I think the thread title is best pronounced in a suitably Sid James-ish "Carry On Up The Khyber" style, but yes.. today is National Tea Day!

We hinted at it a few weeks ago but I think only Verena picked up on it. Quite surprising really, since despite what the Coughee Snobs would have us believe, obviously tea is the bikepacker's Drink Of Choice . In fact we are Tea Slobs not Coughee Snobs.

So of course it has to be celebrated in a way that only Boners know how. I've just checked the date and had a minor panic because when I looked it up again the result was May 21st not April. Arg! But all is well, May 21st is International Tea Day. Of course it is.

With Verena admirably showing interest, it quickly expanded from MuddyPete and meself just having a quick cuppa in the garden, to roping in Verena in Wales and Phil Htrider in Scotland to make it truly national. Apologies to the Northern Ireland contingent but we didn't know anyone. Naturally, different countries will have different ways of celebrating too, Verena came up with some cracking Welsh ideas, and Phil had it easy to be honest - tea party? Just a crate of Tennent's surely!

It quickly became apparent that Proper Tea needs a lot of paraphernalia and we had to take a trailer along! I'd cleaned out Leighton Buzzard's charity shops of teapots, sugar bowls, cake stands etc weeks ago. Sadly we had to abandon the grand piano tinkling away quietly in the background as the trailer wasn't big enough and we couldn't get hold of a pianist in time anyway.

Having debated long and hard about where to partake of tiffin, as Pete said it was suddenly obvious - right outside the old Lipton's Tea Factory on the main road into Leighton Buzzard, on the edge of town! 25th anniversary of its closure too.

Unbelievably the tea party was gatecrashed by a coughee snob as you will see, but that just made it even more bonkers.

Anyway, without more ado, let's brew up the leaves, raise a pinkie, and allow the photos to speak for themselves........ Lipton's factory in the background.... bowtie and cravat.... cucumber sarnies with corners cut off... fondant fancies... Tunnock's... Darjeeling leaf tea.... proper sugar lumps...... and oh dear, right in the middle of rush-hour as well!





Milk first of course...













Oh no! Coffee gatecrasher! Is there no shame!

National Tea Day 2021 – The Welsh Edition
Myself and a couple of mates went out for a short local bike ride to mark National Tea Day.
I was on my trusty old Marin hybrid bike, they took the Breadstix with the 3 1/2” wheels.
IMG_20210421_165848 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
I at least made the effort to wear a tea dress for the occasion, but they didn’t bother, they even turned up with cheesy feet.
IMG_20210421_165600 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
We found a nice spot to set up our afternoon tea picnic; luckily it was dry and even a little bit warm and sunny. I started boiling some water for the tea while we set up.
IMG_20210421_165533 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
One of my mates had brought some lavercake in his (see through) seat pack, which is a Welsh delicacy that I hadn’t tried before. It was surprisingly tasty for something made from seaweed and oats. There was also a cucumber sandwich in his (also see through) frame bag, which was yummy. Unfortunately the saddle for the bike had somehow been lost, so we had to improvise with another piece of lavercake.
We enjoyed a nice cup of Welsh Brew loose leaf tea (and yes, I had spilled more than half my water...). Unfortunately I had also misplaced my posh china cup to go with the saucer, so the tin mug had to do.
IMG_20210421_165657 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Now I do love my mates dearly, we were having an nice time as you can see by their smiles
IMG_20210421_165900 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
but to be honest the conversation was quite one-sided. So I got a bit bored after a while. So bored in fact that I started fancying them, cheesy feet and all….
So I took a tiny nibble.
IMG_20210421_170121 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
Then another one, until I had eaten them all up – oops.
Their bike was well tasty too.
IMG_20210421_170147 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
IMG_20210421_170428 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
I sat a little while longer and to pass the time, read the writing on the box of Cradoc’s Crackers, a proper local family business, and even discovered a bikepacking reference "temptation itself tucked into a bicycle pannier"
IMG_20210421_170719 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
When it was just me left all alone with the dirty dishes and a bit of bunting, I rode back home.

Here endeth my account of my National Tea Day celebration, some sort of dystopian fusion of Gulliver’s Travels and female spider eating her mates once she is done with them.

post script: When I got home, I of course remembered that I had left my nice china cup out in the garden, and found the white chocolate mouse that I had intended to use as a "saddle"
2021-04-21_07-21-52 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

All followed-up with some hot pump-track trailer-bike action!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN8Kbixllbk ... egyvckuhuf

Plenty of toots from bemused and amused commuters, too .

And we made good our escape just before The Law arrived .

Absolutely superb Verena! Huge compliments for going for it . "Breadstix with the 3 1/2” wheels" . The sandwich bike is inspired, and I reckon you've set a trend with dress-over-leggings. I think Phil's still recovering from that [insulting stereotype alert!] crate of Tennent's on an empty tum .

Reg: Excellent idea, as always.
But I can't believe we forgot the bunting .

Verena - edible bikes and luggage: genius idea, it'll solve so many problems with absolutely no downsides whatsoever .

