Rained off

Having just re-read my previous blog entry I find myself asking why we haven't been spending all our spare moments riding our new bikes. 

The explanation is summed up in the image opposite, an illustration that highlights clearly a distinction between England and Scotland's weather. And this is not just about rainfall. There are similar maps showing temperature variations across the same area which show a pattern highlighting the places across England and the European countries further south that are experiencing heatwave conditions similar too, or worse than, what brought our cycling holiday to an early close a few months ago. However this grim picture painted by the weather forecasters does not necessarily represent a reality for us. Movements within the earth's atmosphere must make forecasting the weather for the days ahead difficult, especially for those places which lie close to the border between the wet and the dry, or the hot and the cold. The south west corner of Scotland that we live in frequently lies on that border, the Atlantic Ocean bringing a milder air stream which reduces the impact of European weather systems.

So it was that just days after the rainfall accumulation image was released the sun emerged from behind the clouds and soaked us with its radiation, which was soon to become rather too much.

Typical for where we live would be variable weather, difficult to predict days ahead, but recently we have been locked into one weather pattern or another, days of rain or days of heat. To avoid the heatwave that found us whilst we were on holiday we took avoiding action - an early ferry back to a cooler place called home - but this solution is not available to those living in France or Spain any more than avoiding endless days of rain is possible for us.

Our solution when it comes to cycling has been to grab whatever short interval we can between showers and ride locally on the few quiet roads we have. The road through our village ends at a beauty spot, a viewpoint where there is a bench looking out across Loch Fyne, and it has become a convenient place to ride to when the clouds threaten but the rain just about holds off. Then again we have carried the bikes folded up in our van to the start of a ten mile bike ride on the level towpath to Crinan where we grab a coffee before returning the same way. We now have kickstands fitted to both bikes which make things easier when we stop for a rest and we are both getting used to the folding up process too. There is a four part sequence of moves that follows the acronym 'BFHS' (Backwheel/Frame/Handlebars/Seat in case anyone is interested). In order to remember this we say 'Brompton Folding Has Stopped' whilst performing the fold. (Unfolding has a slightly different sequence so we have to remember 'How to Start a Folded Brompton'.)

 

We are trying to avoid the temptation to attach accessories to the bikes beyond what is necessary, particularly anything that might constrain the folding process. Every gram of extra weight is important as once folded the bikes become luggage that has to be carried. However a well designed bag attached to the rear carrier is a must for carrying essentials like extra clothing or snacks on a ride. Fine details like getting the right tyre pressures and saddle height for maximum comfort also have to be resolved, these all being part of our Brompton journey. As it happens the makers have thought of this last one, an elegant solution which enables the saddle to be returned back to the same position as it was before being folded away by means of a piece of plastic, cut to length and inserted inside the seat tube. This is just one example of the many clever features that our bikes come with.

So to test out some of them we needed a ride that would challenge the bikes and enable us to know our limits whilst riding them.

Finally the weather delivered us a run of dry days although the south of England was suffering a heatwave which was threatening to creep northwards towards us. We made a decision to take the ferry across the loch and ride ten miles northwards to Otter Ferry. The name implies a crossing point over the loch but this no longer exists although there is a pub there, the 'Oystercatcher', which was open when we arrived. Was this the challenge we wanted, just ten miles? Surely not.

Had we looked more closely at the route we might have noticed the rivers we'd be crossing en route and realised that these run in valleys between hills, some of them being quite high. Then just after setting off from the Portavadie ferry terminal the route offered by the app on my phone sent us along a steep gravel pathway through the forest which had us bouncing about and worrying about how long it would be before our tyres punctured. Thankfully the full heat of the day had yet to arrive so we managed this part quite well and the bikes just seemed to take it in their stride.

We did decide, however, to stick to the tarmac roads for the return and this was just as well since by the time we had lunched at Otter Ferry, chatting with a motorcyclist outside the pub in the sun, the day had warmed up to the point where we would normally decide not to go riding.

We set off again from sea level, inevitably up a long hill, then on reaching the top we took off downhill again at speed, although we could see the road ahead where it went uphill again. Indeed the hills seemed endless and although there was a cooling breeze we were riding straight into the wind for the whole return, not making it any easier.

