Dreams

The weather has been frightful here the last few days–rainy and windy.  Although I’ve gone out riding, it has not necessarily been pleasant!  Too much wind to enjoy myself greatly, as the bicycle path has been littered with great tree limbs blown down by the wind.  I really do not fancy getting smashed by falling trees, and although I can do some nice ‘bunnyhopping’ over debris, that is a task better suited for the mountain bike, rather than the road bikes I normally use on the bicycle path.

So, when it’s been raining hard, I’ve done some dreaming about cycling in England.  When my father was a lad, he used to get out and roam the countryside on his pedal bicycle.  Unfortunately, I neglected to ask him before his death if he remembered what bicycle he had, so that will remain a mystery.  I do have a ‘Cyclist’s Guide to Wales’ that he used, so he certainly travelled to Wales, and of course, he would have visited many places in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Lake District.

So, one of these days, following in my father’s footsteps, I would like to cycle through the UK.  A little bit of searching led me to a wonderful resource site, http://www.thecyclepeople.com , which has lists of cycle shops, cycling holidays, and everything else that a dedicated lover of cycling could need or desire! Need to start off with the basics?  You can compare and review bicycles, find out who locally is a stockist, purchase clothing and accessories, and more.  There’s a version just for the US as well, at http://us.thecyclepeople.com/ .

You can also look at cycling holidays, and that is where I spent a considerable amount of time.  I had a difficult time staying on target here, as there are so many delightful sounding holiday tours all over the world, but I reminded myself that I was going to northern England, and probably Scotland, and focused myself on those areas.  There’s lists of cycle friendly accommodations, as well as local bicycle clubs.  I was especially pleased about the list of local clubs, as this can be a good place to get the real scoop on local conditions of roads, and perhaps join like-minded people on a pleasant ride for a day.  With luck, I might be able to find a cyclist to act as a birding or wildlife guide too!

Back to my dreaming, I scrutinised the lists of holidays offered.  I was pleased to see that there is a cycle shop right at Manchester Airport (my preferred entry point), so I possibly would not even have to bring any of my bicycles, but could hire one instead.  Even though I have numerous relatives in Lancashire, I would not want to have to burden them with the responsibility of taking me hither and yon, and getting about on a bicycle would be a wonderful way to recreate the way my ancestors used to experience life (albeit with considerably more traffic), not to mention being considerably less dear than hiring a car and paying for petrol!  Did I mention that my husband is terrified over the idea of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road?

Back to my dreams…