Wow, it’s been way too long since I updated this. I don’t even have a clue what week it is now? So where do I start?

Croyde - my favourite place in Devon and somewhere I’ve been visiting since I was a teenager. In fact the first time we went, three of us lads drove the Devon coast looking for a windsurfing beach and we stumbled upon Croyde. I went back as a student, learning to body board with a broken leg and we went back in huge groups after we all got out first jobs.

This time I was back for the second year in a row with Helena’s family. Last year we’d rented a house with Porg, this year Helena and I enjoyed a week in Vern while the rest of the Baum clan stayed in a lovely house close to The Thatch, Croyde’s great pub.

It was also poignant to be back almost on the anniversary of my great friend Simon’s death, I’d been in The Thatch when I received the news that Simon had died. I raised a glass of their famous frozen cider to him, the drink I’d been enjoying when I got the news. It’s not quite his favourite Chuckle Head Cider but it will do the business.

We had superb weather and amazing surf. In fact the surf was so huge on the first day I didn’t even go in. On the Sunday the waves were over head height and with the off shore wind they were perfect. By the Wednesday I’d battered myself so much that four weeks on I still have really sore ribs, maybe I cracked them.

Sol and Lexie loved the water. We bought Sol his second wetsuit and with his new board we’d picked up in France, he spent most of the week in the water. As for Rob we had the funniest time as he tried on wetsuits, he got a real sweat on.

Croyde was amazing again. If you’ve never been then plan a trip now.

After Croyde I started training for the London to Cambridge Bike Ride, a 58 mile ride from North London to Cambridge funnily enough. Well that was the theory as I got in very few training rides, 3 I think. One of those was on Paul’s stag do, a great weekend of indoor surfing, BBQ’s, dinner at The Brampton Mill and cycling home. We all cycled off road to Brampton Mill which was fine. However we chose to come home along the river in the pitch black. 11 lads on bikes, pissed, we must have looked a sight. No one ended up in the river which was a miracle. It was probably the nicest stag weekend I’ve done as there was none of the usual stupidity and peer pressure to drink yourself silly. Nice one Paul - a great do.

I then took myself off to The Isle of Wight in Vern, care of Tesco with my free ferry tickets. I stayed in a lovely spot, St Helens. However the campsite wasn’t so great. Nodes Point was its name, don’t ever go there. Not only is it really run down, but they have created camping pitches on a hill so that when it rains they capture every last drop of water and turn the whole place into a mud bath. They also do no recycling, have leaking taps and in their pre pitched tents, leave lights on all day every day just wasting energy.

I did manage to cycle some of the island although it’s way more hilly than I am used to. I also did some geocaching. The main thing I did though was buy myself a fishing rod and start fishing on the lovely beach. I also went on a sea fishing trip that certainly didn’t live up to the name of the tour, Catchalot Fishing, we caught very little and I caught just one mackerel. Still that was one more than I caught from the beach in the 5 or 6 hours I was there.

I returned ready to take on the London to Cambridge ride, well as ready as I ever would be having had no training almost. I’d booked myself an 8:30am start time from Enfield. At the time I hadn’t processed that this would mean I needed to leave home at 5:15am to catch a bus to the start. I rode into Cambridge to catch the bus and sat next to a lovely Scottish guy. He told me he didn’t cycle much but then went on to tell me about his two main cycling trips, one from Monaco to Sicily and the second from Monaco to Glasgow. Now that’s what I call not cycling much! He’d already done the ride last year in 3 hours 57 minutes. That sounded very impressive.

The bus got me to the start nice and early. I could have set off at 7:30am. I bumped into my friend Simon, all kitted out in a postman’s uniform on a post bike with about 20 other real postmen (Simon’s my window cleaner and ex-windsurfing buddy). I got a text from Nigel to say he’d probably be there for 7:40 and indeed he was. Nigel was my cycling partner for the day.

At just before 8am the two of us set off. The first part of the ride isn’t that scenic but it soon turns into narrow country lanes. All sorts of people in all shapes and sizes were doing the ride. Nigel wanted to put in a good time and didn’t want to stop too much. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. Anyway we paced on, only being overtaken by the really serious people.

We stopped at the first or second organised rest stop for Nigel to have a pee but that was it, we were soon back on the bikes and pedalling. After 20 miles I needed to stop for the call of nature, a hedge made do. I took this opportunity to give Helena the fright of her life and text her to tell her we were 1/3 finished by 9am, she was expecting to catch up with us in Newton but much later on.

Nigel had told me about an evil hill. Eventually he declared that this was it. As I climbed I certainly struggled. Eventually we reached the top, I knew now that there were no more serious hills. Well that was until Nigel then said that he didn’t think that was the hill. 2 or 3 miles later and it proved to be the case as a nasty hill turned up. Once over the top we made our way into the villages of south Cambridgeshire, the villages I knew as I grew up there. By this time my legs were really hurting, cycling hurt, freewheeling hurt. My bum on the other hand was fine - get yourself a Charge Spoon saddle, Altura Pro Gel Shorts and then smother them with Assos Chamois Cream. We dragged ourselves into Newton knowing that even if Helena and Porg weren’t there, we were going to take a stop. As we arrived there, they were there, thanks to my text they’d rushed and only beaten us by 5 minutes. We spent a few mins with them, taking time to stretch and then headed off into the last 10 or so miles.

The last miles were killers. My left knee was in agony. We kept up our good pace though, well the pace we liked. Other cyclists bombed past us as we approached Cambridge making us look like we were standing still. A few minutes later we were in Cambridge and then crossing the finish line. I was asked to posed for photos in my Breakthrough Breast Cancer T-Shirt. It was then time for us to have the beer we’d been dreaming of.

I can’t explain how bad my legs felt. If you’d offered me £5 for my bike I would have taken it. There was just no way to get comfortable. How could I enjoy my beer? Then it was suggested we take advantage of the sports massage on offer. I’m not big into massage, well I wasn’t. 15 mins of work on my legs and shoulders had turned me into a new man. That stuff is amazing. So amazing that after another beer I got on my bike and cycled home, beating Helena and Porg back and they were in the car. The ride had been amazing, I will be doing it next year. I will be practicing more.

So all that brings me nicely to where I am now, relaxing in North Norfolk. I drove up today in Vern and went fishing at Salthouse. Within 10 minutes I’d broken the duck I’d had with my new rod and reel and had caught my first mackerel. I even managed to catch a couple more, plenty for a BBQ dinner at High Sands Creek campsite in Stiffkey, another blast from the past. I’m only here for a night. Tomorrow is Thirsty Thursday and on Friday we’re off to Paul and Emma’s wedding in Kent.

Oh and this time next week I’ll be on my way to Ireland, they’ll probably not be a quick follow up post then.