The ferry was a welcome sight at last and here we chatted with a friendly Dutch couple to whom we were able to brag about our adventures in their country. They were visiting Scotland in a large campervan but without bikes, which seemed strange, coming from a country that lives by them. When asked they confessed to being put off by the thought of cycling up Scotland's hills, something that actually made us feel quite good about our achievements that day.

First rides

The day we made the bus journey into Glasgow to collect our new bikes turned out to be a wet one, heavy rain all the way there, the bus splashing through the enormous puddles that had formed overnight. It had eased a little by the time we left the Buchanan Street bus station for the short walk to our bike shop and as soon as we walked in the door the weather outside was forgotten as our two Brompton foldies were lined up in front of us ready and waiting. Our first attempts at folding them up were laughable - there is a technique which involves lifting and twisting each part in the right way - but we had guidance from the staff and were shown how to fit and remove the batteries too. We also experimented with fitting them into the bags that came with the bikes, these being needed for our return bus journey home None of this took long and soon we were mounting up outside for the short ride back to the bus station.

We had quite a long wait for our bus, time for some food and also time to speculate on whether we'd be challenged by the bus driver when we tried to load our bikes. Folded in their bags the bikes still represented a large piece of luggage. Then there is the issue of them being electric, the batteries being in rather attractive bags which we carried inside the bus as hand luggage. None of this turned out to be relevant and if the driver knew they were bikes, he never mentioned it. We felt a sense of relief once we had set off, knowing for certain that we now had bikes that could travel anywhere with us on public transport. This had always been an essential part of the plan.

Several days later another heatwave landed on Britain, something we had had experience of whilst touring abroad earlier in the year, but for some parts of the UK the temperature went significantly higher than what we had then experienced, and escaped from. Scotland avoided the worst of it but it was still much hotter than normal. Living here means we are not used to the heat, even in the height of Summer, so we notice its effect on our bodies when it comes.

Before the worst of the heat kicked in we took a ride to try out our new beasts, to test their performance on the flat and also try them on a few hill climbs. We needed to assess their riding comfort, to make sure we had our saddles set at the right height, to see how the smaller wheels coped with road potholes and gravel and also to consider whether we should fit a smaller chain ring which would give us lower gearing for our steeper hills. All of this was in our minds as we set off along the Crinan Canal towpath and on reaching the sea at Crinan we paused to take stock. Our riding speed on the flat seemed to be roughly the same as with our larger bikes (once we had discovered how to convert from kph to mph) but we both were using just our lower gears (we have a choice of four) which suggested that a switch to a smaller chain ring might suit us better. Starting off on a hill, even in the lowest gear, seemed to require a lot of effort unless we used a boost of electric assistance but this might just be down to us getting used to the bikes. As to the potholes... the ride comfort felt a little different from what we are used to due to the more upright riding position. The steering is also more reactive as one might expect with the smaller wheels but we both felt we could easily get used to these differences. We tended to use electric power when the gradient increased but for flat roads this wasn't needed at all. Switching off the 'pedal assist' is what we were used to doing even when our old bikes were fully loaded with luggage so there's no real change there. One good thing is that our foldies have hydraulic disc brakes which were powerful enough to slow us on the steeper downhills so all things considered our first ride went well. Folding up the bikes still needs more practice but we are getting better at this too.

One thing we both miss is our kickstands. Reluctant as we are to add anything that will increase the weight of our bikes, the ability to stop anywhere and prop the bike up on its own stand when there is nothing to lean it against is something we miss.

Then there is the absence of the rear wheel bike locks which we had fitted to our old bikes during the first Holland tour. These come as standard on nearly all Dutch bikes. Sometimes known as 'cafe locks' they were so easy to set whenever we stopped somewhere and they allowed us to walk confidently away from our bikes knowing that they would be safe. Regrettably they cannot be fitted to our foldies without impeding the fold so we need to come up with another solution, something light but just sufficiently strong to deter a passing thief. We are on a learning curve, discovering more each day about our new bikes. Storing them at home, finding a place from where we can easily unfold, jump on and ride away, has taken us through several different solutions. The flexibility offered by their prime feature, foldability, gives us so many new ideas.

