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James and I are on a hiatus from our national parks tour this month. We’re already back from the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in West Virginia, which was reason one for our national parks hiatus:
…and by the way, it was AWESOME! We went to “talk vans” in the Mercedes booth where they had both a Revel and a Boldt on display. Plus, we went to see some awesome racing. We sort of kind of like bikes. Like a lot.
Besides that, there’s another even bigger more epic reason we’re not in a national park at the moment.
IT’S BECAUSE WE’RE GOING TO ENGLAND!!!
We’ll be there as guests of Glawning. Glawning is an RV-accessory company based in the Yorkshire area and they’re best known for their unique canvas tent structures that attach to campervans. They’re a popular and well-known brand in the UK, though I’ve never seen anything like it over here. Their ‘glawnings’ are pretty incredible:
We’ll be going to test out some of their products and give them our American-perspective on what we think. We’re also hoping to help them gather feedback from YOU! So, you can be sure we’ll be posting pictures on social media and posting here in the blog asking for your opinions. We’re so excited for this undertaking!
Here’s the best part. We’re going at the same time as the. UCI Road Cycling World Championships!!! We’ll actually be camping right near the course, IS THAT AWESOME OR WHAT? Contain your excitement, it gets even better. We’ll be RIDING in the 60-mile Sportive event at the UCI Worlds…. OMG!!! I’m both thrilled and terrified at the same time. Because how do you train to ride on the wrong side of the road? The great news is Glawning, who has totally covered both our bike rentals and our event entry, made sure that our bikes will have the brakes switched, phew. If you weren’t aware, the bikes in the UK have brakes on opposite sides as ours, goes along with the whole wrong side of the road thing. So ours will be normal and there’ll be no unintentional forward flips over the handlebars, which is nice.
Besides catching a bunch of the UCI Worlds races and camping with a Glawning, we also plan to do touristy things… Whitby seaside for the best fish & chips in the UK, catching a British RV show, and of course, checking out Hogwarts.
We leave next week so right now we’re back at the sticks and bricks where James is knocking out projects on a friend’s van, and I’m desperately trying to build my cycling power threshold even though the Sportive is just over a week out.
Oh and did I mention the Sportive is like right after we get there?! Jet lag and bike racing and riding on the wrong side of the road… sounds perfectly insane to me. BRING IT ON!
Hey if y’all have any tips for the Yorkshire area of must do’s and see’s let us know! Oh hey and go check out Glawning and get prepped for helping us give them some good feedback. Stay tuned and come check back here on the blog for updates!
Cheerio!
Just to get you more psyched…I and my wife are in York (UK not PA) as I type this. We are on a 25th anniversary trip. We drove in from the Lake District today. We saw lots of signs for upcoming road closures for the cycling championships. We also saw lots of disabled cyclists out training. There were so many that I have to think they they have converged here for the championship. If you tell me how / where, I will send (or upload) a photo I took for you two..
Stay calm and ride on. Exciting.
The ‘stay calm’ bit is proving difficult, but riding on… now THAT we can do. ❤️
If you are going to Yorkshire, you have to check out a Betty’s tea room. Preferably the Harrogate one and Harrogate is a great town to visit anyway. There are just so many cool places in Yorkshire. I visit every year when I go home to England. Other places Haworth, home of the Bronte sisters – English authors. Robin Hoods Bay,. Taste the cheeses of Wensleydale. Etc etc
So many wonderful tips! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this Jasmine! We will be staying in Harrogate our first night there, so I will put Betty’s on our list of places to seek out!
I hope you guys have a wonderful trip. At least James knows an “Ohm” is not an Englishman’s “ouse”.
NERD HUMORRRR!!! James laughed out loud at this, of course.
Have fun! Had a week in Ireland in August and we passed so many cute small RVs while driving around. We had a “Yorkshire” James Herriott moment when we got lost in rural Northern Ireland — drove past a veterinarian in a pen full of sheep with the farmer and his teen son – from their faces unfortunately it didn’t look good but wow, talk about a 1970s throwback moment! Don’t know if you ever saw any of the series but Herriot’s office is still there in Yorkshire, now a museum.
