Wednesday 23rd Jan Orford to Swansea

Today we hope to go forty miles up the coast to Swansea and a bit beyond if we get the chance. Gps data from other blogs suggest a good bit of accent, about twice yesterday's 2900 feet. Sue confirms that the route is hilly. The profile looks a little like a sawtooth so let's hope we get enough speed on the downs to get up the ups. We are now following the coast which is full of empty white sand beaches.
Sue drove us to the local beaches in the evening after a steak dinner. To walk the beach takes six hours each way and there was not one person on it as far as the eye could see. Coming home wallabies were dashing in front of the car. Their hopping run means they have a really bad breaking distance so collisions are frequent as we know from the road kill. Sue says that the car has often been dented and it is not a matter so much on how fast the car is travelling. She has been going along at ten miles an hour when a wallaby has come smashing into the side of the car. Dents are so frequent that if she gets one she leaves the dent and waits until she has a few then takes the car to the body shop as this is a more efficient way of doing things.
Really really should be camping tonight be doing well with finding wifi so far so who knows. Catherine is posting now. Loving every minute of it all, with no stress, even enjoying the hills. Walking up the hills with a full load is much better with the Bromptons rather than our traditional bikes as the handlebars are higher and it's easier on your arms and back. On my bike now after a cup of tea an breakfast at 8.00 a.m. and with a blue sky and wind free day expected. Just wonderful.

We did forty miles in the end and ended up camping in Swansea by the beach. Campsite is rather cramped but a nice little seaside town. The route did dip in and out of bays a little so there was quite a bit of up and down but all quite manageable. We didnt need to walk uphills today so we may be getting fitter or the hills less steep, not sure which yet. Catherine has found a free guide to cycling which covers our route and has accurate gradient profiles. It looks o.k for the next few days but when we turn in land to Derby we will hit a hill over 2000ft so we will need to plan that accent.
Today we did not get off and push which was the important thing. Riding on the Bromptons is starting to mature now and we have a better idea what we can do and how fast we can do it. I reckon the small wheels knock of about 20% so with no luggage we can average ten miles an hour. Add all our kit including camping and cooking gear however looses us about 3 miles per hour. So our average touring speed on the Bromptons is 7MPH. So we did 40 miles today and spent just under six hours in the saddle. It looks like 40 will be about tops with an average daily mileage of probably 35 Miles per day. Very modest but you can soon plan around it. The gearing is good but it is like having a triple chain ring and not being able to use your smallest chain ring. Altitude is always an important factor in cycletouring but even more so with our modest gears.If we get off and walk of course it does then bring our average speed right down. This all sounds hard work but the win has been the many ways we have ported the bikes from plane,train,ferry and car.
At the campsite now,a first for the holiday. Just used the trangia cooker for the first time!

Photo one. A shop that still has all it's Christmas window.
Photo two. Enjoying our rest stop.
Photo three. Nigel tops up his tan
Photo four. Fantastic beaches all the way
Photo five.Sue with Catherine yesterday evening taking in the local sites.
Photo six. Looking back towards Orford as we started the day