Folding Bikes - The Pootle Thread

Why not add your own?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Come with me, gentle reader, for a gentle pootle upon our folding bicycles.





Today, we are in Oxfordshireville, ancestral home of the Snafus, whose fiefdom ran as far as the eye could see in that direction, and up to the haystack in the other.

My family are an odd bunch. They came over to England with William the Conqueriser in 1066, did a bit of slaying' and lootin' and were given Lancashire as a present for subduing the worthless English so well.

During the Second World war, my folks protected Premier Winston Churchill's birth place from the dastardly Hun at Blenheim Palace, and put out a lot of fires. I don't know why - it's just full of old paintings and sticks of antique furniture now.





http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/houses/blenheim.shtml

Today, then, we are off to nearby Bampton, a rural market town, where nothing happens. It's on the south side of the Cotswolds: stone cottages - winding country lanes - drunks carousing in the streets at night- Range Rovers running down pedestrians during the day.

Our pootling (verb: to cycle at a peak speed of no more than 12mph unless downhill) starts under a tree in a lane, where we have to take our silly woolly fleeces off because the sun has come out and we are too hot.

Here we show off the svelt lines of the Speed D7 - we can tell it's a Speed D7 because it has 'Speed' written on it silver paint, and seven cog-things on the back wheel.

(Yes, I know the photos are in the wrong place, but I'm writing this on a Mk1 Enigma machine. )


Bampton is only a couple of miles south of the military air base at Brize Norton, where mysterious black aircraft take off and land at all times of the day and night. There's some sort of air show going on today and the jet-liners are accompanied by fighters, spitting avgas into the ozone layer at the tax-payers expense.

Brize Norton is the embarkation point for many of the troops in the Middle East, and there are always planes buzzing around the skies above it.





Out in the lanes is the remains of RAF Bampton Castle Signals Unit.


Now merely fields with three antennas sticking up, RAF Bampton Castle was once a forest of steel towers, handling SIGINT and other sorts of INT for the military. Since George Bush got in, the military seem to be behaving with no sort of INT at all, and the old unit is now just a ghost installation.



Cycling round the perimeter takes only a few moments and if ever you need an OP, this is the place to come. It all feels a bit secret and a bit Area 51, but really it's just a rural farming community where everyone is related to each other. Folk round 'ere do say that the definition of a Bampton virgin is a girl who can run faster than her brother..






A couple of miles further on and we are bike-jacked by a pair of horses. The small pretty one keeps me talking while her boyfriend eats the handlebar grip.




Bampton's church is said to 'fabulous' but I'm no lover of ecclesiastical architecture. An old curse dating from medieval times says that whoever cuts off the top of the church spire with a digital camera, will be run over by a cube monkey in a Range Rover on the way home...





The spire towers above the flat landscape though, and is a useful landmark when out walking. It's of no use when out cycling.

The church, and deanery occupy many acres of land that could be turned over to a Chinese bicycle factory. I have written to the parish council to sugest this, but so far, had no response.

We pause by the graveyard, and ponder for a somber moment that this is where we could end up if we continue to dare use the roads in Oxfordshire while there are so many Range Rovers around.



A near miss at the start of the pootle, when a Range Rover tried to kill me, has in fact frightened me off. It's time to go home.

Our little trip has only taken an hour; we have made two new friends, invoked Satan, been buzzed by the Air Force and got out of the £%%*!! house at last.

Adios Amigos, Adios!

Any friend of yours is a pal o' mine - oh.

Thanks for sharing your images of the countryside. "Pootling" is one of my favorite things to do.

Pootling - Didn't Credence Clearwater do a song about that? Looks like a nice way to while away an afternoon when the weather gods are smiling. Something must be done about all those old buildings, walls, and such cluttering up the place though.

Has the Range Rover outpaced the Volvo as the weapon of choice for the "sorry,didn't see you mate" set?

There was a moment, where, giddy with excitement about being allowed out without the handcuffs, I black & whited out for a moment. But it soon passed:



Alas, there was an unseemly incident with a chicken, so I thought it best to return to the Institution before the medication wore off.







But the Black Aircraft were running a Box Search, and I was fresh out of Triple A ammo...




