Simple living, cycling in the British countryside. The simple things in life. Alternative lifestyle

Living slowly with a rural life in the British countryside . The simplicity and joy from just being in nature and going at your own pace. Money and material objects mean nothing and can’t buy you peace of mind . Grabing a well used old school styled push bike and heading off into the secluded countryside is something money can’t buy. Everything slows down, and everything you see is a glorious picture to stop and take in.
Disclaimer….. in my area,regin,country a cycle helmet is not mandatory by law. Don’t follow me by not using a helmet as this is at my own risk, and I would suggest you use one as cycling can be dangerous.
Facebook…folklore hiking and country walking sticks.
Ebay… a small selection of our hiking sticks can be found on this platform.

[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Hello. [Music] Well, welcome back. come out for a bike ride in the uh North Cornish country lanes. Evidently, I’ve been doing this quite a few evenings now. I’m trying to strengthen my knee and legs. I’ve had a few issues when I’ve been hiking, and I’m hoping cycling will be a low impact way to increase the strength in my knee and legs. [Music] Cornish country lanes. [Applause] potholes, water running, even when it’s uh almost drought conditions. The one problem I’ve got is every gateway opens up an absolutely h beautiful view. And I find myself stopping at gateways just uh taking it all in. And uh it’s a stunning, glorious evening. Almost typical of what I would call a proper summer’s evening to be honest with you. Yeah, my brakes need some uh uh looking out there squeaking. I’ll let you have a look at this view. Absolutely gorgeous. Right, it looks like it’s possibly wheat or corn planted here. The sheep are in like a uh grass field and it looks like there crops um being planted on the slopes of this gentle valley. There’s a little hamlet down there surrounded by woods and trees. There’s only about four houses down there and I couldn’t think of anywhere more perfect to live. Obviously, I don’t have the uh or I can’t afford the price tag for properties in that location. Now, this push bike I’m on is kind of like a uh an American cruiser style thing. It’s been pretty much styled on. I’ve added that uh wooden rack on the back basically for harvesting sticks and things. Now, this is one of the uh few and only things my father-in-law has actually ever given me, but I do appreciate it to be honest with you because I’ve never really bought push bikes and if I have, they’ve all been secondhand. I remember buying one new one, well, I must have been in my 20ies. Since then, every push bike has either have been a a salvaged one or a secondhand one I’ve bought at well, a very reduced price. So, yeah, I’m loving this because it didn’t cost me anything and I love the riding position. It’s got the sit up and beg riding position, which is basically you’ve got your back bolt upright. Your legs don’t have to bend too much to crank the pedals, and your arms are out wide, able to pull and exert a lot of forward pressure. So, it’s quite an easy bike to ride. So, there you go. This is what it looks like. And I name it the Hillbilly one. But um it does work. That there is for me to transport stuff. Obviously, you can see I’ve manufactured it myself, but it also helps with a bit of local stick harvesting. I may have some pictures of that I may be able to put up. But in any case, this is my two wheel transport at the moment. Now, I’m not too far from home, but I am going to be going a fair distance from home. And um like I said, I’m I’m giving my legs and my body bit of a workout without actually having to take up running again. I would love to run again, but with my knee and the very minor arthritis I got in my feet, sometimes uh I have to take painkillers to run. And when you’re doing that, you know it’s time to kind of call an end to that. But um yeah, I was running pretty much all the way up till I was 50 and I passed all the tests I had to um when I was working in the mod for uh you know my age category that I was in. So I was always pleased about that. I have put some weight on over the recent years. Don’t haven’t we all I keep saying I’m going to lose it. I’m trying to lose it but it’s happening extremely slow. This isn’t the cycling isn’t nothing to do with uh trying to speed up a weight loss. It’s just trying to regain a little bit of muscle fitness and perhaps, you know, a bit of cardio. Plus, I do enjoy being out here in the country lane. So, it’s nothing nothing better than being out here. The wife’s planning a wedding. Well, the wedding’s this weekend. So, um all her daughters and everybody’s around. It’s mass panic. It’s it’s it’s a total it’s a total panic. in somewhere as a guy you don’t want to be around. That may sound make me sound like a dinosaur and I’ve been accused of being a dinosaur, but uh that’s just the way it is with me. But thankfully, I don’t need the car. I can get out on this. Now, the hedro is a sea of color. I’ve got pinks, reds, blues, yellows, whites, and it’s an absolute pleasure to be able to cycle along these lanes. Now, I’m running the seat quite high. I need a new seat, and I’m planning on getting one of the oldfashioned leather ones with springs just to go with this contraption. Um, I want to actually get a little sign made up saying hillbilly one to put on the back. But because it’s quite high, um, and I’ve got a short inside leg, it’s a case I got to throw my leg over. And if I sit like this or put my feet down, my, uh, crotch is just touching that bar. So, I wouldn’t want to have, uh, any accidents. Let me get the stand up and let’s get going. Right. Off we go. Now, I know what you’re thinking. I’ve got no helmet. I haven’t ever used a helmet. But that doesn’t mean that you should even take anything of what I’m doing here as gospel. I strongly recommend you wear a helmet. And