RSF - The Off Road Cycling Club

The Adventure Starts Here

2002

“I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.” — Michelle Pfeiffer, US actor BikeRadar / Immediate Media

 

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I have 3 bars of Cadburys chocolate — not exactly the best energy rations you can carry in South America but they were going cheap — 3 bars for 99p at terminal 3 Heathrow. Last minute panic — Laura at Journey Latin America was not aware that I was taking me bike to Peru so she phones up British Airways and American Airlines to confirm if it is o.k. to take a bike. 18 hours before departure Laura phones back to tell me that it’s o.k. to take the bike but it must be within the 65 kg baggage limit. I tell her that if my total baggage exceeds 65 kg. I'm not taking it.
 "Och dear, och dear, och dear...". What he really wanted to say was: "Can't you simply follow to A830 and jump onto the ferry at the end of The Road to the Isles?" No. I couldn't. Besides, that would be the second ferry I had to catch, the first one waiting for me 'just' 6 miles to the north from where I was now. Friends of mine, carrying out deepwater research on Loch Morar, had promised to pick me up at Camas Luinge (South Morar) and ferry me and the bike across the deepest point of the loch to Swordland (North Morar).
One of the benefits of ignorance is that you are apt to select the most spectacular project where wiser heads would embark on something more realistic. For the enlightenment of other innocents I have penned the following account. The tour circumnavigates Mont Blanc by way of a pass a day and offers views into some of Europe’s finest alpine scenery which, after youthful climbing adventures from Chamonix, was calling me back. Dave Rowson of the Yorkshire group was available and kindly agreed to make up the party.
It was not clear where the knock was coming from. It started as all mechanical noises do as just an irritating intrusion on your consciousness when pedalling down a nice quiet lane. The first inclination is to ignore it - it may go away if I pretend it's not there - but inevitably the noise becomes louder and eventually, sounding terminal, causing an emotion akin to panic. Time to call out the mechanic! Now, the cause of this knock was clear, as was its location - water

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