So, reluctantly, I returned to the Ancestral Home of Clan Snafu, where my faithful old hound Baskerville was waiting in the doorway, with the dismembered leg of the village postman in his faithful old jaws. What a lovely day in Oxfordshire!

I have to go now. It's eight pm and they lock us in for the night....

Thanks for the tour, the humor and the inspiration. Your posts are always fun to read and good for a chuckle or two.

It seems obvious to me that I could use more pootling in my life. Living in Silicon Valley doesn't actually encourage such silliness, but perhaps it is time to take a firm stand for meandering, moseying, perambulating, sauntering, rambling, traipsing, gallivanting, gadding about and, yes, even pootling. If it were to catch on here, someone invariably would refer to it as PootLing 2.0

Oooh, I have a pootle I could add next week. It's a favourite ride down to the coast that I do on average a couple of times each week. I'll take my camera, though to avoid offending Fatboy, I'll leave it in the handlebar bag if I decide that skinny dipping is in order! I'll also add that your posts bring a new and welcome flavour of humour to this forum Snafu - I appreciate them!

I'll also add that your posts bring a new and welcome flavour of humour to this forum Snafu - I appreciate them!


+1


When the likes of The Goons, Monty Python, The Goodies and ohers hail from there, the rest of you Poms have got to be a bit....:twitchy:

Nice report!!! I feel like I went pootle with you.

We need more of these stories...

Oh, I do have one! Here's my pootle story from Oregon.

My family (wife, son & me) went for a long weekend up to Oregon last weekend. I brought my Downtube Mini with me hoping to steal in a ride or two. Well, I managed to get two rides in - one of 35 miles and the other for 25 miles. This was along the Bear Creek trail between Ashland and Medford. Very bucolic and flat.

Here are some pictures of the Mini on the pootle:
Start of the trail. Maybe it's me, but these horses were not interested in me or my bike :)

Miniature horse. Lowrider, just like my Mini:

The Mini taking a break along Bear Creek.

Saw this remant of an old tractor. It's had a harder life than my Mini, that's for sure:


We took a side trip to Crater Lake. This was the view we found :love:. It's a lake formed after a volcanic eruption and filled up with snowmelt and rain over the centuries. I would have love to ride around the rim of the volcano and breathed in all the sights. It's 33 miles and 3800 ft of climb, but all at 7000+ ft elevation. However, the roads were still not open due to the snow. I'll have to come back and do the ride...

Sesame-- amazing photos! The mini horse was especially squee-worthy. So cute!

I go out of the house around 5:30 in the evening and washed my sedate blue coaster brake 3 speed and my Brg color Boardwalk 6 .I then took the boardwalk 5 blocks southeast and crossed a busy street.Then pootled over to the local discount grocery for strawberries, raisins ,soymilk and chocolate.Then a short walk to the thrift shop to look for interesting watches( no luck ,or great luck since nothing caught my fancy and I spent nothing?)I then bicycled back to a Taco bell for 3 burritos then around back of the mall for a quiet meal under a crabapple tree.( 3 burritos a grapefruit and chocolate soymilk) I next went home to drop off the raisins and strawberrries then out again on my 3 speed and east about a mile to visit with freinds .I then pootled my way home arriving at 9:17.

I go out of the house around 5:30 in the evening and washed my sedate blue coaster brake 3 speed and my Brg color Boardwalk 6 .I then took the boardwalk 5 blocks southeast and crossed a busy street.Then pootled over to the local discount grocery for strawberries, raisins ,soymilk and chocolate.Then a short walk to the thrift shop to look for interesting watches( no luck ,or great luck since nothing caught my fancy and I spent nothing?)I then bicycled back to a Taco bell for 3 burritos then around back of the mall for a quiet meal under a crabapple tree.( 3 burritos a grapefruit and chocolate soymilk) I next went home to drop off the raisins and strawberrries then out again on my 3 speed and east about a mile to visit with freinds .I then pootled my way home arriving at 9:17.

Meh... It ain't a real pootle report without pics :D

Yay! Let's see more pootling pix... Did you only buy bicycles to keep them at home and polish them?