um do you know what? I’m even considering getting a helmet myself. So yeah, a helmet if you’re riding a bike. Don’t do as I do. Do as I say, get a helmet for safety reasons. I’ve made a lot of silly mistakes over my life, and I’m guessing this is probably uh just another one to add to the list. Cycling into the sun now. I’ve got the moors in the distance. It’s just a haze, but I’ve got some downhill coming up to me. I’ve got to go through a reasonablesized village and then it’s back in the lanes for uh my destination. Right, I’m descending down another hill. But um where I live, it’s all hills. So the thing with uh hills, if you’re going down one, you know you’ve got to go up one. So I’m looking forward to a hill. I’ve got to convince myself it’s good for my [Music] cardio. So, at the minute I’m actually cycling into the sun. I could have done with my shades. Would have helped keep flies out of my eyes and things like that. There is some uh nice old properties along this cycle route. But, um you would have heard my brakes squeaking. And I do need to actually um give them some [Applause] maintenance. Yeah, really lovely being out. It’s cool in the shade, but just enough sun to warm you when you get out into it. There’s still some water around some of the little streams. Yeah, still water around. Right, I’ve got off to push the bike at the moment. I used to be able to cycle up here and I used to run up here, but I can’t do it no more. I’m pushing at the moment. And that says the British countryside. Random post boxes everywhere. Right, let’s make a move. I’m annoying the dogs over the hedge. Those goats have got their work cut out for them to clean up all those stingy nettles and brambles. But if uh if I know anything about goats, they’ll actually think that is fivetory eating. They’ve got a nice flock of chickens over there as well. corner wheat as far as the I can see. What a beautiful sight. You know, true summer is only around the corner when this will be harvested. Incidentally, if I cross this road, there is a public footpath and it’s one I use. It’s appeared on this channel way back when, but what I’ve almost forgot about it. So, seeing it now has reminded me. We’ll have to get down here sometime. There you go. All the way down through there. The sun is beginning to cast long shadows, so I need to kind of think about pedaling a little bit faster. Yeah, I have got a bit of a sweat on. Like I said, it’s all hills. You enjoy the downhills, but you know, you’ve got the hills. Could electric bike be the way forward? I’ll talk to you about that in a moment, though. Now, I’ve just stopped here just to have a look out here at the views. That’s the problem with me. I’ll stop by gateways just daydreaming looking down on woodlands and little corners of the countryside and think to myself, could I get down there somewhere and spend a night under the stars? Incidentally, further down in that valley, I have done now. That’s a pretty impressive beach tree. It’s got some serious trunks coming out of the main one there. And there’s a load. There’s a beach corridor I’ve just cycled up. Absolutely beautiful. All the leaves have got this real vibrant lime green tint to them. Stunning to go through. Stunning. Right, I’m going to deposit this dog poo bag that needs emptying. It’s looking rather gross. Yeah, there is a story behind that and it pretty much goes along the lines of I took the dogs for a walk, picked it up, double bagged it, put it in my outside pocket. I know that some people might be cringing now and I’ve just forgot about it and I just thought myself that’s still in my pocket. It’s not in my pocket no more. Right, I’m going to have to um leave this little village. I’m not going to go on the main road. I’m going to take the lanes. That’s what I’m out to cycle for anyway to enjoy the countryside. Keep those legs going. All right, keep going. Now look at that view. I can see from miles and miles Dartmore is just getting lost in the haze. Absolutely beautiful. Just getting out in mother nature. Woo. That hill was some steep. It was that steep. If I had crampons while I was pushing my bike up, I would have probably attached them. This better be worth it where I’m going to I’m just getting my breath back now. Oh, I’m coming out to a road, main road. All right, let’s get going. This is lovely and cool now. I’m enjoying this. I’m looking a bit windswept there. I’ve got to get a haircut actually tomorrow. Last day I can get a haircut for the wedding. That woodland behind me, I’ve had my eye on that for possibly 2 years. There could be a wild camp in there at some point. But anyway, I’m going to keep cycling now. I’ve just taken a moment break yet again to stare at the views. Well, I’ve made it to the destination, a village that I’m aiming to get to. So, let’s see if uh my end goal materializes. Okay, catch you later. So, what time does that say? Just gone half 7. And it’s the archer’s arms. Right, that was nice. But um I’ve got to think about getting home. So it’s pedal to the metal now. So, this is the time of day, you know, it’s not actually full summer because um soon as the sun begins to sink, there is a little bit of a chill. I do have a um fluorescent jacket that I can put on. I will put on in a minute just to give me a little bit more visibility. But um I’m trying to avoid clouds of insects. There’s loads of like little midgetes and if you’re not careful, you cycle right into a cloud of them. I’m trying to skirt around them. Nice little mixed woodland here. It does uh scream opportunities, but it does look like there’s building rubble. Not this isn’t doesn’t look like it’s fly tipped. This is strategically put there. It looks like somebody’s going to use it for like building uh materials. But further back in there, a wealth of possibilities. [Music] Well, I’m just coming up this uh hill here and there is a well in the hedge there. There doesn’t look to be too much water. You can see where it