The worst laid plans of bikes and men

[Andy Hamilton]

I was offered a free ticket to a festival for the weekend just gone.

I was not sure weather or not to go as a weekend of festival fun might set me back for a good few days of writing the book. I knew at least 10 of my mates were going so decided that it might be a good idea to cycle there. Zero emissions and the cheapest way possible.

It was a bit further away than I first thought at 40 miles or so. This was not taking into consideration the twisting nature of getting somewhere by bike avoiding very busy roads. So probably more like 50 miles. I thought that will be fine an average speed of 10 miles an hour I will be there by 8pm in plenty of time before the sun went down.

I had forgotten about how long it takes to get out of Bristol and I always forget about the long distance cyclists biggest nemesis, hills.

So it took me about 2 and half hours to get to a point about 15 miles away from bristol. This was quite a nice rest and I picked some strawberries at a farm and sat talking with the owners about wild food. They thought I was mad to want to cycle to close to Ilchester (the festival site) and it took about an hour and a half in the car. I was informed that there was a few big hills for a while longer and once over them I would be fine.

This turned out to be wishful thinking, there were many more hills and none of them seemed to go down. I took me until about 8.30pm just to get to Glastonbury which is another 16 miles from the festival site.

The next bit of the journey was relatively easy and I got to where I thought was about 10 miles away from the festival. This is where it got interesting as the sun was starting to set. I alway thought that b roads were fairly minor roads and there would not be much traffic. This was perhaps my fourth error. The first was not to bring a map with contours on it so not taking into consideration the hills, the second was to think that my bike rack rubbing on my back tyre would slow me down, the third was not bringing any bike lights as I thought I would be there before sunset.

To cut a long story short it took me until 2.30am to get to the site after pushing my bike as I could not see where I was going or the road and was trying best to avoid the traffic. (why so many people were driving around at such a time I do not know).

When I eventually got to the sunrise festival there was just a few security guards on the gate.

"Have you got a wrist band".
"No, I am on the guest list"
"List or no list, we can't let you in the box office is shut"
"You are joking I have cycled all the way from Bristol"
"Really", laughing in surprise. "that's a long way, still can't let you in until 8am when the box office is open".
"but my tent is in there and I have no where else to go".
"sorry mate can't help you"
I did not kick up a fuss as I could see it was futile. Instead I phoned everyone I could who were in there to see if there was another way of getting in. There was not.

I decided to go off to Yeovil and get the first train home. Now Yeovil is one of those really awkward places that have 2 train stations both of which are out of town. I got a puncture at this point and did not have a pump (mistake 5).

Again to cut a long story short after flitting between the two stations, (well not flitting really pushing a bike with panniers full of stuff the back wheel rubbing against the bike rack and slowing me down further as the puncture had decided to knock the tyre off and that was rubbing against the breaks), I managed to miss the first train out. I ended up getting the train at 9.30am and got back to bristol for midday. A single cost me £19.50 and a return was £20. I got a return as Emma is going to Yeovil within a month. I worked out that I was on the move for about 22 hours around 20 hours under my own steam and I spent the same money getting home as I would have if I had just got the train there. Oh yes and of course this meant that I went without any sleep.

I ache all over and am about to jump into a radox bath. I think I will think twice before deciding it is a good idea to cycle such a distance again.

[wulf]

That's certainly reaching the point at which the cycling is a major event in itself, unless you regularly do journies like that.

Ah, well - at least you came back with some experience for your £20!

Wulf

[Wombat]

Good onya mate!

It was worth a try and certainly makes a good read, probably less fun to be in though!

You do now have a story to tell your grandchildren.........

Nev

[baldowrie]

You could write a comedy sketch on that

[the.fee.fairy]

I'm not surprised you ache!!

They're big meanies not letting you in though

[Millymollymandy]

Fee, I hope you aren't cycling to the BGG! If so there are a few tips here.

Andy - I hope you feel a bit better after your bath. Sounds like a nightmare journey to me, but then I wouldn't have got further than 1/2 mile up the road. On the flat!

[Martin]

it's a great shame that "thumbing a lift" is no longer general practice - back in the dark ages of the 60's and 70's we hitched everywhere!

[Shirley]

Blimey Andy - what miserable sods the festival organisers were.... I hope that they read this post!!

Hope you are feeling better soon.

[magnuscanis]

Well done for trying. It's a shame it went a bit pear shaped, but I salute your commitment to sustainable transport.

I must admit that, while the bike is one of my two favourite methods for short distance transport (the other being my feet), I rarely use it on longer trips except (occasionally) when the cycling itself is the point of the trip.

Actually, I've not done very much cycling at all for the last 2 or 3 years. The other day I decided to cycle down to take my rent cheque to my landlady at the other end of town, as it's significantly quicker than walking. Or, it would have been quicker if I hadn't decided to take the scenic route home, which was very picturesque but involved cycling up quite a long hill. These days I cycle so infrequently that every time I do it I find the hills (of which there are many in these parts) very hard work.

This turned out to be wishful thinking, there were many more hills and none of them seemed to go down.

This is a strange topographic fact - the geometry of the universe seems to change when you're on a bike so that you get hills which always go up and never go down, even when you turn round and cycle home. In fact, we get plenty of downhills as well as uphills round here, and many of them are steep enough to be quite terrifying on a bike - at least, I find them so although I have some friends who seem to relish nothing more than zipping down hills as fast as possible.

- Magnus

[the.fee.fairy]

M3: not a chance, we're going by train to London, and then getting the BGG coach to the site. Then we're doing the same to go home.

[red]

ouch!

still.. look at it as researching travel for the book.....?

[Andy Hamilton]

M3: not a chance, we're going by train to London, and then getting the BGG coach to the site. Then we're doing the same to go home.

Try booking a funfare to London with National Express you might get a return to London for £2.

Still aching and pretty exhausted after that epic road to nowhere journey, I think the bath helped but need a couple of days of not doing much to get back to fighting fit again.

It could be a comedy sketch, something to tell my grandchildren and it is going into the book as a little case study of what not to do on long distance cycle trips.

I think my fitness level is pretty low at the moment due to having to go to work down stairs, that didn't help. At least I know my endurance levels are pretty high!

[the.fee.fairy]

ooh thanks for that tip Andy!