T Minus 1

I had a few 'incidents' today.

Everyone had been seated on the plane at Manchester airport for a few minutes when a ground crew guy approached me. He asked my name then said "there is a problem with your bag, please come with me".....gulp!

At the bottom of the aircraft steps were my 2 bedragled pannier bags. I had secured them together because you are only permitted one bag.   Unfortunately my 'securing' hadn't withstood the challenge of Manchester airports baggage handlers. The elasticated strapping that I has used as one of the securing methods was completely missing. I was informed that it was still on the trolley. I didn't dare ask how many pieces my bike was in.

When I arrived at Edinburgh airport I headed straight for 'baggage reclaim' where I waited and waited and waited and started to worry! So I went to lost luggage to ask if the baggage handlers were busy collecting bits of broken bike, I also asked if my 'baggage' had been transferred directly to my ongoing flight..... Relief :-)

I had a pleasant conversation with a very attractive air stewardess during the flight to Wick and once we landed my bags and bike were soon delivered to me, and nothing was missing, broken or even scratched.... result.

I proceeded to unpack my bike and replace the front wheel, re-inflate the tyres, re-align the handlebars, etc. and 40 minutes later I mounted my steed only to  realise something wasn't quite right, I had forgotten to re-attach the pedals, duh! Luckily Wick airport is quite sparse and nobody saw me. Anyway, I soon corrected the error and I was off.

I rode into Wick for some lunch then afterwards looked around to buy some sandwiches for teatime, whilst looking I came across 3 other cyclists; John, Ian and Jim. They had cycled from Land's End and were on their way to John o"Goats, but they had been fighting a strong head-wind and were about to give up (they were from Yorkshire so I suppose it was understandable). I said you can't give up now and I offered to ride at the front to give them some protection from the wind. They took some persuading but they finally agreed (hehe, sorry lads only joking, well done on your magnificent achievement).

Upon reaching John o'Groats I took some photos with my new Yorkshire friends then bid them farewell as they went in search of a pub to celebrate and I headed south to my overnight accomodation.

The sun is shining and all is well so I'm now off for a walk.

P.S. I got to JOG on my bike, this jogle'ing is easy, tomorrow I'm off to the Bahammas, thank you all for your contributions :-).

Oh, and thanks for the messages on the message board, keep 'em coming.