Says Reg (via the power of an electronic message kind of thing) "Its National Tea Day next Wednesday! Are you IN?"
Hmm. Tea is not the national drink of Scotland so such a thing would doubtless be scorned as yet another incidence of Soft English Nancy Idiots doing something stupid (again). But. Whilst many may consider the national drink of Scotland is Whisky, they are also wrong and a bunch of nancy idiots or *gasp* puffs!! (For info in Scotland a puff is defined as someone who, on a night out, would rather chat up women than drink and fight and is a term independent of sexuality)

The national drink of Scotland is, of course, a slab of export or tenants, depending on age, gender and fighting ability.

But I'm, not to put to fine a point on it, English (sorry) and I really like tea. I mean I really, really like it. If it wasn't for tea, I'd never make it through the day and Fife Council (and the people of Fife) would be a lesser entity as a result. (This is a lie.)

So honour, my caffeine levels and national pride was at stake. Fortunately, Reg's rules / guidelines were simple. Go out on bike, drink tea. I spent all day fretting about bike, stove, tea variety, scones, biscuits, clothing, heart rate, power levels, nutrition, pace, cadence, cumulative altitude, average speed, maximum speed, minimum speed and what time bed time was. (I'm in training you know and I've just read that book by Dave Barter) So after a tremendous faff, I wobbled off into the evening sunshine, as usual heading for...... The Woods!

10 minutes of high intensity pedaling in zone 6 later, I arrived at The Woods and commenced tea brewing operations.



All equipment laid out. Tin foil hat re-imagined as a heat shield so I don't end up burning The Woods to the ground. Food to accompany tea as follows:- Scones (fruit)(Asda) with marmalade (Mums home made), butter. Two of.
Double biscuit. Trad Scottish source of calories. Red jelly tot as its a special occasion. Stove lit, water on. Relax!
Ahhhhh. Listening to the birdies tweeting their hearts out as I surveyed my favourite range of hills (still a snow patch up there) as the BB stove did its thing was most pleasant. To cap it all the water boiled just as the stove went out - the sign of a true master.



Getting the correct pantone of milk to tea strength in the sunshine is tricky.



If you are into cycling, have loving and caring parents who like to buy you presents, this is what you get.



I knew Reg would have sartorial elegance covered, Verena culinary excellence and MuddyPete would be the yin to Reg's Yan (Coffee!!); so I went with 'Man at Bearbones bikepacking' I'm currently in dialogue with my lawyer regarding the person who sold me the cap and suggested it was stylish.

Tea drank - tick! Scones and double biccy scoffed - tick!

Now what. Brew up again. I never have one cup of tea when two are available. Scored a doubler in the kettle-boil-flame dies game (I'm a master, did I say?) Brew, drink, listen to birdies, watch view, relax.



I'm relaxed.



The view



The r i g Fixed gear? Drop bars, tin mug, beard, maybe I'm a hipster! No I'm not I'm just another middle aged bloke on a bike *sigh*

Packed up, ate tea bags, rode off in zone 11. Home for....pizza! Life is good.

Wonderful and exquisite madness!

Superb effort, very sorry I couldn’t make it but thankfully I see standards were maintained

Cracking that Phil . . "Now what. Brew up again." - and that is an excellent summary of the whole caper I think.

<goes off to dig out his BBB cap as well>. Think I might wear it in bed.

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:47 pm Superb effort, very sorry I couldn’t make it but thankfully I see standards were maintained

Notice we still took a seat for the missing guest just in case you happened to be passing after all .

htrider wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:23 pm ...ate tea bags...

Blimey! You really do like tea

Brilliant. When’s beer day?

You lot are all mental... [edit]: no Assam tea?

RIP wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:08 pm crate of Tennent's on an empty tum .

Ahh, Tennents, many a happy night I can't quite remember....never on an empty tum though

MuddyPete wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:09 pm Verena - edible bikes and luggage: genius idea, it'll solve so many problems with absolutely no downsides whatsoever

htrider wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:23 pm
Now what. Brew up again. I never have one cup of tea when two are available. Brew, drink, listen to birdies, watch view, relax.


Life is good.

Couldn't agree more.

Great write up

You actually really ate the tea bag though? Really?

A truly bonkers effort by all there. Cheered me up no end

Verena wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:59 am You actually really ate the tea bag though? Really?

Leave No Trace!
Actually I smoked them

That is utter madness*, good show It's the level of detail that makes it such an achievement.

*Says the man who takes a stuffed monkey bikepacking

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:54 pm Brilliant. When’s beer day?

I think you know the answer to that Dave

(the day ends with a Y)

Could be tomorrow

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:59 pm Is tomorrow

Fixed!

Another perfectly curated jape there Reg 'n' Pete. (I just tried saying that in a Sid James Carry On accent and ruptured something .... ) And equal measures of thumbs up emojis to Verena and Phil. Nice work all.

Saw some of these photos on Pete's Instagram this morning and it made my day.

I say, chaps, jolly good show