Oban

Thanks to Matthew Trott from the 'Ordinary League of Riders,' for so quickly organising a dozen spokes to be sent by special delivery. Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow, and I can fix all the broken spokes, true the wheel, be left with some spares, and get back on the road. If you're wondering why the 'ordinary league,' it's because penny farthings were known as 'ordinary bicycles' from about the 1890's. That was to distinguish them from the growing number of 'safety bicycles,'  so called because... well, they were safer! These new safety bikes had a chain drive, and increasingly pneumatic tyres, allowing for a smoother and faster ride (basically, the sort of bikes most of us ride today). Unlike the penny farthing, they didn't result in what came to be known as a 'header,' when the rider's front wheel would hit a stone, a rut, or some obstacle, and pitch the rider forwards over the handlebars. Many riders would go down hills with their feet over the moustache bars (so shaped to allow for movement of the knees), so that should they be pitched forwards, it would be feet first. Have a look at the video of Joff Summerfield freewheeling on You Tube; 'Downhill to Death Valley.'
 
Penny farthings are also referred to as hi-wheelers, and members of cycle clubs as 'wheelmen.' So that makes me a wheel man! The wheel size is dependent on the inside leg measurement, and can be anything up to sixty inches in diameter. Modern bicycle gears are still based on measurements from penny farthings. Joff Summerfield has been around the world on his hand built penny, and is currently cycling from northernmost point of North America, to the southernmost point of South America. But the first man to go around the world on a penny was Thomas Stevens, in 1884. Unlike me, he had no mechanical difficulties! I started reading his book before I left home. It's packed with adventures. The longest distance covered on a penny farthing in an hour was 23.72 miles, in 1891.

Today has been a lazy day, looking at maps, and planning routes. After purchasing a spoke spanner and some chamois cream, I walked around Oban's harbour area, in the rain (locals assure me there is a summer, only it was on Sunday two weeks ago) watching the large Caledonian MacBrayne ferries taking passengers to islands such as Lismore, Colonsay, Mull, Barra, and Tiree, the large waves from their wake breaking on the shore line. Oban, like many of our coastal towns, once had a thriving fishing industry, but now largely relies upon tourism. Numerous shops sell Gaelic souvenirs, pipe music, and tartan clothing. In amongst the boats were small black guillemots, paddling with their delicate bright red feet. They fly low across the water, at speed, emitting a high pitched whistle, diving up to fifty meters for small fish and crustaceans.

It's sobering to think how twenty thousand years ago, a comparatively short space of time given the age of the earth, Scotland was under up to a mile of ice. It's been slowly rising ever since, and over the next century could rise by up to 10cm. Southern England by contrast is slowly sinking. This in turn will have an effect on sea levels. I also wonder, if it will have an effect on future generations of bed pushers, unicyclists, skateboarders, and penny farthing riders. Maybe if I had waited long enough to undertake this ride, it might really have been downhill from John O'Groats!

I don't know if anyone following this blog has been wanting to leave comments. I have adjusted the settings, so this should now be possible. I am very new to this!