The First Seventy Years: 120 - The Old Man Of Hoy
Eric Biddulph tells of cycling holidays in Scotland and France.
As the 1990s progressed Mary started to show an interest in getting out more often on her bike. In 1992 we took the bikes up to Scotland. The first week we toured the Borders region stopping off for two nights at a Servas host who had lived in Malawi.
We met up with Jack Sykes and Derrick Pashley in Aberdeen and caught the ferry up to the Orkney Islands where we had rented a house. Although the Islands were not particularly scenic they did provide us with two weeks of enjoyable cycling. There were many routes on the mainland island and ferry trips to two of the smaller islands, Hoy and Rousay provided us with circular rides. The former also offered a fascinating close-up of the Old Man of Hoy, a narrow, vertical rock formation which had become detached from the main island after years of erosion.
The Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland became a firm favourite as a camping and cycling venue. The island has a network of attractive routes which are ideal for riding.
In the summer of 1995 soon after I had taken early retirement I booked on the European Bike Express bus as far as Narbonne in the south of France. We rode northwest through delightful French countryside to our friends, John and Irene Beresford, who had 'upped sticks' and moved to the small village of Martissan, just north of Toulouse. At two yearly intervals thereafter we had a mixed holiday of cycling from various drop-off points to their house and spending the rest of the time with them. Pau, Orange in France and Empuriabrava in Spain being our starting points.
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Eric’s book The First Seventy Years can be obtained for £10 by contacting http://mary@bike2.wanadoo.co.uk or telephoning 01484-658175.
All the cash raised by the book goes to a water aid project in Malawi.
