Barbs's Big Bike RIde

This year I have decided to stay and enjoy an English Spring. It has been a long time coming but at last it is here and I am off to explore my own back yard. Well actually travelling up the UK mainland as far north as possible before 21st June and see how close I can get to the Midnight Sun.


After my travels along the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain last September on my trusty old iron donkey, I have bought a lighter bike in the hope that I can get up a few more hills and by going from Lands End to John o Groats (LEJOG) I can avoid the killing headwinds of the Spanish meseta.


So here she is, we had a jolly naming ceremony on Saturday and hopefully the good friends, food and weather I enjoyed will carry me through to the farthest northern climes. Thank you all for a great send off, admirably topped off with one too many pints The Village Bike listening to Mojo Triangle.


And she is called Eleanor, isn't she beautiful, I hope I still have such tender feelings after 6 hours in the saddle, but probably only in the nether regions I fear.


The map link on the right will show a rough itinerary and route and I will try try to update with my actual route, if I can work out how and where I am as I go along, you know there will be little correlation but I will get there or somewhere in the end!


If you want an email update, submit your address in the box also on right and hopefully it will find its way through the ether to you.

Friday, 1 April 2011

New Venture, Help Needed


Further to my previous post on out ‘African Evening’ we have had an enthusiastic response to setting up a water skiing school.

One of the major local industries here is brick making, the local soil is clay and all around the area, this is dug out, individually moulded into bricks.
 
They are first air dried and stacked

Then they are restacked into a kiln for firing, there are two holes in the base which are filled with eucalyptus wood, the whole is encased with mud and fired.
 
Theses are generally made and constructed by the road side for easy access for potential purchasers.  They are also often made in situ; the clay removed for levelling a site or digging foundations, is used to make the bricks for the house etc, as is the case in the new class rooms, see previous post.  This cuts out all transport costs and middle man.  The bricks are not of the highest quality or consistency but are more substantial than the wattle and daub which many buildings are still made of; which are subject to rapid degradation during the rainy season, but easily repaired during the dry.




The consequence of all this activity is that there are many deep pits by the road and indeed right up to the boundary of Uganda lodge.  

These are of course filling up with the rain, so we see potential synergy by creating a Cable Waterskiing Centre, particularly as we have the services of a qualified instructor. 













 If you feel you can support this venture, please donate using the above links, we are particularly looking for a cable system rather than boat as well as skis and boards.
I may have published this a little prematurely, british time, but you get my drift..

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