Little Blackall Street – Go Figure

Stumbled across some excellent street art last weekend in Little Blackall Street in Shoreditch,London EC2. Turns out this little alley supports displays from RUN, C215, 616, Swoon and Alice Pasquini as well as Pichi and Avo, some of the original work is covered under hoardings but even those have been enlivened. Did a bit of digging and found some “whose watching the watchers” art on display and when I checked on street view I found this – the irony is not lost on me…

The KissSolo

In the shade of plane trees

Continuing on my travels I am grateful of any shade or shelter from either the intense heat or driving rain, railway arches, drive through garages, shop doorways and the ever-present Plane trees all provide shelter and mental encouragement – and to quote my fellow traveller Glen Heggstad “I am not always sure where I am heading, but I am always exactly where I want to be”.In the shade of plane trees

As far east as I have ever been…

Today I passed a personal milestone in riding beyond any eastern border in a single trip and onwards towards Kecskemet and Budapest in a north eastern arc – I did some language research before I left and learnt this phrase “Moje vznášadlo je plné úhorov” which as you know means “My hovercraft is full of eels” – useful phase book guidance can be found here

Arrived in Slovinia

Shelter in Bergamo

Succumbed tonight to a night under bricks and mortar after riding through some of the worst summer storms locals tell me they have seen for years – the bike is tucked up in an underground car park and everything I have is laying around me dripping in an attempt to get it dry before the ride to Austria tomorrow and through my window I can see dancing shards of lightening over the old village of Bergamo. Rode the Col De l’Iseran today and although it was warm when I left I predicted snow at 9,100 ft and I was not wrong. Seems odd to be grabbing extra layers and using heated grips when 16 hours earlier I was riding with jacket open in the evening sunshine.Col De lIseran

WWII on my doorstep

Disregarding the driving rain, I could not help but notice on my way into work this week that the felling of some mature larch trees had exposed hidden WWII bunkers, pill boxes, trench complexes and anti tank defences near Brecon. Despite the damp and resident amphibious inhabitants they are well worth a visit. Seemingly date stamped 26/8/1940 by the engineers they were built for the Home Guard who manned them round the clock and the combination of anti tank defences and pill boxes were designed to prevent northward movement of any invasion forces – though the Home Guard Officers were issued with weapons they had no communication equipment, so if they spotted an invading force it would have been a long march to the nearest Army Camp to call for reinforcements!

Date StampWWII Bunkers