On the train from Belfast to Derry, ready for 3 days cycling along the northern Irish coast.
Great forecast so should be a very enjoyable long weekend.
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Awsome, look forward to the report 
. Hope the roads are better for you than what I’ve heard.
Sorry, no report this time.
It was sunny, there was a lot of coastline.
Giant’s Causeway was very busy.
Malin Head and East Coast were the highlights. A couple of tough climbs around Torr Head and Cushendon, after which it’s almost completely flat back to Belfast.
In general, they were much the same. Maybe fewer holes but rougher surfaces. If the weekend was anything to go by, there’s a lot less traffic (and this was with a big 200 mile motorbike race to avoid).
I’ll put a few pics in the photo thread.
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I’d bailed out of this a month ago due to a clash with family stuff but the Sportive company who was organising the route/feed stations has gone bust offering no refunds.
Pain in the arse for the fella organising from this end - & participants - who had organised accommodation & transport to the start/finishes.
Probably not a good idea to be entering any of their events.
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Oh no 
.
James put a load of work into that trip. Hopefully he’ll be able to work out a way of doing it with a minibus or something like that.
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I don’t know what’s going on at Sportive HQ but I can tell you that Matt Porter is a gem of a bloke. When my mates did an Everesting event to raise money for my leg he came & ran the event keeping everyone fed & watered all day for free (I didn’t know him personally before). He’s the goto guy for any cycling related charity event & he’s always put quality over profits at his events.
I guess he’s been trying to keep the business going upto the wire and had the rug pulled from under him?
Bit sad to see all the Facebook comments questioning his integrity.
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The email he sent out said his business had been struggling - & he’s been putting in his own money - since COVID which seems to be the way with many events. Looking at Companies House he has recently had to put up his vans as collateral.
I’ve not looked at FB but there will be lots of individuals, sports clubs & charities inconvenienced.
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Unfortunately there have been many charlatans in the event organising game so they all get tarred with the same brush. I am sure he is a good guy but anything that involves people losing money will raise the anger of those on the losing end. Even if he’s also lost a ton of money too - people only think of themselves these days 
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Just looked at FB, it appears that until a couple of days ago he was happy to take £1500 off people for LEJOG places.
Yep seen that, it’s a stretch to day he was happy to take someones money though, who knows what is going on behind the scenes. At what point is an events company operating & taking money & at what point is the rug pulled?
Allways best to pay for any event by credit card for the protection for this scenareo.
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Not a stretch at all, he was more than happy to take money.
It a sad situation though as most people who have met him or done his events, like yourself, have had nothing but good things to say about him.
My point obvs isn’t coming accross. He must have been trying to keep the busssines going, I don’t think he would have felt good about taking peoples money if he thought there was a good chance of him going under, nevertheless he’s was still pedaling to keep it going.
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Was talking to a guy on the ferry as we docked, there were about 10 of them on a cycling trip from Sheffield to Denmark then Malmo (train over the bridge), before getting to Lubeck. Then the train back to Rotterdam.
Some were travelling pretty light and the majority were older than me. Clearly a retirement hobby 
Said they’d been to Bilbao last year I think.
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Speaking of which … well, semi retired hobby at the moment 
Off again tomorrow to Kings Lynn to join up with a couple of mates who’ve been cycling up the coast from Dover. Two days up the east coast, then back to Chester via Sheffield, 4 days in total.
Family outing last night so couldn’t do the first half which has looked great from the photos.
Kings Lynn to Mabelthorpe has a total elevation of 49m in 73 miles, never gets to even 10m above sea level. 
I got to plan the route across the Peak so have routed us up the Goyt Valley which should stop me muttering about how can anybody live somewhere so flat. 
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Mablethorpe is erm, interesting 
Only there for one night - so long as there’s somewhere half decent to eat and a pub, then it’ll be perfectly fine.
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LOL - I almost namechecked you in that post
Alternative routing would have been up Winnats as we’re overnighting in Bradwell … and that really didn’t appeal with bikepacking kit
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This looks nice for a bit of overseas touring.
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