Riding my bike makes me feels like a kid again. Woohoo! I’m a free-spirit with the wind rushing through my hair and heart singing with joy.
The Fabulous IKF – Indigo Kelly-Forest
It takes a very brave woman to take a group of (potentially difficult) women who are new to cycling on a bicycle tour in another country! It is thanks to just such a wonderful woman that I expanded my horizons and went cycle touring in France
What to Pack for Cycle Touring
Kit lists can go on and on. Ideally you need to pack no more than 10kg. Some people might be able to go as low as 6kg. I call the photograph below “Deux Chevaux”. Sadly I had loaded my bike as if I had the equivalent of two horse-power in my legs (I didn’t). The…
A Slow Cycle Guide to Getting Started
The most important thing is to evolve your own style. How far do you want to cycle? How fast or slow can you go? You won’t know until you get out there and get your legs moving. For touring and traffic-free cycling your bike should be big and sturdy enough for beaten paths but light…
Lyme Park – Fresh Air and Freedom
As Lyme Park is located on the edge of both the Peak District and the Cheshire Plain it has commanding 360 degree views
Slow Sunday at Chatsworth
Parking at Edensor (pronounced En-saw for some reason) is something of a tradition for us when visiting the Chatsworth estate (not the Shameless one). A short walk over the hillside delivers the best view of the big house over the bridge. The cleaned and gilded facades probably look better now than they have at any…
Testing out the Tent in the Garden
Of course, to be a true slow cyclist you don’t have to go very far! Before going away to France I put my tent up in my friend’s garden. The food and wine was so good I got head-spin and did not get much sleep. This is why I rarely drink on holiday – I…
London to Paris on the Avenue Verte
Leaving London… As much as I had been dreading city riding I must admit that I loved the thrill of it. My feeling of safety was enhanced by three things: 1) being on a cycle route 2) being in a group 3) being visible (lovely fluoro!)
Food and “the French way” to Slow Cycle
Not for me stopping in lycra to stuff (whilst standing or leaning against the shop front) a delicate French fancy, croissant or baguette. This is not the French way! NON! Not to say that I haven’t been guilty of this but I’d rather stop, order a coffee and unwrap something delicious to savour and devour…
Slow Cycle – Lessons and Experience
Nothing makes you feel younger than riding your bike along a shaded canal or through golden fields filled with sunflowers. Cycling traffic-free (in any country) is not like cycling in your local town. Once you get your balance the pace is up to you. Just keep moving forwards at a pace which you feel comfortable…
Day trip to Chernobyl – Guest post by Jonathan Hall
I remember exactly what I was doing on the day of the Chernobyl explosion on Saturday April 26th 1986. The tensions of the cold war were still apparent, and the sight of smoke billowing out of a nuclear power station as the result of a nuclear explosion on the TV screens brought the fear of…
A Year On – Reflections on the Wheel of Life this September
Thanks to Rebecca Norton for the Wheel of Life exercise at our August WISEtribe meeting. I love summer and I’ve just got back from a holiday so my happiness stocks are running high… In the last year I have exchanged one job for a series of brilliant learning opportunities, some which have even earned a…
LEJOG – Brothers made from Girders. Guest blog by Ed Stonecliffe
We did this ride without a support car and self-funded our accommodation and all costs. If you would like to donate we are raising money. Ed has chosen Big Issue North Trust and Richard has chosen has chosen The Foxton Centre in Preston who work with homeless and vulnerable people in his home town.
From the Velo Odyssey with Love
This year I got to have an two-week adventure in France with my daughter and it was every bit as fabulous as I had hoped. We started in Bordeaux on one of the hottest days of July. Getting out of the city is often the most tricky part so we rolled the bikes on the…
My Kit List (for cycle-camping geeks only)
Further to my post slow-cycle-what-to-pack-for-cycle-touring. Da da da! After days, weeks and months of agonising I’m ready for the next adventure… This year’s top picks: massive green tent aka the marquee cargo net self-inflating air roll mat (grey) summer sleeping bag (blue) cooking kit* (minus stove this time so I WILL go to the local…
Escape To Colditz? Guest post by Jonathan Hall
Colditz: the very name invokes a sense of fear and terror!
Free-wheeling in France
Why I needed to cycle slowly through the sunflowers… After years of multi-tasking took their toll on my health; my husband’s on-line affair with a Mexican beauty triggered divorce and liberation. I was free to follow my heart to glide through fields of gold on a bicycle! Taking it Slowly My journey started with the…
Why There’s Nuffin like a Puffin
Puffins flap like crazy. They’re amazing little fluffkins with a torpedo-shaped body and orange legs. Seeing them last weekend at the RSPB Bempton brought a tear to my eye. Mostly because my dearly loved aunt Stella who passed away in April had wanted to see them before she died. Sadly whilst she never got the…
Grand Day Out with Endeavour
From the land-locked industrial backstreets of Sheffield, it is just an easy-going train ride east to Bridlington on a glorious sunny day. Of course, you can’t always plan the weather, you can only cross your fingers and wish for the best. And so it was…a typically grey, misty and cold morning that we gathered on…
Thank You
I have been lucky enough to work with a charity called Endeavour this year. The illustration below was created by one of our fabulous learners along with the inscription, “Thank you for helping us to find our space – Class of 2019“… So chuffed with that and yes, a little teary with lump in my…
Profundity or Profanity? Thoughts on Summer Cycling by Indigo Kelly- Forest
Profundity was always my aim. To roll endlessly, allowing my true intellectual capacity to flow freely into the universe. Enlightening my inner adventurer to absorb the immeasurable. This is considerably easier on my trusty two-wheeled tourer, meandering through the cornucopia of cultures which is Europe. I, am European. The unitiatiated observer may well consider my…
