Why I Cycle

Never Photograph Yourself While Cycling - It's Dangerous!

Ever since I was a young child, I have cycled. Now, several decades later, I still enjoy the trouble free parking and the freedom to slip past traffic, through parks and shortcut down paths. Within the city it is very often faster and easier to ride than to drive.

A Ten Mile Bike Ride In The Forest of Dean

Children love to go on a bike ride, they can cope with surprisingly long distances and as long as the route is safe, I really enjoy watching them swishing along getting fitter and stronger. Bikes are cheap too, you can get a nice second hand bicycle for next to nothing and after a service they ride as good as new.

Bike Ride!

I have always used my bike for pleasure and as a great fun way to keep fit, and this becomes more important as I get older. Thanks largely to Bradley Wiggins and the rest of our Olympic heroes; we are now seeing an upsurge in cycling on our roads. The roads are also gradually becoming safer, with more cycle lanes, paths and better awareness.

Always Wear A Suitable Helmet

Cycling, as opposed to driving, is also a splendid way to save money. Not having a car can save you about £5000 per year off your annual bills. I don’t mind spending money on my bike and equipment, because I save so much by using it. A few years ago we decided, as a family, that we could cope with only one car. I now pedal to work most days; the journey is about 4 – 5 miles each way, depending on my route. I arrive puffed and with my blood is pumping - I feel awake and alive.

All Wrapped Up

It is obviously necessary to buy suitable protective clothing, when cycling through the English Winter. Even if it pours, I don’t arrive wet when I am properly equipped. I took the precaution of covering my bike in retro-reflective tape, making it very visible at night. It now lights up like a Christmas tree in car headlamps; it looks pretty cool in bright sunlight too.

Be Bright!

Bike lights have come on in leaps and bounds since the advent of LED technology, and they can now be as bright as car's. The batteries last ages too; I have not replaced mine for over a year. Bright clothing, is the obvious choice for the cyclist; wearing dark clothing, or riding without lights at dusk or night time, is asking for trouble.

Zooming Onto the Bevois Boardwalk

One other essential item that I really enjoy is my air-horn; it is as loud as a claxon and will easily make oblivious-fools-crossing-the-road-while-texting-or-wearing-headphones, jump out of their skin and then (hopefully) back onto the pavement. It is simply charged by my bike pump and yet I can now easily compete with car horns.

We Painted That Bike Together

 When you commute by bike every day, you soon get to know the most dangerous places on the roads. Places where drivers try to pass you, where there is not sufficient room. Places where drivers tend to accelerate to overtake you, only to break and turn left. Places where drivers do not look left, as they zoom across roundabouts regardless (on these occasions, the horn really helps). 

Southampton Sky Ride

I now have a helmet camera and have been recording the fun I have riding to and from work. I will shortly edit it all together and post it in here (number-plates and all) for people (and traffic police) to see. 
Of course, you need to be constantly vigilant when riding, we all make mistakes, and everyone will miss something, or misjudge the situation occasionally. Online discussions between cyclists and motorists can become quickly polarised, with the same silly quarrels being batted back and forth. It’s worth remembering though that most adult cyclists, also own cars too, they are riding as a lifestyle choice.

Mansbridge Community Orchard Campaign #3

On my third visit I cycled down in my lunch hour on my back-up bike. My number one bike had received a smashed rear wheel on my way to work the previous week, courtesy of a careless driver. If I had been cycling any slower it could have been bye bye Urbane Forager!

This time I had added guidance thanks to local explorer, Bob Painton, Bob is also a very good nature photographer and when I asked if he could take some shots of the fruit in Mansbridge, he did an outstanding job. You can see some of Bob's shots on the Campaign Page or visit his photo stream.

This trip, the third area by the deer stop (next to the fen) revealed itself. It was filled with apple trees with some pears amongst them. I met a local woman named Natalia, she was photographing the apples, I was picking a few and exploring the area.

