Good ol’ CoVid 19 kept me from returning to my homeland, Lancashire in England, for the past 2 years, starting back in early 2020, just as I was about to come back after a 2 year gap in seeing my family and friends here.
However the advent of the various vaccines and the seemingly more mellow Omicron variant’s arrival, finally I was able to travel back. The first few days in Buckinghamshire staying with friends was strange, walking around without a mask made everything a little surreal, as back in Taiwan we’ve had to wear them when outside for almost 2 years.
Every time I left the house I felt a little naked to be honest!
In case you don’t know, here are the total cases in Taiwan and the deaths from Covid since the pandemic began:
And in the UK:
So, um, yeah, the UK has for a good long while made a return a slightly scary prospect for obvious reasons.
But anyway, I’m back, and though it’s cold as heck and I’ve out on about 1.5kg in just 11 days back (bacon, sausages, salt & vinegar crisps, beer, pies, etc… etc… etc), it is great to be back!
Finally, however, I got out for a proper ride the other day up here in Lancashire, not too far but a really good blast from Morecambe over to Lancaster, and out along a 4 km stretch on a great gravel lane that’s called It’s A Little Like Paris-Roubaix, over the river to Overton and back up through Heysham, and back to Morecambe.
One thing I’ve noticed is that drivers here on the country lanes actually stay in their lanes when cornering (so far anyway) – this is something you should never take for granted in Taiwan, trust me. The other is that most drivers will slow right down behind you and wait for an appropriate place to pass. This was a little disconcerting at first but again, this doesn’t happen often in Taiwan.
I’ll be making a Youtube video soon featuring a ride here, but in the meantime here are some pics of this ride. Hope you enjoy!
(And if you’d like to read more and see more photos from one pf my previous trips in the UK, click here).
See the Strava details here.