Don't answer that.


Liked Sesamecrunche's pix. That leedle wee horsie! Awwww.

Yay! Let's see more pootling pix...

Here is a picture of Pootle.

I love this new pootle thread and hope I can add to it sometime soon.
Love your whimsy (again) Snafu - esp the caption on the clever tricks the pretty horse played for gripshift dinner...
Though now I can't get the theme to the Flumps out of my head...

I say! Very well done, Snafu21, old bean!!!

S.C. - I think that old tractor is your Downtube's grandfather.

Excess energy has been spent here. Only regulars are present due to the cold air. Now for a nice Sunday ride in Helsinki – Daigoro is waiting.


Watching women play football for awhile. Boring – they are just training.


Now to the harbour. Ships are everywhere, new ones, old ones, ships being built. And tourists.


Having a cup of tea. Heavy wind blew away my teabag. A kind customer stopped its fly before I made myself look ridiculous chasing it. I call this place Torx – it reminds me of the Torx screw.


Let’s check the tyre pressure and have a little snack at the gas station. 95E gas price seems to be 1.559€ for a litre. Equals to 9.14$ for a US gallon, and 5.59£ for an English gallon.


Ride along a channel. They say that architects succeeded well while creating this residential area. I like it. I once kayaked along this channel when there were none of these buildings – how time flies.


Only one newly washed carpet. It’s quite therapeutic and fun to wash carpets at the seaside when the whether is warm. Some tourists have pitied us for this manual labour. But even washing dishes manually can be ok – it depends on your attitude.
It’s summer but still quite cold. An old saying: Finnish summer is short and only a little snowy.
Now I’m really hungry.

snafu21, I must have been in Oxfordshireville at the same time as you - I witnessed the flyby. Had hoped to go on the origami foldingsoc ride from Bicester with my Dad - him on my old DT, me on the HH7 - but he was not too well so we played crazy golf instead. Love the pix, and maybe oneday we folderisti will fly the lanes of Oxon in formation ourselves....

Maranen - great pix - always wanted to see Helslinki by bike..

" Heavy wind blew away my teabag."

Pootling can be dangerous. Did you wear your helmet?

I notice that the Extreme Pootlers have fitted kickstands to their bikes. I just bought one for the Hammerhead for £2.75 from Tesco.


Gringo-gus - yuz, not been too well myself, so a pleasure to get out and inflict myself upon the indigents. The black aircraft were returning from Trooping the Colour Flypast in London. It looked better on the TV on the 6pm News though.


Where will the pootle thread take us next? London? New York? Paris? Virgin, Nevada?

<hops about, excitedly>

Where will the pootle thread take us next? London? New York? Paris? Virgin, Nevada?

<hops about, excitedly>

How about Ohio? I want to Pootle, too!

This is the most recent, but hopefully not the last, poodle by a Sears Tote/Cycle, codename: Wikey.

No, the codename is only in effect for covert ops. For pootling, we use his nickname, which, for simplicity's sake, is also Wikey.

It was a pleasant day, the sun was shining. At least I think it was. Hard to be sure with all the clouds. It was warm enough that no sweater was required, which is why we forgot the sweater at first and had to return to our starting point to retrieve it. This eventually proved to be our undoing.

We took a gentle pootle across town, at first traveling along the Olentangy River which flows through town and itches if you're foolish enough to get in it.

We came upon a nice little shelter on the bike path.



Neat. This wasn't there when I was in school in Columbus.





It seems like a clever idea, but of dubious use on such a cloudy day. Plus Wikey's tires appeared to be plenty full. Possibly, if future events are any indication, Wikey was overful already. So a quick photo op and we were on our way.



A little farther down the way we found The Great Blue Heron.



I don't know what's so great about it. It's legs don't even bend the right way.

And further on down the path we happened upon a football game. My old Alma Matter, The Ohio State University appeared to be playing ... Ohio State University. It was nice school when I went there, but now it seems that no one will play with it.






I used to live in this building. They don't let people live there anymore. I hope it wasn't something I did. Like taking the vent grating out of my dorm room wall so that I could sneak into the Stadium proper. Surely they didn't care (know) about that.

