Got woken early this morning by birds and farm animals (well I was in the country), so can’t complain. Slept reasonably well even though it was cold during the night and it was the first time in tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag etc.
Pierre was still having problems with gear change on the rear derailleur gears so we agreed the sensible option was to take a train back to London.
In all honesty, without the gear change problems (above) I’m, not sure I could have cycled the 100Km back to London. I reckon we could have made part of the journey, perhaps to Sevenoaks and then taken a train from there, or maybe having started we could have made the 100km trip. Still never know now. With the gear change on one of the bikes unreliable, the only sensible decision was to take a train – setting off for a 100km trip with a bike with a known gearing fault would have been foolhardy at best.
So. we cycled to Charing and took a train to London, arriving Bromley South mid afternoon.
Picture above on Charing Railway Station
Well, we got a train from Charing to St Mary Cray, then onwards to Bromley South. When we got back, Pierre packed his bike in the car and headed for home.
Having looked at my odometer, I noticed I had travelled 93km (London- Ashford plus campsite to pub and back plus railway station etc). Well, can’t leave a trip at 93Km, so back on with the cycling gear and a a trip round Bromley area to bring it to 103km.
After the trip, well I don’t feel too bad, so here’s hoping the “Big Wheel” trip itself will be fine.
After some further investigation the issue with my gear shifting appears to be related to my handlebar bag. The bag seems to push the cable forward slightly which appears to be enough to hinder the cable movement inside. Still not sure why it was all working fine until 1km from the campsite though.
ReplyDeleteOnly 22 days to go!!!