Wedding photography is incredibly tiring, I often wonder why as it is incredible fun! Another thing that I do which is tiring is cycling – it helps keep me fit. Last weekend I rode the Snow Roads Audax from the lovely village of Kirriemuir in the Angus Glens of North East Scotland. The course was a 300KM (185 miles) circular route going over the ski resorts of the Lecht and Glenshee but really the whole route was hilly.

About 30 people took part in the ride and my main memory of the ride are glorious sunshine, hills, magnificent scenery, hills, a suicidal GPS, hills, no traffic, hills, hunger, hills, torrential rain, hills, the highest road passes in the UK, hills, brilliant coffee stops, hills, torrential rain, hills, 80kph decent, hills.

It was a grand day out and after about 16 hours on the bike I was certainly tired – nearly as tired as a 12 hour wedding

This is a very different post and has nothing what so ever to do with photography. One of my hobbies is cycling and on Saturday night  in a car park in Poynton near Manchester myself and about 40 other cyclist left for a over night ride to Newtown in Mid-Wales and then  back to Poynton a total distance of 315 KM or 195 miles. The ride is an Audax ride which is a  long distance ‘challenge’  ride normally with less than a 100 people taking part.

The ride left Poynton at 11pm and as went through Winsford, Nantwich, Whitchurch, Wem before crossing the Welsh border at Montgomery for the decent into Newtown at just under a 100 miles. We had two stops before Newtown one in a 24H garage in Whitchurch  to collect receipts as proof of passage another at ‘Dinky’s Diner’ at Ford between Shrewsbury and Welshpool. Dinky’s Diner at 3.30am is a brilliant place for a cup of  tea and a plate of beans on toast before heading over the the border roads to Montgomery and decending just before dawn to the halfway point in Newtown for another cuppa in the 24h McDonald’s.

At Newtown the route is retraced to Dinky’s and then on to Wem, before turning off for Aldlum, where I had a puncture but the brilliant Priest Cafe took a table outside so I could sit and drink tea and eat a cream scone in the sunshine as I repaired the tyre. From Audlum it was up to Alsager and back to Poynton. The weather was variable but mild for April but was a little damp overnight!

It was a lovely ride and keeps me fit and allows lots of cake eating Funny thing is I am just as tired after doing a wedding – sometimes more so!

For those of a technical bent the figures for the ride where 315 KM or 195 miles in 12hours and 12 minutes cycling time. The tea stops and puncture added another 4 hours – but you have to eat!  The moving average speed was 16 mph or 25.7 kph with the GPS saying a shade under 10’000 calories consumed. Now that is one big cake

Route Link