Day 1 (Blowout in Barnet)

 On the first day I planned to leave at 14:30 in order to take in Teddington and Chiswick lifeboat stations with plenty of time to reach my cousin before dark. 

All was going smoothly until, going down Barnet high street I heard a loud pop and quickly realised my rear tyre had blown out. I pulled up outside a cinema and hopped off to assess the damage.


A slightly deflated tyre
A slightly deflated tyre



This was a breakdown I had been dreading as there was absolutely no reason I couldn’t fix the issue myself and I expected it to be an absolute pain to fix. Fortunately the wheel came out and the tyre was off without putting up a fight, unlike fitting the fresh tyres in the first place, and I was able to look at fixing the puncture.


The hole in the inner tube


The bead had completely separated from the tyre

Unfortunately it was wasn’t going to be an easy fix, luckily I wasn’t far from home and my Dad was able to zoom down on his Moto Guzzi with the old original Dunlop tyre and a fresh inner tube.


My saviour with fresh parts




Reassembly (with oily rag)

We soon had the wheel back together and with the aid of a bike shop’s compressor ( conveniently across the road, we didn’t fancy pumping up 45PSI) I was soon back on the road. 

This all put me in a rush to get to Teddington where I had a friend waiting for me to wave me off from my first lifeboat station. So three hours after I thought I would arrive I finally reached Teddington.


Outside the station
The RNLI were doing some exercises when I arrived so I was able to watch for a bit and have a quick chat before moving on to Chiswick before it got too dark.

Chiswick lifeboat station 

The light was really fading by the time I reached Chiswick so I only stopped for a quick picture before sprinting for home by the feeble glow of my bicycle lights and looking forward to a well earned rest.


Comments

  1. austin vinceApril 7, 2022 at 4:25 AM

    Harry, if you have a gap in your accom schedule, anywhere in the UK, let me know. I have loads of contacts all over the place. I could probably tune you in. Keep it up - austin VINCE (aevmondo@yahoo.com)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Harry BottApril 9, 2022 at 1:35 AM

      Thank you Austin, I’ll definitely let you know. I’ll need to camp at some point otherwise I’ll be carrying a tent around for no reason!

      Delete
  2. Nigel FisherApril 7, 2022 at 2:58 PM

    Brilliant idea and I'll be following the blog closely. I live about 7 miles from the Barrow in Furness RNLI lifeboat station. So if you need accommodation, food and garaging for the South Cumbria leg please let me know on nfishercta@gmail.com. Good luck with the tour!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Harry BottApril 9, 2022 at 1:36 AM

      Thank you Nigel, I don’t think I have a stop near there at the moment so I will get in touch when I’m nearby

      Delete

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