Time to think

There are many unpleasant things going on around the world at the moment that are having an effect on our lives, not directly perhaps, but we are sensitive to what we hear and read about and these events do make us consider our own lives and how we are living them. Wars are being fought which are impacting on the stability of human societies around the world as well as the resources they need to sustain that stability. The world's climate is also changing, something we discovered first hand on our cycling tour earlier this year, and all these things can have an influence upon the way we live our lives on a day to day basis. We could simply carry on as before, ignoring the world around us, or we could make changes to the way we live, changes that make us feel we are doing something better even if they have little effect upon anyone else.

We have a large road vehicle, a campervan, but it has dawned on us that we make little use of it as a mobile home. We use it for short local journeys when we need to, maybe the odd shopping trip, but we are aware that we could manage these things just as well if we had a smaller vehicle and if we wanted to go away somewhere we could probably find somewhere to stay overnight for less than the cost of driving our big vehicle to the same place. So is it time to rethink things? Could we manage with something smaller or indeed could we manage without a vehicle of any sort?

But then of course there is the cycling. We both enjoy this although we are conscious of the fact that the area we have chosen to live in is a place that has few easily accessible places for safe cycling if, like us, you wish to avoid busy main roads. So we use our campervan to carry our bikes away from home to places where we can enjoy the type of cycling we like, far from the roar of the traffic and the stress of not knowing if the next driver approaching at speed from behind will respect our vulnerability and slow down to pass giving us a decent space. But without a vehicle big enough to carry our bikes this might not be possible any more. The solution to this conundrum and indeed the other issues mentioned above were explored here before and during our time away on a cycling holiday we have given these issues much more thought. Then, strangely, just before we left to go on holiday we met a couple of friends who seemed genuinely interested in buying a campervan, ours in particular. Read on to see where all this is going....

We awoke early and arrived at the bus stop at around seven in the morning just before the scheduled arrival of our large but comfortable conveyance. Our plan was to travel into Glasgow by bus, a journey lasting nearly three hours on our narrow twisty roads, and after arrival at the Buchanan Street terminus to make the short walk to Dales Cycles, a shop which just happens to be the nearest dealer for Brompton folding bikes. No appointment was necessary; we had been told we could just turn up to test ride on the foldies they had in stock.

On arrival we met Krister, their Brompton expert, who immediately took us to the shop's Brompton corner and introduced us to an electric version of the G-Line bike we have been looking at online. We had a list of questions for him, all of which he was able to help us with and then we went outside in order to test ride the lovely orange machine up the hill in the street. He seemed quite impressed with our recent cycling adventure and also recognised our needs so far as the type of terrain we might encounter close to our home, making recommendations as to the gearing we might need for some of our hills. By the time we left the shop we were both convinced as to what our next step would be. We would be ordering two new bikes.

Then, quite by chance on the bus home, another three hours of being rocked and bumped about in our seats, we received a follow-up message from our friends confirming their interest in buying our campervan. All this in one day. It was almost too much to take in.

There will be more to come here but we could not resist this image. When folded away this is what our bikes will look like, one in orange and the other in green. The folding up process is easy but our first attempts in the shop were clumsy so we'll need to practice until we can do it slickly, like proper Brompton owners. There is little more exciting (to our way of thinking) than buying two new bikes and as I write we are just days away from their delivery to our Glasgow shop. Once they have been checked over and we're told they are ready for collection we'll be on the bus again to pick them up and bring them home with us. We'll have bags to put them in, folded up, so they will go in the bus's storage area underneath.

Next steps....sell our present bikes, of course. We can't have them lying around getting old, so we have done a thorough clean up job on them and taken lots of pictures. We are told that there is a thriving market for electric bikes at present and since ours are only a couple of years old we live in hope that they will go quickly.

Meanwhile we have plenty to do around the home. The garden is still wildly overgrown but with day after day of rain we are not keen to go and tidy up. And there is also a midge cloud out there waiting for us, one of the joys of living where we do.