LOLLL! Sounds like one of those not funny at the moment but now super funny to reflect on moments! I haven’t seen the series but now I want to!!! xo
I would have never guessed bicycle brakes were reversed in those countries! Enjoy the trip!
Right?!?! I could totally see myself forgetting and cranking on the wrong brake on a long downhill… oish. But luckily it’s pretty easy to switch them around. 🙂
Hope you have a great trip to the UK – Yorkshire has a wonderful dialect all of its own! As you arrive here in the UK we’ll just be taking delivery of our very first RV – it’s quite small, we call it a Motorhome. Super excited about it!
We are beginning to plan our very own RV Adventures – we are based in Devon in the UK and our plan is to spend the Winter travelling to Wales, the Lake District and Scotland – it should be pretty cold!!
I love your exercise videos – my favourite is the resistance band workout which I have done every day for the last month – I’ve only just found you though, so I shall work my way through more as we travel!
I’m loving retirement!
Hope you have a wonderful trip to the UK – we’re looking forward to welcoming you!
Congrats on your first motorhome, Pat! How wonderful!!! And I’m thrilled you’ve been doing my resistance bands workout frequently, way to go! I’m proud of you for staying fit-focused, keep that non-negotiable and you’re going to totally rock your retirement years. May your adventures be incredible!!! xo
Let me congratulate both of you on going to the UK, how wonderful. I wanted to tell you both if you did not already know Google has an APP called Google Translate. The App can translate over 100-languages, should you need all of them. It’s FREE and easy to use. Once setup just open and write or talking into the phone after selecting the language and it will act as a third person. Both writing or talking. Very cool.
I learned about it after a workman came to our home and did not speak English. After I found out about the APP it has been helpful to this almost 70-year old, very cool creation, you can also take a photo of writing and it will translate for you. Truly Stefany and James. have a wonderful safe fun trip. Enjoy!
Thanks, HL! We’re counting on it being wonderful so fingers crossed!
Oh, jolly good! Hope you’re not too knackered after the Sportive. One word of advice — don’t use the word ‘bloody’. Visited the UK as a teenager, and one of my UK cousins was going on about ‘bloody’ this and ‘bloody‘ that. His father finally barked at him, “You watch your language! There are ladies present!” Took my sister and me a while to figure out what his father was so upset about! So if you’re ever in a position where you find you want to blurt out, “bloody hell!” just substitute, “blooming heck!” Or rather, “bloomin’ ‘eck!” But do have a wonderful time!
LOLLLL! Okay good tip, thanks! Honestly I don’t think I’ll be talking British at all, except in my head. Bob’s Your Uncle!!! 😉 xo
Loving the Brit lingo, it’s only when someone points them
out that you realise others don’t say them.
Re “bloody” this and that people say it all the time, it’s an acceptable alternative to the “F” word.
Depending where you are you might find the locals drop “the” and just say a t sound ‘tut’ ie down t’road.
It’ll be a hoot.
Have fun and good luck with the sportive.
Oh I’ll listen for that dropped “the”, haven’t heard that one yet! It’s going to be so fun hearing the local lingo!!!!
I don’t think there’s much to worry about. In UTAH the phrase “Oh Gosh Darn!” is considered strong language 😉
Oh Ted, lol!!! xo
Hey congrats! Sounds like a great adventure! Not to change the subject but Stef, what kind of trainer do you have your bike on in the picture? Thanks, Pam
I use a CycleOps Hammer; my app of choice to use with it is Rouvy… I’ve been riding some of the same roads we’ll be riding in the UK to help me get a feel for riding on the wrong side of the road!!! I’ve learned the traffic circles are going to be a bit of a challenge, lol.
If you bike close to any of the many canals in England you might spot folks living and traveling in narrowboats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJDqGimPc9Q
This makes RV travel look frantic in comparison, It’s so slow and calm I think even Stef could ride them without getting queasy.
How wonderful!!!