We got a bike seat for Dora as soon as she was old enough. We took her out twice, had a lovely time, and then winter came. And it just seemed to stick around for ever! We’re generally all-weather kind of people, but it’s not fair to stick Dora on the back of a bike when she’s not moving, she’s not only exposed to the elements but moving through them at some speed (however slow!) and it’s wet and cold and windy.
Ever since we moved, a trip up to the wind farm on the hill side behind our village has been on our to do list. And it’s certainly not due to lack of trying that we haven’t reached it yet.
After a good night’s sleep and a fantastic full breakfast we were cycling by half-past nine. I was quite impressed by our departure time, but less so by the weather. The drizzle had not been forecast; nor had the thunderstorm. As we toiled up a steep hill, the heavens opened and we were pelted by hailstones, which really hurt when your only protection is a bit of lycra.
My idea of a good family bike trip is something like this...
I don’t know about you, but it’s felt to me like this winter was never going to end! Bad weather, combined with flus and tummy bugs over Easter meant that last Monday evening, my cabin fever was at maximum.
Waking up in Brixham – on a beautiful day and with church bells ringing out across the harbour – was magical. Rather than being wracked with guilt at ‘cheating’, I felt quite liberated, and ready to continue my new, more relaxed approach to our adventure!
Having told you in ‘Adventure Dilemmas’ about all the indecision and procrastination surrounding our adventure last summer, I need to tell you about how it all went.
The weather is improving, and Little Brother and I have been on some short journeys on the tandem. Last week, I was trying to convince him to go on a longer trip, and he was quite happy to do this… especially if there was a pub involved.
Before settling down for the night in Charmouth, I had given myself a good talking to for having ‘confused’ numbers such as 56 and 59 with much smaller numbers such as 40. I had looked again at the route for the following day, established that Brixham was 54 miles away, which would mean setting off at half-past nine, and had given myself another good talking to.
Our newest cycle route follows both sides of the Tuki Tuki river – what a great sounding word!
At our previous house, we were very fortunate in that the immediate area was very safe for small children, and this made it relatively easy for James to practice riding his bike. We are not so lucky in our present house, but we tend to use the tandems for getting around, and there isn’t any great need for the boys to be able to ride their solo bikes.
