Blog Posts in Category: Cycling

2020 in 100 Photos

Alastair BegleyGeneral, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Well I think it is fairly safe to say that this year did not go as planned! We were meant to be getting married in August, however the global pandemic put that on hold until 2021. The year continued to be full of surprises, on my last day in work before I had to isolate due to the COVID rules I had an interview for a secondment to Germany. While clearly the middle of a global pandemic is not the best time to try and move country, we decided to take a risk and I accepted the role in Munich. This means that I now live an hour from the Alps, and hopefully Becky will as well when travel becomes easier again in the near future. Winter / Pre Lockdown The first two months of the year started well with plenty of mountain biking, some landscape photography and an enjoyable Scotland trip, it was just a shame that yet again I managed to injure myself on the Scotland trip so was confined to the hut for half of the week. While this meant I wasn’t able to get out and. Read the full article…

Mendips MTB

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

After a long hiatus due to lockdown it was great to be back out on the mountain bike at the weekend. We took it nice and easy and headed for a well known loop from the top of Burrington Combe. As expected after the recent rain the route was fairly muddy, but nothing like the worst that the mendips can throw at you. We enjoyed the initial descent along the top edge of the coombe, before descending to the bottom of Rowberrow Warren and the all too familiar climb back up to the top. Thankfully all my road biking at left me fairly fit so the climb was fairly easy. Taking it easy we headed down the official blue run in the woods, and it has bedded since I last did it and was much more enjoyable. Maybe it was due to it being less wet, although there were some sections which seemed fairly difficult for a “blue”. We took the direct (read steep) ascent back up to the top of Rowberrow Warren, and then headed up to Beacon Batch before the final descent back to the car. It was. Read the full article…

2019 in 100 Photos

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Last year was a year which was dominated photographically by snow, this year is unfortunately the polar opposite as winter never really turned up in the UK and weather didn’t allow us to spend that much time high up in the Alps in the summer. Despite the lack of snow it was another excellent year, with plenty of good walking, good photography, ski touring in the alps and excellent scrambling, via ferratas and climbing in the Italian Dolomites. Winter South of the border there was even less snow than in Scotland, however we were fortunate enough to make good use of the one snowy weekend with a walk in the Brecon Beacons. Other than the lack of snow we were lucky to have some excellent walking conditions while we were in the mountains, the highlight had to be walking up to High Raise from Grasmere in the Lake District. Walking in the Brecon Beacons Carnedd Llewelyn from Llyn Eigiau Skirrid Sunrise from the Cat’s Back Waun Rydd from Talybont Reservoir A Windy Wetherlam High Raise from Grasmere Sunset from Mynydd Troed Scottish Winter We had a week booked in Scotland. Read the full article…

Lydford to Mary Tavy MTB

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

After an excellent but very indulgent Christmas and new year break we were keen to get out after our first few days back at work and do some exercise. As the weather forecast wasn’t amazing we decided to head down to Dartmoor for a short day of mountain biking. We chose to do a short circuit from near Lydford, over the moor to Mary Tavy, before heading back over the moor to the start. The first ascent was surprisingly difficult as it was heavy going up wet grass, which the bikes just wanted to tick to stick to. Thankfully there wasn’t much of it, so we were soon at the top and were able to enjoy a gentle descent across the moor and down the other side. This descent wasn’t technical, but on wide open tracks with great views of the moor. After the descent and a number of gates we joined a road which we followed for a few km before rejoining tracks and the final descent before Mary Tavy. The climb back up was the opposite of the first, as with the exception of the first and last. Read the full article…