What to do with all your time?

LHW99

pterri said:

LHW99 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

In our company there were two of us famous for cycling. I commuted to work, did my shopping etc all on a bike hardly ever using my car. He went out in lycra on a Sunday and went round in circles. We had nothing in common. I do so much cycling anyway that I am not attracted to cycling just for fun.

Bikes always did use to be a means of transport - I used one exclusively for my first real job. Now it seems bikes are "just for fun". Personally I prefer a good walk, or swimming if I'm in the mood.

Erm….,what? Cycling as recreation is as old as the bike. Cycle racing, group rides, cycle clubs, cycle touring, bike backing. At some point an idiot will decide to organise a cycle race around France, stupid idea. Who would be interested in that 

I can only assume I was significantly deprived as a youngster. There was nothing like that in my neck of the woods as a teen. My bike was purely to transport me somewhere I needed to get to, and get me home again. Normal clothes, bike clips, wet weather gear if necessary. That was the same for my mates as well, and AFAIR no-one I knew watched (or participated) in anything of the kind.

bjorn_toby_wilde

jennystarpepper said:

Something simple for me, as not a cyclist.  Being able to go to the beach for a walk more, weather and daylight permitting, tide times will be more accessible, not being stuck mostly to the weekends, and it's free!  

That sounds fantastic. I’m about as far from a beach, in any direction, as you can get in England so not so easy! It’s the freedom to do things midweek that’s great though as you say.

westv

pterri said:

jennystarpepper said:

Something simple for me, as not a cyclist.  Being able to go to the beach for a walk more, weather and daylight permitting, tide times will be more accessible, not being stuck mostly to the weekends, and it's free!  

Being able to just take a trip, mid week if the weather is nice. That alone is worth retiring early if you can afford it. If you’re in the South East then the Network Rail card will pay for itself very quickly, 1/3 off rail tickets for £35 a year. 

Or, if you are over 60, the Senior Railcard gives you 1/3 off anywhere in the UK.

katejo

westv said:

pterri said:

jennystarpepper said:

Something simple for me, as not a cyclist.  Being able to go to the beach for a walk more, weather and daylight permitting, tide times will be more accessible, not being stuck mostly to the weekends, and it's free!  

Being able to just take a trip, mid week if the weather is nice. That alone is worth retiring early if you can afford it. If you’re in the South East then the Network Rail card will pay for itself very quickly, 1/3 off rail tickets for £35 a year. 

Or, if you are over 60, the Senior Railcard gives you 1/3 off anywhere in the UK.

Yes I have the senior Railcard combined with my Oyster 60+. That's better than the Network Railcard. I intend to do more impulsive days out once retired. 

Sarahspangles

LHW99 said:

pterri said:

LHW99 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

In our company there were two of us famous for cycling. I commuted to work, did my shopping etc all on a bike hardly ever using my car. He went out in lycra on a Sunday and went round in circles. We had nothing in common. I do so much cycling anyway that I am not attracted to cycling just for fun.

Bikes always did use to be a means of transport - I used one exclusively for my first real job. Now it seems bikes are "just for fun". Personally I prefer a good walk, or swimming if I'm in the mood.

Erm….,what? Cycling as recreation is as old as the bike. Cycle racing, group rides, cycle clubs, cycle touring, bike backing. At some point an idiot will decide to organise a cycle race around France, stupid idea. Who would be interested in that 

I can only assume I was significantly deprived as a youngster. There was nothing like that in my neck of the woods as a teen. My bike was purely to transport me somewhere I needed to get to, and get me home again. Normal clothes, bike clips, wet weather gear if necessary. That was the same for my mates as well, and AFAIR no-one I knew watched (or participated) in anything of the kind.

It must vary between areas. My urban bit of Yorkshire is in pedal range of national parks and people cycled for leisure as well as sport. Lads I knew who were Scouts graduated to youth hosteling by bike and I think the Clarion clubs started in the North. You did have to be relatively keen, to get a racing or touring bike; a Raleigh Chopper wouldn’t get you far. I don’t remember it as a spectator sport though, no velodromes round here. 

arthurdick

Since retiring early 2 years ago, I/we spend most of our time making  as much use of our Oyster 60+ cards as we can, We go out twice a week looking for pubs that are meant to be Haunted or some of the oldest pubs around London. Have a couple of pints and a meal,  We have found some lovely old pubs, which now and then we go back to. .Before we moved back to our hometown of London, we did not have much time to look around because of the time it took to get here from where we lived at the time. We would only just meet people in the nearest "spoons" to the station. We now have at least 10  pubs at each main station  whether at  Charing Cross, Victoria, London Bridge that we can choose from.

