At the beginning of the month I was grounded or at least I couldn’t go abroad as I had to send my passport off for renewal, so whilst this was away I thought I’d get my saddle sorted and sent that off to get repaired. 
The rivets on the front of it had started to pull through the leather and I keep catching my shorts on them and tearing them, thankfully it’s only been my shorts that I’ve caught so far!
Not having a saddle on Passpartout I decided to load up my old Marin and went away on that for a night, purely because
I’d brought a return train ticket from Southampton on one of my trips last month which was due to expire so rather than waste it I used it as a good excuse to go away!
My intention was to get the train back to Southampton and go to a campsite fairly nearby for the night then just cycle back home the following morning, but unfortunately for me the guard on the train was somebody that I use to work with years ago who was always telling tall stories, and things hadn’t changed! By the time I’d got to Havant which was only about halfway I’d had enough of his b******t and jumped off the train! I decided it was an easier option to cycle to the campsite despite there being a strong headwind and it also being rather late in the day but it was still better than listening to him waffling on!
By the time I arrived at the campsite it was getting dark which turned out to be a bit of a problem, I suddenly realised that I didn’t have a torch! My head torch that I use sits in the front of my bar bag but that bar bag won’t fit on the Marin so I’d left it behind! Normally when I go away I don’t have to think too carefully about what I need to pack as it’s already packed and the only things I generally have to worry about are my clothes and sleeping gear. But because I’d come away on my Marin I had to try and think what I would need and gather it all together, but apart from forgetting the head torch everything else that I needed was there condensed into my two rear panniers and I had a good night’s sleep in my MSR which was the tent of choice because of its size and weight. The next morning I took a leisurely ride home stopping off in Portsmouth to once more explore its old town.
My saddle arrived back later the following week, but unfortunately it’s was a bit too far gone, so I’ve now got to get a new one. Still can’t complain it has done nearly 50’000 miles with my fat butt sat on it!
Apart from that, that’s about it for this month, there’s really not been much going on at all. Next month should be a bit more exciting as I’ve got my cousins from Australia coming to stay for a few days.