They spared no expense making me feel right at home. I don't even know how they found out I was coming. I felt obligated to stay for a song, even though I was really just cutting across campus to get some donuts.



Band placated and donuts acquired, our pootle took a slightly more serious turn. Now I was leading Wikey into uncharted territory, along bike paths I had never seen before. But with my newly acquired map, I found the bike path, and we headed on towards the magical land of Bexley. Magical because it gets its own, special name, even though it's totally in the middle of Columbus. I wonder if I can just put a sign up at the entrance of my apartment building that says, "You are now entering Robtopia." and get my own zip code?

The path was long, winding, and pleasant, but not especially picturesque. Perhaps if I had stopped to take more pictures, I would have noticed that my sweater was working its way loose from Wikey's grip. I did notice eventually that it was gone. Wikey and I debated. We seemed close to end of our trip, and we could not remember where we last had the sweater. Maybe we should just let it go. But then I reminded Wikey that the sweater had my imaginary name embroidered on it, that it was given to me by my wife, and that my wife had not been pleased when I left the hat embroidered with my imaginary name at the hotel, or when I left the replacement hat at my aunt and uncle's house, nor would she be pleased if I had told her the tale of how I eventually retrieved that hat only to leave it at a coffee shop in Durham. For her sake I spared her this knowledge, and for all of our sakes, Wikey and I turned around headed halfway back to the donut shop, where we found the sweater. But then things took a bad turn. Wikey met with an accident, or perhaps he balked at having to travel the same stretch of bike path for the third time in a couple of hours. All I know is that as we rolled down the bike path (again) into a nice little park, Wikey's rear tire let out a shout that loudly proclaimed, "Your patch kit is no match for this!"

So our pootle was cut short. It became more of an amble. It would have become a bus ride, but, when that plan occurred to me, I found that Wikey had also shed my map, and the only route I knew involved staying on the bike path. A long walk later, we reached our destination, and Wikey had to stay outside, where cars parked in front of him, and so he didn't get photographed.



Wikey has since been in recovery. A simple tube-ectomy became a complete tire-ectomy. And rather than repeat the whole ordeal later, it was decided to go whole hog and get a rim-ectomy at the same time. Alas, Wikey's hub (blood type 28h) rejected the new rim (blood type 36h), so we patiently wait for a compatible donor hub to arrive and for Wikey to pootle once more.

Pootle - 1. Sweater - Nil. Oh! Wait!

You got it back, in exchange for a flat tyre?


Excellent. What the hell is a solar powered bikepath shelter? Does it pump tyres up or sumptin?

Pootle - 1. Sweater - Nil. Oh! Wait!

You got it back, in exchange for a flat tyre?


Excellent. What the hell is a solar powered bikepath shelter? Does it pump tyres up or sumptin?

Yes, the sweater was retrieved, but the tire was destroyed in the process. I knew the tire was old and wouldn't last too much longer, but that was Wikey's 2nd or 3rd "real" trip (not just making sure he was running) since I got him and and put him back in riding condition.

And, yes, I hit the 10 photo limit in my last post, and I didn't realize that photo I cut was the one explaining the function of the shelter (which, as you said, is to serve as a pump):



It seems like a good idea, but I would be afraid to try it, especially on a cloudy day, unless I had a back up pump or no other options. Just the act of trying to use a non-functional pump will leave my tire in worse shape, so I'd be tempted to soldier on to the next filling station.

hello global pootlers!

today i received my very first folding bike, an orange downtube IXFS! :love:

so i went on a mini-pootle in downtown bedford (the one in englandville)!

here it is by the lake (ok, it's more a pond really):



playing hide and seek behind a tree:



admittedly it wasn't a very exciting game, since i was the only one playing, and knew where i'd put the bike. :rolleyes:

some glamour photography outside my flat:



and finally, after a hard(ish) ride, i put it to bed in its new home - a cupboard in my flat:



i shall endeavour to do rather more impressive pootling to more far-flung corners of bedfordshireville at a later date, but i hope you like these 'first day' piccies. :thumb:

The more I see of those Downchoobs in their natural habitat, the more I'm tempted to get one. In orange. It drives me nuts. Could you kindly post your full address, dates and times of when you're going to be out, and the code for the intruder alarm?


