Cycle Touring England Wednesday 9th September. Wareham to Southampton then train to Bognor. 55 miles.

I didn’t say but yesterday I was in a really bad mood! Firstly after paying near £300 for a service I was left with a squeaky front brake which was so annoying, it was ok the day I picked it up it just appeared yesterday morning when I was loaded up and on my way home! I should have gone straight back to the shop but it was an 16 mile detour and I would have had to have waited around for them to open and me being me and being Mr impatient I just wanted to get going but with hindsight I definitely should have gone back because I got more and more wound up about it as the day went on! It’s fixed now it just needed the brake blocks adjusting but for the money I paid I shouldn’t have had to do it! Another reason for being in a bad mood was my back was killing me, which must have been from the walking around in Bridgwater the day before and I also seemed to have developed a blister or something on my bum! Which is also really painful! I think it’s down to the new shorts I’ve got the seams are in the wrong place! So all in all yesterday’s ride was not good at all every single bump I hit hurt and every time I braked I had that annoying squeak! Today however is a good day, my back feels better, my bum still hurts on every bump I hit, but hopefully that will ease! Camping last night was also good as I managed to get a free nights camping! Nobody came to collect the money last night (possible because I wasn’t there I was down the pub!) and there’s no office so I just left! My brakes were also good today, no squeaking! The only downside today was a strong headwind which by the time I’d reached Southampton I’d had enough of and jumped on a train! Cycling the last bit from Southampton doesn’t do anything for me as i’ve done it so many times in the past and I couldn’t see any point in struggling against the wind! I met a lovely old character called Roy, in New Milton today he’s 83! He was waiting at a bus stop for his wife and called out to me as I cycled past. Turned out that he’s cycled over the Alps three times on separate occasions back in the fifties and that was on a 4 speed bike! He said he’d trained his first wife to be a speed rider and she was ranked 3rd in the country, but she ran off with one of the other trainers! He went on to say that he’d just had an operation to remove a cancerous lump and had also just undergone radiotherapy, which has hopefully killed of all the cancer! He says he gets his results in a week, which hopefully will give him the all clear. I wished him well for the future and carried on my way!

2 Replies to “Cycle Touring England Wednesday 9th September. Wareham to Southampton then train to Bognor. 55 miles.”

  1. Hey! you’re a high maintenance guy – my bike cost 24£. I have’nt had a puncture since I saw you last. I cycled up to Island Harbour for half a shandy and a wasp stung me on the lip. I hope I have better luck today. You can laugh, but in my prime I cycled 218 miles in 12 hours.
    Best of luck – Malcolm

    1. Hope you’re lips a lot better now? I was going to come over the island this weekend until I found out Bestival was on, think i’ll give the place a wide berth it’ll be too busy for me!

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