Pages

Friday 1 March 2013

Stow Longa cycle

Out to Stow Longa today, for a day on the bike. Two great things about biking in Huntingdonshire - there's no hills, and there's very few fields with animals. It's not that I mind sheep and cows, but the lack of farm animals means that you get very few stiles to deal with.

Here's the village sign for Stow Longa


And here's the explanation of what the elements represent.


But I think it's possible to overdo civic pride. Here's the rubbish bin in Stow Longa






I got round 46 caches in about four hours; that included a one-kilometer diversion to pick up a "Woolley Mammoth" cache (I've already done that series, so this one is an extra. And to my surprise, no-one else had done it yet, so I got a First-to-find. It's pretty rare that I get a first-to-find, usually the local First-to-find fiends grab them a few minutes after publication.

After I finished the route, I did a few more to bring the number today up to 50.

The bike performed well; I'd replaced the rear brakes yesterday, and although the main bearing is still slightly wonky, it's not so bad that it's a problem just yet. But the key for the power has fallen apart. I'll have to use a pair of pliers to turn it, if necessary.

When I got back to the car, at about 14:30, and while I was eating lunch, it started raining, so I got round just in time. But then another problem cropped up - I wasn't getting electricity out of my inverter, the thing that transforms 12 volts from the car battery, to 240 volts, so that my various gadgets can run. I tracked it down to A) the fuse in the inverter had gone, and B) when I replaced that, the inverter itself refused to run. So I'm now using my backup inverter, and I've ordered a new backup - they really are so cheap these days; about £12 for a 200 watt model (which is really the maximum you should take).

50 caches done today, no DNFs, and one FTF. A good day out.



No comments:

Post a Comment