It's lovely to see peeps getting out on their bikes and posting pix of their bits of the world . Excellent. Thanks, everyone.

Front tyre looks flat in the cupboard. Tyred after the hard day?

The more I see of those Downchoobs in their natural habitat, the more I'm tempted to get one. In orange. It drives me nuts. Could you kindly post your full address, dates and times of when you're going to be out, and the code for the intruder alarm?


It's lovely to see peeps getting out on their bikes and posting pix of their bits of the world . Excellent. Thanks, everyone.

It's almost enough to make me wish mine was orange. Maybe I need another? Anyway Sue, don't steal his, I can sell you a brand-spanking new one for a very reasonable price, if you follow the link in my sig. It'll make you think the Hammerhead was expensive......

You wanton hussy. We need to see you pootle round Sarf'ampton on one, to give us a further idea of how these desirable machines fare when put to extreme pootling use. :-)

For instance, how many buns can they carry?

Come on. Have you not seen the World Naked Bike Ride thread? That should give you an idea that at least two buns can be accommodated on any one Downtube!

Seriously though, since the Pootle thread started, I've not had the opportunity to use mine for anything other than fast aggressive London commuting. I need to continue my training for my 270 miles in one weekend ride, so tomorrow morning will probably include a 40 mile pootle round Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst and Lymington. Watch this space.....

I love this thread!!!

I love this thread!!!


Steady on, old chap. Steady on...

Front tyre looks flat in the cupboard. Tyred after the hard day?

to be honest, i can't work out if the tyre is tired, or the tire is tyred! cos not everyone speaks proper english like what i does, innit?

but actually it wasn't flat, it's just that i put a rather plush bit of carpet in the cupboard and it sank into it.

i treat my downtube like royalty, i do. :)

Maranen - great pix - always wanted to see Helslinki by bike..
.... Did you wear your helmet?
Thanks - Welcome to Helsinki, this is a friendly and secure place - even according to the surveys.
I didn't wear a helmet - I haven't found a nice foldable one yet.

Right; here's my pootle. Up at 5:30 this morning for a ride in the countryside, from Southampton out through Totton and Cadnam to Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Lymington, Beaulieu, and back home through Eling, taking in some of the most idyllic sights Englandville has to offer.


Outside my house. The light is lovely at 6 am. That snack-box on my handlebars is not entirely full of snacks. In fact, this morning, it's just got tools and a spare tube - I haven't had any breakfast, and I've only got a couple of cereal bars in my jersey pocket for sustenance. Should burn off some of that fat!

The view from the bridge over the River Test. On the other side lies all my lovely riding.... Take note of the containers on the right of the image - more of those later.

And here we are, in the Noo Furrrest (that's New Forest, for those of you who don't speak local)

No, I didn't ride down there, but I thought it worth a picture.

Lyndhurst is quaint, pretty, and posh, as evidenced by the Ferrari and Maserati dealership. Me and my bike aren't jealous though, not a bit of it *dribble*

At the top of the climb out of Lyndhurst (you seem to climb out of every town and village in the Forest), open road, not much traffic - a nice change from charging through the London rush hour .

Pub names round here are fun. This is in Brockenhurst.

Lymington harbour, in the distance.

Otters crossing. That's just how we roll...... Riding out of Lymington is a monster hill, not super long, but ludicrously steep, and the site, last year, of my second and most embarrassing clipless fall. I was on an early 80's road bike, lovely and fast, but with very close ratio gearing, and not much granny-business for hill climbing. I hurtled past a rustic looking individual on a mountain bike, started up the hill with a vengeance, and near the top, found myself really struggling. I got unmanageably slow, and decided to clip out and walk, but at that speed, you don't have much time, and my size 11 clodhoppers make it hard work clipping out, so I simply rolled gently into the ditch, which is full of nettles. The kindly Polish gentleman on the MTB asked me if I was ok, as he sailed by....

Since everyone like the miniature horses so much earlier in the thread, here are some Wild Horses. They made a token attempt to Drag Me Away, but it wasn't possible.

