Getting up there - 7th August 09

No matter how many times i travel with my bike, i never seem to learn to start getting things sorted and packed sooner. I should imagine that there are some travelers that can literally grab their toothbrush, wallet and a pack of sandwiches and go, but I'm not one of them, especially when i am traveling alone. I seem to over compensate by trying to be prepared for all situations, most of which never happen, but i still live in dread of my life coming to a premature end as i lay slowly bleeding to death in a lonely ditch somewhere, just because i decided to leave the box of Elastoplast at home. Not only that, but touring with a bike means there are two "bodies" to look after, with the worry of which bit is going to fall off, break, deflate or "ahem" get left behind on the side of a rubbish bin just before a thrilling 5 mile descent down a mountain. But i am at least learning a little as far as bike spares go, after suffering a broken spoke in America, i sat at the side of the road looking at a handful of spare ones I had with me, and slowly realizing that i didn't have the foggiest idea how to fit them.

It is said that around 4000 people a year complete the End to End ride, most of them traveling from Lands End heading North, something to do with prevailing winds, or, as i read in a blog somewhere " to avoid getting the Sun in your eyes at midday" !!!!

To the End of the Earth

When i rode the 'Trans Am: last year, it was the perceived wisdom that it should be East to West, again because of the wind, a wisdom i chose to ignore, and lived to regret on some days! I should point out, that a friend has just finished doing it the 'right way" with his wife, and has complained about the wind making to going tough.

Taking all this into account i have decided to do it the 'wrong' way again, and set off for John O'Groats, with Roadrat suitably boxed, a pocket full of Elastoplast's, ….. but with no spare spokes!

On a serious note, physiologically there is the feeling that North is 'up', so therefore South must be 'Down'. There is also the fact that at the end of a long hard, tiring day, with another 30 miles to go it's nice to know that each turn of the wheel is taking you closer to home.

“Do not underestimate the difficulty in getting your bike back from John O'Groats" i read in the CTC (Cycle Touring Club) E2E notes, and the same could be said for getting the dam thing up there. as well! Apart from actually living at Lands End, i could not be further from my start point.

My options were:-

1, to go by train - a journey of some 22 hours.

2, To fly to a point 120 miles short of JOG for a price that would get me nearly to the States again.

3, To post Roadrat and myself via Royal Mail, my fear of confined space precluded that,(Just as well as it turns out they were on strike today, and it being a Friday, would have had to spend the weekend in a postal depot somewhere).

In the end i went for a fourth option that was a mixture of convince and time, with a flight to Edinburgh, and an 8 hour train the rest of the way.

The flight was with 'good old" Ryanair, who managed to turn a £30 ticket to £80, by charging extra for just about everything, including a rate for which part of the lunar cycle we are in, and what colour shirt i have on.

A forgotten tube of hand sanitizer, meant a slight run in with with security, resulting in a trip back to the departure lounge to purchase two small clear plastic bags for a £1, so they could drop the offending item into one, while apologizing for 'just having to follow procedure'.

While I understand that these things are necessary because of the times we live in, and in spite of the fact, that it was all done with good humor. The situation did strike me as ridiculous, and as with some health and safety rules that we now have to live with, there must be seen to be no exceptions, even in situations where the personal could make there own 'judgement call'

...... More to follow