Biking Birder VII
The Laurie Lee Adventure
Back in 1934, a young man named Laurie Lee walked away from his home in the village of Slad, Gloucestershire, UK.
Detailed in the autobiographical book, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, tells the story of a young man, nineteen years old, seeking adventure.
From his home, Laurie walked first Southampton in order to see the sea; something Laurie had never seen.
Disappointed with his first view as the sea at Southampton was muddy, Laurie found that he could make a living by busking with his violin. Therefore he continued along the south of England coast to Bognor Regis, Littlehampton and Worthing before heading north to London.
From London, after a year working as a labourer on building sites, Laurie took a ship to Vigo in Northern Spain and from there walked, eventually to a beach east of Malaga.
My aim is to cycle his route with the occasional detour to visit nature reserves, particularly RSPB and W&WT ones and sites of interest, such as Stonehenge.
And so the real Biking Birder VII adventure begins, let's go south . . .
April 2nd 2025
She's Leaving Home The Beatles
And so the time comes to leave my dear ninety-two year old Mother's doorstep and head south.
The morning was spent packing the panniers, making decisions over what should be taken and what could be left behind.
Sid & Barnaby Bear, together with a collection box and flag for ACORNS Children's Hospice.
Pumba, Sully and Scrat take up the rear.
An Acorn cuddly.
Of course you know Scrat the Squirrel from the film, Ice Age.
Pumba, the flatulent warthog from The Lion King.
Sully, my hero from Monster's Inc.
Look carefully and you can see Paddington bear beneath Sid the Frog and Eeyore beneath Barnaby Bear!
Patch has decided to stay with Mum's cat, Sooty.
Two large panniers hold :
laptop, clothes including my new RSPB t-shirt, camera, binoculars, telescope, selfie stick, toiletries, cables and memory sticks/cards, spare camera batteries, books - three Laurie Lee ones, notebook and pens, waterproof, cycling tools, inner tube spares, bicycle pump.
When packed the bike will have a tripod for the telescope, a sleeping bag and a tent strapped using bungies above the panniers.
Two collection boxes, one for Acorns Children's Hospice and the other for the RSPB, will be chained and padlocked, sadly necessary, to the handlebars.
Hanging from the handlebars will be a large ASTON VILLA drinks bottle; given to me by a wonderful friend of fifty years, Michael Rogers.
We met at Chester College fifty years ago last September and together we still have a deep passion for the music of Frank Zappa and a love of the TV series The Prisoner.
Michael's favourite Zappa track
The Prisoner opening
Being easily seen when on the bike is of vital importance so head gear includes a tiger as well as a helmet.
I wasn't sure whether to wear a turkey
and below, The RSPB . . .
My fundraising effort for Acorns Children's Hospice is dedicated to my sadly long gone little brother, Chris.
The RSPB fundraising is dedicated to an incredible man, Gordon Barnes. I was so privileged to know as a very close friend before he sadly died after a holiday to Egypt.
Two photos from Gordon's days on Fair Isle.
Born in Birmingham, world's best city (!), Gordon lived on Fair Isle for sixteen years; the first year as assistant warden at the famous Fair Isle Bird Observatory then as a crofter and lighthouse keeper.
There is also a JustGiving page for the wonderful Children's Book Project.
Dedicated to my late and oh so beautiful Spanish, Irish gypsy wife from Bolton, I know how much she loved her career as a Reception school teacher in Redditch, Worcestershire at The Vaynor School.
Missing all three so much despite the years, I have said before that memory is not chronological and things from fifty years ago, like carrying my four year old brother on my back when exploring the wood behind our home in Redditch in 1974, is as clear to me as the memories of my wife on our honeymoon in 1997. Memories come instantly and vividly, no effort required to remember and love each moment with each.
Bike ready, two lovely neighbours, Carl & Lynne come out to see me off and take photos.
Would you believe it? Puncture!
I never get punctures. Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres are the best but there it is, front tyre flat.
Wheel removed I find that the inner tube has multiple holes. The spokes since the bike's previous use, well previous to yesterday's cycle to and back from the Acorns Children's Hospice in Walsall, have caused some lumps in the inner wheel's wall and punctured the inner tube.
Luckily I have some thick inner tape to cover these and so, later than planned, I am off and soon careering down the steep hill towards Bromsgrove.
Down to the first village, things are feeling fabulous!
Into Bromsgrove and into the Cancer Research shop on the High Street.
The wonderful people here keep all of the unsaleable cuddly toys for me to take to Toys4Life.
The cuddly toys they give me have no CE label on the back and without those the toys are destined to be thrown away.
Now, thanks for Toys4Life, they are saved and given to children the world over.
Make a difference - one toy at a time!
I just love this shop and such fun is had when I am photographed with a bigger than me Unicorn!
No room on the bike for the unicorn, it is going to be raffled.
Four teenage girls from North School, Bromsgrove stop me to ask about the cuddlies on the bike. For obvious reasons I never photograph children and teenagers are no exception. They do ask me though to say who they are so this video answers their request . . .
Down the High Street, lovely to meet two of my ex-students and their Dad, from when I was a teacher at Rigby Hall Special School in Aston Fields, Bromsgrove, The Bridgewaters.
Faye Bridgewater with her Dad.
Into my favourite phone shop, D-Phones, to get a cover for my new iphone, photographs and a promised advert. LOL.
Tattoos on the High Street!
And so to Upton Warren, where instead of looking immediately for the Upton Warren lifer for me, an American duck no less, I chat with another old timer with decades of birding here at The Warren under his belt, Keith.
Gossip of all other birders for half an hour, including a request from a Phil Deeming for a selfie!
The Ringed-necked Drake is easy to find and so a really good bird goes onto the Biking Birder VII bird list.
Leaving Upton Warren and whilst cycling south once more, I am stopped by a passing motorist, who turns out to be the brilliant Acorns Children's Hospice fundraiser, Peter!
Peter and I were at Webbs Garden Centre last Christmas, fundraising for Acorns of course and we are the perfect combination. Me, in my Father Christmas outfit, is the sugar; meeting and greeting with a huge smile and a laugh. Peter is the stick armed with the car reader. He takes no prisoners!
A quick chat before I am heading down the A38 towards Droitwich. I go under the M5 and
pass the Chateau Impney, a French-style building built for a French wife.
And so into Droitwich only to find that I had booked my B & B for the wrong date!
Oh well, a field on such a lovely evening will suffice.
On the way out of Droitwich I cycle past first the Acorns Children's Hospice shop and then past the sad sight of the hotel where my late wife, Karen and I had the first night of our honeymoon, The Raven Hotel.
Appalling to see it in such disrepair and decay. What a waste.
I cycle south and see the lights are on in a Methodist church I pass. I also spot that there are large gardens behind and beside the church buildings and so I enter one of them to find that there is a meeting of adult people with Special Needs. One of the carers tells me that there is a bible study meeting in the main building and so I go there.
"May I sleep in your garden?"
Tea and biscuits are brought to me as I get my sleeping bag out for a night on a bench in the garden, hidden away from any prying eyes.
Thanks Elizabeth, the Methodist Minister.
Villa won one nil.
Now during the game, whilst listening to the radio commentary on my Iphone, I count the satellites slowing traversing the sky above. With not a cloud in the sky, I see twenty three before the end of the match and per chance to dream.
Tickle My Feathers
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