As forests go, this one has a lot of moorland. Reminds me of Exmoor, but perhaps that's just the ponies.

Beaulieu in the morning. Idyllic, or what? By this time I'm 24 miles in, and starting to feel the pace a bit. Time's a wasting though, so I turn it up to Pootle Factor 10, so there are no more photos for the next ten miles or so.

Eling Church - nearly home.

Crossing the bridge from Eling into Totton. See the containers in this picture? They're the same ones you can see on the extreme right of the second picture of the set. 5 minutes later, I'm home, sweaty, and smelling like a badger, but feeling good about myself!

:bike2:

Mind the horse poo...



New Forest Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Forest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Forest)


Brilliant pix, thanks. I know the area quite well, as I used to go over to the Isle of Wight. The Noo Furrest too. Horsey Central. That Maserati dealer in Lyndhurst I know too.

In fact, I'm inspired to get my soggy *ss down there ASAP as I'm moving to Hampshire soon. G/F likes camping there.

Sammy, you done some miles there today, I think. How is the training for the charity ride coming on? Should we sponsor you?

More dang pix of Downtubes. Cripoes!

Thank the Lord I have one on order......:crash:

37 miles this morning. If I do that 3 times, I'll be almost there on one way of my two way big ride! Training is going well, but I need to step it up if I'm to be ready. I think I'm going to do a ride of around this length at least once a week from now on. If you're going to be down this way, drop me a line, and we can go riding. Does the missus ride too?

"Does the missus ride too?"

She's a walker of the 20 mile variety. But she's discovered the joys of riding the silly Hammerhead, and has taken possession. :-) Yes, I'm sure we'll all get together for a folding excursion!

Sounds like fun!

The Hammerhead meets its distant cousin, a seven-bar gate. Recycled Hammerheads are melted down in a secret factory near Oxford, and made into bucolic utility items.





The Hammerhead recognises more of its distant family, and snuggles up to them.




Young Holsteins opposite the old Air Force Base, being irradiated with microwaves from the cellphone tower. Yum!



Today's run, part of my attempt to get well after three weeks of being under the weather.

Well, okay, then! Here's my contribution, Part One.


Yesterday I did my summer-time commute out from my NYC office to my "beach house" on Long Island. Had to mow the grass, harvest some lettuce, prepare the house for summer occupation (which starts next week). Now, I had the option to take the 4:30 train from Hunterspoint Ave station which takes me within 4 miles of my house, for a total of 6.3 miles of bicycling. Instead I opted for a 2:25 train from Penn Station, which involves a transfer at Jamaica, and ends at Patchogue; then I have to ride an extra 10 miles or so, or maybe 12 miles if I opt for better scenery and, I figured, would still get me to the house a little earlier than usual, provided I pootled along in a leisurely way.

The problem is I forgot who started this thread. Anyone want to remind us what SNAFU stands for?

Well, the first thing that went wrong is that I missed the connection at Jamaica. I don't know how that happened, sure wasn't my fault (I blame LIRR). So I took the next train to Babylon. I figured, I'll ride from there, it will add a few miles to my ride, but I have a bottle of water, no problem.
It was a local train, a bit slow, so it was about 4:30 when I strapped all my gear onto my Mini and started pedalling.

Then I realized, I should be taking photos. And I realized my rear tire seemed a little squishy. So I stopped. As this photo shows:

the bike was heavily loaded, with my briefcase suspended from the seatpost rack, a rack trunk full of who knows what, my fleece jacket (needed for riding on refridgerated train cars) bungied to the top. As you can see, my water bottle fell when I got the pump out, and the unbreakable plastic shattered. I removed (and recycled) the plastic, but left the water where it lay. Call me a litterbug.

Finally on my way, I found myself on roads too busy to allow for one-handed photography. Still, I took a few of architectural interest:

A pretty church

and a nice old house. Great photography, eh?

Now and then the road crossed an estuary, such as this one.

The 18th century church of St John, Oakdale.

... another estuary ...

... and a canal, with homes on both sides, with boats tied up behind the houses.

The harbor at Patchogue; finally getting to familiar territory!

To be continued...

