Just wow!

Lovely stone and rock exterior!

Holy Sh!t Batman! You ride up Honister Pass from the Keswick side!!!

This place is mythical to me.

On my 1982 post Uni voyage of discovery I was headed from Keswick to Buttermere just like you, but when I got to the base of the pass at Seatoller, in the pissing rain, and saw the 25% grade sign, I said to myself ‘I’m not doing that!’. I retreated back to the Yew Tree Pub and just before going in, spotted one of the classic ‘UK Red Phone Boxes’ and made a collect call home to my parents. I’d been fretting about whether I had passed a metaphysics course I’d taken because …. Well ….the nature of metaphysics is that you just don’t know.

If I’d flunked the course I wouldn’t be getting my degree and life would get complicated. Once the collect call went through my dad let me know that not only had I passed, but that day he had gone to my convocation and picked up my BSc degree! A pretty big piece of news for me.

To celebrate, rather than going to the pub, I went into the fancier restaurant they had there and blew about a weeks budget on a celebratory meal (and a few bevies) and then proceeded to sleep beside a nearby stone wall in a pasture with a few cows, shielded a bit from the rain by my first generation homemade goretex bivy sac.

Never did ride over Honister pass but we’ve driven over it a few times. We’ll have to go back and take in the slate mine!

Thanks for Sparking these wonderful memories… and huge cudo’s for braving the insanely steep Lancashire roads.

Whenever I want to moan about getting older, I think how much older I already am than my mother and two of my friends were when they passed away. And I’m only 66!

I was always very nearsighted until I had laser surgery almost 20 years ago. Since then, I’ve needed readers. Until I splurged on prescription cycling glasses, I used sports glasses with reading panes so my eyes were protected and I could see my bike computer (and my phone, maps, or menus). The were great, but I was tired of changing between clear and tinted lenses, so my splurge included photochromic lenses. Money well spent.

These spiked plants in Aspen are called "fireweed." They are in bloom later in the summer season.

We have a herd of these cows in the Aspen area--they are affectionately called the "oreo cookie" cows. I love them!

Carnegie built libraries in Canada too, 125 of them according to Wikipedia. Some are still operating as libraries.

“Why we tour” fits very aptly into the description of your restaurant excursion! It’s all about the adventure, and you both have this nailed :)

As your shirt says, Dave, the glasses are the “icebreaker” for any conversation. 😂

Cookie cutter housing..;)

Yup, this Canadian (having done both canoe and kayak trips) says those are canoes!

Very nice!

Just catching up on your journal.

I read this entire page with interest. Thank you for sharing. We also have T-Mobile - the senior plan. We paid for international calling on our recent trip. Jacinto is in charge of phones. I couldn't remember if we paid $25. or $35. per month each. I asked google right now, and it says $50. per month. Do you have any secrets to receiving the free international calling?

When the cycle touring community reached a critical mass, about 25 years ago, blogs tended to go into detail about matters like what underwear was being used, and how many. This was sometimes detailed in very complex spreadsheets. I'm about to say that this early enthusiasm faded in blogs, and I think it's true, but I do admit that we, anyway, still have such spreadsheets in a silent support mode. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this page, because it recalls some of that old enthusiasm that after 30+ trips might be dulled for us, a bit.

Some random comments triggered by your text:
You confused me a bit by referring to 5g and 4g, by which it turned out you meant gigabytes (5gB). 5g and 4g otherwise refer to communications protocols. But I caught on fast.

Lycamobile UK permits us to roam in EU, but like in your TMobile example, not forever. However we were last in UK five years ago and they have yet to catch on. And they think we live in a hotel near Horley. On the other hand, Lycamobile France required us to show within 6 months that we have a provable address in France, and indeed after some time (maybe a year) they threw us off.

Yes, Merino is great, but then it develops holes. To Dodie's dismay I then patch these with "Tenacious Tape", until she refuses to be seen with me.

The plate of food with the grey knight was very depressing!

I too opted for a bigger, faster computer despite the chore of carrying it. I congratulate myself on this choice with every evening of pure joy blog writing, compared to the weak, compromise devices I was using before.

But a more controversial choice is filling my handlebar bag entirely with a big and heavy Nikon zoom camera. The advantage is really only in bird photos. Are bird photos all that important in a blog?

Again, your information is very invaluable and sincerely appreciated. You’re both an inspiration and testimony for smart decisions that involve cycling and life!