comes out of there. Um, back in the day when it was probably maintained, this would have been the uh well for this little well this little area, all the houses that live on the hill. As you can see, it’s quite steep. I’ve still got another quarter of a mile going straight uphill. I better crack on cuz the uh well, the sun is really beginning to set now. Now, that sign is a real thing. It says unsuitable for motor vehicles. do not follow satnav. And where I live, if you ignore something like that, you can find yourself wedged into an extremely tight spot, even a tow truck is going to struggle to get you out. So, yeah, obey those kind of signs and stay out of these kind of lanes. It starts off good. Believe you me, it gets really tricky. Well, I’m trying to race the sunset to get up onto a little bit higher ground and um well get to see the last of it. A lot of the lower um valleys I can see in the distance. There’s actually fog banks just starting to develop. You can see the sun behind me. It’s blaring. But once I get well out the top out of this valley, I might just get a glimpse of the sunset. But um yeah, there’s fog beginning to develop or mist um in the distance in the valleys. So it could be um it’s been a scorching day or relatively hot. So I’m presuming it’ll uh it’ll get quite cold tonight. Right. Once you uh get down into the valley bottom like I am here now, that light is um disappearing away quite fast. I do have lights on my bike, so that isn’t a consideration. It’s just that you just get mouthfuls of flies and insects, which is rather unpleasant. So, if I can get home before they all get out, it’ll be a bonus. But what a night. What a absolutely glorious bike ride in the [Applause] countryside. Now you can see how dark it is when you get under the canopy here. I can’t see the sun cuz obviously I’m in the dip of a valley. I might be too late actually to see it even when I climb out of here. I am walking after all. Now, sometimes I really do forget how blessed and how lucky I am. Oh, we we might just get it if we hurry. We’re halfway up the hill. We’ve hit a like a kind of little uh little plateau. We’ve still got to get a climb probably another 100 meters out of here. There seems to be just enough sun. I’m hoping I catch it for you guys. But sometimes I forget how blessed and how lucky I am to live this uh lifestyle. It is a little bit old-fashioned. I mean, my house could do a total modernization, and I’m guessing once me and Jane pass away, a developer will probably do that. But um we’re just living some sort of like old-fashioned old school kind of life. I think you could or I’ve even had people reference how I live as kind of like an alternative lifestyle. But in any case, I do feel blessed when I when I’m out doing things like this. There you go, guys. It’s just coming up over the top of that chimley stack. I’m really rushing for you guys. I’ve still got to get up here. I’m I’m going to put the phone down. I’m going to see if I can cycle it. I’m going to push myself just for the video content. Well, we’ve got a nice sunset, but it wasn’t quite what I was after there. Bring you around to the high ground. There you go. That’s the high ground. It’s not a bad sunset considering the sun has gone below horizon. I’m quite chuffed with that. I did get a workout to get this actually. So, it’s a win-win. And that’s my village over there. Not that white house, but over here. I’ve still got a good couple miles yet. Right. That’s my front light on. That’s my back light. And I’m modeling my running jacket. Obviously, I don’t run anymore. This is my cycling jacket. Jamie’s just phoned me wondering where I am. So, I’m going to make bit more of an effort to get home pretty quick. Now, um I will get to the point I’m going to step up the miles and continue uh doing this and putting uh more time and distance in. And um I already feel a lot better for doing it. Um it’s it’s really good for the mind, the soul, and the body. Just getting out and doing some physical exercise. I would like to do running. I dearly would, but I think those days are long, long gone for me. But um this is the next best thing. I do like my hiking and walking, but um this allows me to get into the frame of mind of doing exercise rather than trying to achieve particular goals. And by that I mean I can go out for an hour and a half, look over the hedges, forget I’m actually working hard on the hills around my place, just taking in the countryside and realizing how lucky I am to be able to do this here. I don’t pay for a gym. This the outdoors is my gym. So, I may have escaped all the wedding planning and all the madness that comes with that, but after this, I’ve just reminded myself I’ve got to take the dogs out for their last walk. So, I’ve got an even bigger incentive to hurry up and get home. They’re enjoying their evening walk. It’s a lot cooler now. You can always tell a husky is happy. Their tail bends right the way round and it really fluffs up. They’re happy dogs. Well, I’m about to lose light, so I’m going to close this video down. I feel very privileged and blessed to be able to do this, to cycle around the countryside as I do. Um, you know, it hasn’t escaped me that I am quite lucky to be able to do this in this location. Thanks for coming along with me. Um, I’ve enjoyed showing you just around this little area as I cycle through it. And uh I’ve been getting some exercise into the bargain as well. But I have a list of chores to do when I get back. And I’ve got a list of jobs wedding related that I’ve got to run through with the wife. She’s told me I’ve got to do it before I go to bed. So I better get home and do it. So take care, stay safe, and I hope to catch you guys out on the trail. Breen. Breen, what do you see? That’s a good girl. Breen, what do you see? What do you see? Come on. Good boy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that’s enough. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music]