And here's Part Two.

I should explain that most of my ride was not particularly scenic.
This stretch of Montauk Highway was pretty typical. Nice, eh? But at least I didn't have to get off my bike to take the photo.

By the way... I wanted to do a little something to show my appreciation and respect for the distinctly British flavor I have detected in this thread. Oh, excuse me, I meant flavour, so sorry! Therefore I actually stopped, got off my little bicycle and stepped through a hole in a fence to take this photo ...
of ...
Yes, you knew it, that's the Long Island Rail Road station at Bellport, NY! One of the most British novels of the 20th Century was written not a mile from here! I refer, of course, to Something Fresh, which P. G. Wodehouse wrote one winter at a rented bungalow very near this scenic spot. You have to picture the young Plum standing on the platform, perhaps on a cold February morning in 1915, manuscript under his arm, waiting for a train to take him to The City so he could present it to his agent. I removed my helmet and stared solemnly.

And then I pootled on. I considered making a detour to Remsenburg, where Wodehouse lived out his later years, but I don't know which house was his, and it would have added another ten miles of riding. Another time, perhaps, if you specifically request more lovely Long Island photography. Speaking of which....

Carman's River, AKA Connecticut River. Note that I stopped for refreshment somewhere along the way, and it's dangling from the back.
Artistic shot, looking down from the bridge.

Canada geese and a Long Island Rail Road bridge. As I approach destination, I realized, that some dinner might be in order.
So I stopped at a supermarket, after which I had to mount yet another bag to the bike, this time from the handlebar. I pootled on, eventually reaching
my street!

There's the Mini, the tomato plants, lettuce, onions, and zucchini. Distance covered, 35 miles.

Wow, long ride, and a big load! I'm impressed with how much you get your Mini to lug!

Hurrah! Loved the pic of the scoot in the shopping trolley.

But, and it's only a small but; could you not carry a little more luggage next time?

Excellent!!! Great to see Bellport NY.

In other news, my Mini wants to look like yours when it grows up. As soon as it's off press duty, Big Apples and fenders are in the pipeline.

In other news, my Mini wants to look like yours when it grows up. As soon as it's off press duty, Big Apples and fenders are in the pipeline.

Excellent. Don't forget to beat it with chains. --Rudi

Brilliant! :thumb:

Great report and writeup, RHM!

I just have one question - Do you really ride with a 6" drop between your saddle and the bars :eek:? You must be either really young or really flexible...

I rode 25 miles and about 1500 ft of climbing today on the Mini. Got to a top speed of 35.9mph on a downhill and ran out of gears to pedal. (Does that disqualify the ride as a Pootle? ;)) I was riding through redwood trees and then along the Pacific Ocean on a beautiful day. Unfortunately didn't have my camera, though. Thought about the missed opportunity to document another Pootle to this gang. Oh well, will have to do another one soon.

Abandoned graveyard.




My favorite epitath. . .Perhaps a little bitter?
As you are now
So once was I
As I am now
So you must be
Prepare for death
and follow me

R20 didn't want to go in the graveyard.


An estuary on the way to Fort Delaware


Not all is bucolic. Delaware is known as the chemical capital of the world. I didn't take pictures of the chemical plants, refinery or nuke plant across the river.

Three Forts guarding the Delaware River and access to Philadelphia. http://www.threeforts.com/
I rode through Fort DuPont today. Others are accessed by boat.

Delaware City was built at the head of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, connecting the Delaware River and the Chesapeake Bay. Grand plans for Delaware City never came to fruition as the railroads took over just as the canal was finished. Now it is just a quaint backwater town.
Lock from the old canal system. Almost forgot my sunglasses.

Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware. Infamous Civil War prison.

Some Batteries.

The magazine

Gun emplacement. Tough shot with all the trees!


View back from the top of the battery.

The R20 did some light offroading.

It gave it a woody!

All along the watch tower.

Warning!

Wounded. Standing and climbing this small hill caused some frame twisting and this is the result.



Some unused buildings.




A nice day in the park.

I knew someone from Delaware, once. Great to see the place, and from the saddle of Twenny. How old is that bike, VC? Have you fixed the wound?