8 October 2008: Is cycling the best way?

The second trip out to Fenit was completely shitty. Early in the morning it was raining, not a little Denver shower but full on lashing, this meant the trip started off badly. Then after the rain slackened off some, the wind started blowing making it a real pain in the ass to cycle. Of course, due to the time of year I knew this was coming and frankly there is a lot more of this to come, but if I were on foot I'd still be moving forward, whereas with the bike it was a remarkable pain in the ass.

After I made it to Fenit, it was still cold and windy; so I wanted to stop in at this little hotel bar to get a drink and a bite to eat, but there was no where to chain the bike, like no where at all, I just set off coming back. Along the way I came across a pretty nice restaurant/pub called "The Tankard" (that later I learned that Paul had worked at as head chef for about a year). So I chained up the bike, went in, got a pint and some food. While there, I met a couple Germans who were travelling around backpacking (walking, hitchhiking, and so on). As we were chatting, they were telling me all about their trip and adventures and it sounded exactly like what I'd like to be doing.

Finally I got back to Paul's place very tired and discouraged.

My original idea was to be backpacking anyway. However, talked me into going on a cycle, pointing out – very accurately – that it is much faster. An hour of good cycling can be on par with a day of walking. Further, you can carry a lot more stuff with you much easier. As an extension of the speed, it is also likely to be cheaper since I would be more inclined to just zip through places along the way, whereas on foot I'd be more inclined to stop.

On the down side, I am not a very confident bicyclist; I only barely know what the hell I am doing and don't consider fun at all, but gruelling work. This would obviously improve with more practice. There is also a significant learning curve involved with cycling; how to fix anything and everything that can – and probably will – go wrong with the bike. Though I have no doubt I could learn all of this. And finally there is the whole security issue. A backpack I can take almost anywhere I can go, and can easily find a place to lock it up when I don't want to carry it; whereas for a fully loaded bike with all the bags and things, basically it seems like it would be an incredible pain in the ass any time I am not actively cycling. This completely defeats the purpose of the trip since cycling isn't the goal, but just a mode of transportation to get me to where I want to be.

Backpacking – walking, hitchhiking, and the occasional train – would be slower and probably more expensive (just more opportunities to stop and thus spend money), BUT I know how to do it, am comfortable with it, and assuming the weather isn't horrible (which would suck on foot or a bike) I enjoy doing it. Further, there is no major learning curve, just some little bits here and there. And most importantly, security would be much less of a concern; basically I can brink a backpack with me anywhere I go, and can find lockers in bus/train stations to lock it up easy enough.

So what I am going to do is just go walking tomorrow and see how it goes. Maybe I'll find it as miserable as biking was yesterday, or maybe not. I just want to see how it goes.

What do you people think?

Oh, and by the way, while I was walking my bike on a stretch coming back from Fenit (because of the wind), I came across this old cemetery that I thought some of my gothy friends might like. I thought it was cool…