When we are not doing that, we take a walk over to Greenwich park just to sit by the James Wolfe statue with one of the best free views of London, and have a tea and coffee, then have a look around the Greenwich Maritime museum before walking down by the river, or just jump on a train to go to the free museums up town.  Mainly just enjoying our freedom.

Now and then we take to odd trip down to Brighton for the day. We try to sit in and just have a few days a week doing nothing but sometimes, when the sun is shining, well, you know. 

P.S I must admit that there are a few pubs that we do not go back to, over £8 for a pint, no thanks, even though we do not pay for our transport, over 8 bleeding quid for a pint, is just taking the "jimmy"..

westv

katejo said:

westv said:

pterri said:

jennystarpepper said:

Something simple for me, as not a cyclist.  Being able to go to the beach for a walk more, weather and daylight permitting, tide times will be more accessible, not being stuck mostly to the weekends, and it's free!  

Being able to just take a trip, mid week if the weather is nice. That alone is worth retiring early if you can afford it. If you’re in the South East then the Network Rail card will pay for itself very quickly, 1/3 off rail tickets for £35 a year. 

Or, if you are over 60, the Senior Railcard gives you 1/3 off anywhere in the UK.

Yes I have the senior Railcard combined with my Oyster 60+. That's better than the Network Railcard. I intend to do more impulsive days out once retired. 

Oh and there's the Two Together railcard if,  obviously, there are two of you.
It's a pity that there is no equivalent of the 60+ Oyster card anywhere else in the country. My brother has one and I am very jealous of him.

Sarahspangles

In one of my roles I went to London from Yorkshire for meetings every week, it’s two hours by train. Once I’m retired I'm going to see whether it’s possible with a later start to avoid peak fares. I expect we’d be shattered the next day! We did a trip with an overnight stay recently but the second day wasn’t fun after a night in a noisy hotel. With a day trip, we would just need one of us to wake up before we reached our home station.

arthurdick

westv said:

katejo said:

westv said:

pterri said:

jennystarpepper said:

Something simple for me, as not a cyclist.  Being able to go to the beach for a walk more, weather and daylight permitting, tide times will be more accessible, not being stuck mostly to the weekends, and it's free!  

Being able to just take a trip, mid week if the weather is nice. That alone is worth retiring early if you can afford it. If you’re in the South East then the Network Rail card will pay for itself very quickly, 1/3 off rail tickets for £35 a year. 

Or, if you are over 60, the Senior Railcard gives you 1/3 off anywhere in the UK.

Yes I have the senior Railcard combined with my Oyster 60+. That's better than the Network Railcard. I intend to do more impulsive days out once retired. 

Oh and there's the Two Together railcard if,  obviously, there are two of you.
It's a pity that there is no equivalent of the 60+ Oyster card anywhere else in the country. My brother has one and I am very jealous of him.

I am not sure but I think they may have similar in Liverpool.

LHW99

Sarahspangles said:

LHW99 said:

pterri said:

LHW99 said:

Ibrahim5 said:

In our company there were two of us famous for cycling. I commuted to work, did my shopping etc all on a bike hardly ever using my car. He went out in lycra on a Sunday and went round in circles. We had nothing in common. I do so much cycling anyway that I am not attracted to cycling just for fun.

Bikes always did use to be a means of transport - I used one exclusively for my first real job. Now it seems bikes are "just for fun". Personally I prefer a good walk, or swimming if I'm in the mood.

Erm….,what? Cycling as recreation is as old as the bike. Cycle racing, group rides, cycle clubs, cycle touring, bike backing. At some point an idiot will decide to organise a cycle race around France, stupid idea. Who would be interested in that 

I can only assume I was significantly deprived as a youngster. There was nothing like that in my neck of the woods as a teen. My bike was purely to transport me somewhere I needed to get to, and get me home again. Normal clothes, bike clips, wet weather gear if necessary. That was the same for my mates as well, and AFAIR no-one I knew watched (or participated) in anything of the kind.

It must vary between areas. My urban bit of Yorkshire is in pedal range of national parks and people cycled for leisure as well as sport. Lads I knew who were Scouts graduated to youth hosteling by bike and I think the Clarion clubs started in the North. You did have to be relatively keen, to get a racing or touring bike; a Raleigh Chopper wouldn’t get you far. I don’t remember it as a spectator sport though, no velodromes round here. 

We were about 10 mins walk from the beach, but about 10 miles from the nearest town / civilisation along a busy road. Friends were a 15 minute walk to the next village so walking was very much "the thing", particularly as not everyone even had a bike.