk too were in any better state or shape than we were. Let’s hope for those countries that they never actually need an army to defend a country!

Anyway, it was all good fun, it really was. We were a great group of 15 people, 11 completed the full 100km (and the 4 who didn’t mainly were lazy rather than physically not capable of doing it); sleeping in huge tents next to military barracks together with civilian and military groups from all over the place, very pretty Belgium countryside, perfect (almost too warm) weather, grilled sausages at 10 in the morning at one of the checkpoints, what else do you need?

Even more information can be found at: http://www.100km.be

And if you speak Flemish, here’s a newspaper article: we made it into a Belgium local paper! http://picasaweb.google.de/Martin.Karl1/08050105100kmVanIeper2008NewspaperArticle?authkey=xmPzuBWjYVc

Photos:
080501-05 100km van Ieper 2008 – 080505 day 5 – goodbye Ieper
080501-05 100km van Ieper 2008 – 080504 day 4 – 20km (3rd day)
080501-05 100km van Ieper 2008 – 080503 day 3 – 50km (2nd day)
080501-05 100km van Ieper 2008 – 080502 day 2 – 30km (1st day)
080501-05 100km van Ieper 2008 – 080501 day 1 – arrival day