Dorseting

On the bike this morning I was reflecting on my 1990 cycle trip around Dorset. A 3 year relationship had ended painfully (Since my baby left me dum de dum de dum) just before a working visit to Japan. I came home to an empty house and spent most of my Japanese earnings on a new mountain bike (It got nicked out of a locked shed in Mancheter in 1997 but that's aanother story.) Soon afterwards half fit I did a 250 mile trip around Dorset and Devon.

I started at Bristol on the cycle track on the old line to Bath marvelous. Then that awful steep endless hill out of Bath. Heading for Galstonbury, the Tor kept appearing and diasppearing from sight. Friends to visit in Dorchester and Exeter. Time alone to be with myself. It was blissful at times sitting under a tree on the village green eating a cornish pasty and reading the Guardian. I actually like some of the solitude of cycling, I like being in the open air moving fairly slowly open to the elements. I untangle my thoughts - sort of digest stuff mentally - have moments of great insight and then moments of just being, not thinking enjoying the scenery maybe.

So finding the right place to eat my sarnies - the best being a bench under a tree on a village green is important. Bob Colderley one of my End to End advisers insists on the value of knowing where your next loo break is going to be. He waxed lyrically about drying his sweaty stomach and chest on a hot air dryer! Because you start to get cold and shivery when you stop. I have got these treat to look foward to! Me I usually just jump over a farm gate. Maybe someone needs to do a good loo guide!

This Dorset trip was a kind of test, what would it be like to throw myself into it. Would I survive physically, psychologically, would my bike survive - well my chain snapped but that is another story. When you travel alone like this you encounter people, you have needs like food and shelter but also you find yourself talking more, passing the time of day, lingering over exchanges in a way you don't in the city. Your rhythms become different. When I had done enough cycling on any one day I looked for a B and B. I had a rough route figured out but I detoured when something interested me. It was very free. End to Ending will be a bit different but I am hoping the jouneying will have something of this spirit and who knows if I get up a good rhythm detours might be possible.

Best to all and your comments very welcome on Blog or my email - william.west@manchester.ac.uk