I love adventures: experiences that will stay in my memory. Helping to lead the inaugural Morecambe Bay route 700 ride with Sustrans was quite an adventure. Not so much for the events or the challenges or the people, just for the overall gentle mood of the ride and the scenery. Starting with cake and speeches at Walney Island, about thirty of us took four days to cycle through Ulverston, Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands and Morecambe to Glasson Dock. The weather was kind, the ride and accommodation carefully planned and the Sustrans staff and their guests were well behaved. Although the daily distance was only 20–30 miles, we travelled slowly because the guests were mainly newbies, so the time in the saddle made it tiring enough. Highlights of the ride were the Quakers’ garden at Ulverstone and the reed beds and birds at Leighton Moss. Monica collected me at the end and I was immediately snoozey in the car.
Monday is a bit of a blur. I know I took the day easy, in no mood to start back into Project Pigsty. On Tuesday, the madness took hold again and, after barrowing the fence timbers along the canal from Lock 35 to 34 in the morning, I knocked in 36 posts and nailed up almost all the rails before finishing late, around 10 o’clock.
I wanted to be able to clear the site because yesterday was going to be an away day. I finally found a stout spindle moulder on eBay and had to travel to Exmoor to fetch it. Tired again, after the fencing, a day driving was a welcome relief. The machine is scruffy but seems to work OK. I had to trust the vendor, who seemed honest. He helped me load it and it’s lashed down ready for the journey home.
Last night, I stayed with Steve and Val near Winterbourne. It’s a shame Monica couldn’t make it because Val would love to talk about bees, chooks and squeeze-boxes. Steve is preoccupied with his impending retirement. He seems to have decided that brewing beer isn’t a full-time occupation so I suggested that he look into the motivational speaker circuit. I think his life story and his achievements could make a good tale, though he’d need to stay away from the technical details.