May 25, 2012 to May 30, 2012
Interlude in Lincoln
grandson's christening
Days goes by. There's a haircut by Ruby; riding to and from Lincoln to Saxilby, a round trip of 30 km. A bit of shopping. A few beers. Nothing to write home about, but very enjoyable all the same.
My close friends Dave and Mark say they sometimes go for a ride on Sundays and suggest we all pedal to Harby for breakfast at The Bottle and Glass pub. A bicycle path follows the Foss Dyke canal, along part of a disused railway, and Dave and I meet Mark at the Brayford pool in central Lincoln at 8:00, where the canal flows into.
The Foss Dyke dates back to Roman times and is still used by long boats. The cycle path officially opened in 2011.
We don't got very far along it when my back tyre goes flat.
Having fitted a new inner-tube the other day in the Cotswolds, it seems odd that I should have a re-occurrence. Once I takes off the back tyre the problem becomes apparent - there's no protective rim tape. In my haste at St John Street Cycles, it's something that escaped my attention. Oh well.
The first repair doesn't even last a minute, with the thin self-adhesive patch bursting as the spoke hole allows the inner-tube to stretch. My new spare inner-tube has a valve coated with rubber and it won't fit into the small hole in the rim, even though I rub it a bit with fine emery paper.
After a couple of tries at repairing the puncture, Mark digs out some black electrical tape that gets wound around the rim and it seems to do the trick - at least it gets me to Harby.
The full Breakfast with a pot of tea and toast is a tenner. Ouch. Once we've demolished our meals, which doesn't take long, it's time to fix yet another flat tyre. This time I switch my good inner-tube to the back, the hole in the front rim being slightly bigger, big enough to take the coated valve stem of the new spare. What a rave.
Harby is just across the county border, in Nottinghamshire, and the village's claim to fame is that Eleanor of Castile died there in 1290. Berieved King Edward had twelve stone crosses erected in memory of his wife, each one put up where her body stopped overnight on the way down to London.
There's a car boot sale on in a playing field across from Harby's church and we have a quick look around before heading back to Lincoln.
My grandson Charlie's christening is in the early afternoon and I can't afford to be late for that.
Today's ride: 130 km (81 miles)
Total: 3,213 km (1,995 miles)
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