Bike well loaded on Tuesday , a pouted kiss and fond farewell, then found me in Crawley town for a cheerio, stand adjustment and chain n socyyket lube all expertly performed with usual smile,genuine care of the stirling service provided by Cyhris and Roy from Ahead Cycles of Crawley. I would encourage any cycle travelling readers to call in at Ahead cycles at Crawley , Gatwick, England, should you be considering a tour and need some help,advice,or spares.
Then a trouble free ride towards Gatwick just rg minutes away with a quick drop in at P&H motorcycles to ask Marcus for a record mugshot of my steed and I. A week before, I was at P&H when Marcus and two colleagues had posed for a photo which I offered to take before the 3 of them rode 125cc scooters down to Cornwall ,then curb sleeping before a turaround trip back. This tuesday though, Marcus had nipped out so Simon kindly took a snap of us (loaded bike and I), and bid goodbye.
Got to the wrong terminal as usual so shuttled across to be met by one gestapo type Italian though check in chap who adopted a 'you can't bring that thing in here attitude. Try as I may, he kept up the pessimism making a meal of every molehill which I was furiously fending off. He then dissapeared to consult with his manager apparently so I went off to purchase the bike carriage to get the ball... which pleasingly turned out to be £15, not 25 I had the day before been quoted, rolling. I deflated the tyres and deflated again per Mr knowledgable who had to keep referring to other more knowledgable,authoratative people by phone. Finally after agreeing that the bike ought to taken by hand rather than be chewed up on the oversize parcel conveyor I was escorted to a seperate security room and after more fuss and explosive detective work saw the rear end of my bike pushed away by the bike porter. Himself needing instructions about which route to take. Time
and tide then and now continue/d to wait for no man and the queues leading through security were at one speed. Slow! A fella was being escorted through this Great English Institution, which I had discovered when returning to Blighty from the SA wilderness some 25 years ago. Well, I successfully tagged along this official looking duo lead my lady in uniform and when she began explaining her mission, I piped up me too feom behind. Ofcourse I was immediately dis-owned and received the disspasionate response my audacity deserved. But but but about bike I pleaded still dressed in appropriate tights seemed a good bet. Oh you were late in checking in then she said with an uncaring smurk obviously a rhino with no feelings. You will have to ask all these people behind you if its ok to hop the queue. I could have exploded into how what a bunch of incompetant check in staff had caused me to be late .... but felt that would just agrivate things. After enquiring
as to how many and pointing out that all of them would take very long indeed, I turned to face those few people who may have heard my pleading and asked in projected deciballed manner if any of them objected. A shake of a few heads was what I received and the queue ahead seemed then to grind to halt. Years back while at working in financial advising, we had a dept we called bpt short for compliance (business prevention team) which is a bit unfair since it the other way to describe them was a dept whose job it was to make sure the business stuck and any advice complaints could be successfully defended or happily, complaints avoidded altogether. Well there was desr Nicky who was our branch go-between and on occasions I would hear her looking for objections in the way she would approach/ask questions and invariably find all sorts of reasons why the business in hand could not proceed until some silly hoop, usually needing a loose face client revisit. But
it was often a half full rather than positive approach and I would then say please ring again and ask the question differently and presto! The desired result would follow. In this world, if you seek problems, many you will find. Like Google, if you look, mostly its there. Where the hell was I.
Well I still sat relaxing in the boarding lounge so maybe the ducking and diving was nnot needed but who knows?
Good job more folks don't suddenly decide to travel with bikes. Man, the world would stop turning especially at Gatwick. So there I was, waiting in a special get your bike back lane in baggage reclaims at Palma airport. A young fella from Disseldorf was anxiously concerned about his mountain bike. He had two,one large bags as well and asked me if I was travelling light. Hopefully I said, all my stuff is still attached to my bike. It did get wheeled through before Mr Disseldorfs but one front pannier had been tied to the crossbar so had visions of it having bust but no! However, went to pump up front tyre and the valve tip popped off between my fingers. NO SPARE TUBE! The nice lady at Avis with we go further written on her blouse, proved very helpful directing me to a superstore centre some miles off closing at 10pm apparently and I could hire one of her cars overnight at a special price for me of €60 or I could get a taxi perhaps. In the end, shanks
pony came up trumps and I arrived at the centre in a sweat with only minutes to spare. Said superstore had many tubes but not mine so a gallop down the centre to a closing sports store did the trick even though I could not get my 25 cents change from the shut till. New tube finally fitted, water topped up and hands washed I settled at the all night Burger King and indulged in 4 so bloody small but very spicy chicken bits for €2.25 and someone elses newly discarded chips while I waited, the chicken took so long. Eventually, i cycled back to the well manicured lawn I had seen at the airport and settled down under a tree on my mat, in my sleeping bag. I had to put up with taking chances on being hit by droppings from a bird I think who had also decided to roost in this freindly tree. He or she along with mozzies had surely laid claim to this teritoey before and clearly not yet moved on. Got up groggily after an hour or so and ramaged around for the
peaceful sleep which seemed to do the trick. Up again at 5am ish after three to four hours rest at most, I rose,packed and rode back to the terminal for some breakfast ant to figure out how to head for Palma some 6 miles off but only motorway according to a few folks including airport info desk fella who did not have a map. I shuffled about in my panniers to find a photocopied map from the Broadfield library's Atlas along with my compass and decided to head South by South west unril i had to start swimming. Hooray! A while later, still dark but mosly well lit I came to the water's edge and turned right following a brilliant dedicated cycle lane which leads all the way to Palma. Really excellent. Along the way, I met up with a very nice Malorcan lady and she walked and I wheeled, chatting haltingly as she practised her limited English and I listened to but mostly did not understand the Majocan Spanish. She had been out visiting her friend and had
mistakenly left her door keys so had had to get buses and taxis leaving her skint or determined not to keep filling their coffers,decidind to walk the long coast path back home near Palma in not so suitable shoes. Some while later at around 7.30am we came to an open beachside resturant and I got us two coffees at €3.70. Parting company at an inviting beach, I decided to have a swim and a cool fresh water shower before wheeling on again. I roamed some of the marina jetties drooling over monster sailing vessels, one from IOM really impressed with suely several million price tag many many metres long. Also saw one in dry dock called Bristonia' a black, sleek and very fast looking ocean going vessel . I gather from a canadian crew member perhaps that she will launch again in May. Being mid September, several enquiries later seemed to reveal that most of the yachts were likely to be staying in or around Palma as the cruising season's tail end. You never
know, I may have been lucky to have found a suitable sailing thoroughbread to wisk me and my bike back to the European mainland via anywhere within reason. Hopefully similar enquiries down the road will pay dividends. we'll have to see. There is yet, a long way to go.
I glance out the ferry window and see sea,mostly overcast sky and white scattered white caps on the water. Must be a bit of a breeze building, hope it stays dry and any wind is from the west. I want an easy comfy cranking session from Barvelona. ETA is 1930hrs on the tannoy a few minute ago. Time now 1900hrs. This update for log has been typed on my cell so hope to copy,paste and send at hotspot soon.
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