Massive Comice Pears

On the way home I met Penny and her dog who kindly took this photograph for me – that is the Man’s Bridge behind me and yes, my pannier is filled with Mansbridge apples.



A Rainy Day in Mansbridge on my Back-up Bike



In total there must be at least 50 fruit trees on this Green Space. They are all on the Council's carefully managed land.

The apple and pear trees have grown wild for a number of years now and consequently some of the fruit is quite small but others are full of big red, yellow and green beauties. If the trees were properly pruned the harvest would be greater and the apples bigger and better tasting.

Apples Amongst Flytipped Rubbish - Such a Shame

I do not think that it would take too much time, with the help of a small team of local volunteers and the backing of the City Council with the Park Rangers, to clear the rubbish from this delightfuly wild space and create a Community Orchard.

This proposal will can benefit the area, as well as anyone in the city that cares enough to be involved. It can be used to educate school children about healthy eating and to engage with the natural environment. We could even supply local schools with juice to drink and fruit to eat or cook with.

Establishing a Community Orchard will require permission from the Council as well as working together with advice from the Park Rangers. Some fencing/hedging could be used to protect environmentally sensitive areas and pathways could be carefuly cleared for improved access. The trees will need to be gradually pruned to promote suitable growth and larger fruit. We could plant some plum and cherry trees, to benefit from their earlier fruiting and possibly develop a hazel coppice to use for fencing and nuts.

The Community Orchard can be a beautiful blossom-filled place to walk in the spring. It could be used for picnics and outdoor events in the summer. In the autumn of course we will all be able to benefit from free fruit. All this needs to be carefully balanced with the need to protect the wilderness for the good of plant and animal life.

Beautiful Autumnal Leaves

Anyone willing to offer support of any kind (physical, financial or advisory), please contact us here.

Your Community Orchard Needs You!

By Bike to Mansbridge Community Orchard

During the summer holidays, I had been looking after the children and they wanted to go on a bike ride. I needed to visit the Post Office and do one or two chores, so I decided on a suitable route and set off. During the trip I decided to teach the kids how to perform the classic cyclist’s “Scoot Start” and the reverse action “Side Dismount”. Easier said than done but they began to pick it up eventually.

After a full mornings riding we returned for lunch but the kids insisted on going out on bikes again as soon as we had finished. I hadn’t visited the Mansbridge Community Orchard for a while, so I thought we would zoom down and check it out.

We took a route through Riverside Park, then on through Woodmill and along the banks of Itchen past the Pitch & Putt course up to the old stone bridge that gives Mansbridge its name.

After this it was on foot through the meadow and into the trees to explore. As we worked our way through this beautiful place, we did remove some brambles and ivy, in amongst the apple trees. Stinging nettles are growing strongly there too, so shorts and sandals were not ideal but we did our best with what we had with us.

Some of the trees have obviously suffered badly with the poor weather this Spring but several are looking as if they will have a very healthy crop. There are so many trees in the site, that even if some fail, others will make up for it. 

One visit was not enough to account for all the trees and we didn’t really get much of a look along the Monk’s Path, so we need to get down there again soon to see if there is any fruit ripening alongside the houses. We did pick and eat copious amounts of Blackberries though...

Strawberry Powered Bike Rides

This year's Elderflower Cordial has been Pasteurised and safely bottled, thanks to my daughters efforts.

At the time I was too busy, brewing up a double batch of Elderflower Champagne, it always seems to go too quickly.

We had a blissful half term holiday, camping and cycling in France. We did not realise initially, but it was the week before the D Day 75th anniversary, and there was a great deal of preparation going on. 

We spent most of our time on our bikes; the French do know how to make perfect cycle paths and networks. We would cycle from one town to another, along peaceful, nature laden pathways, without a single car in sight.

On one of our cycle trips, we spotted a large patch of Wild (Alpine) Strawberries, so we called a short rest break. We proceeded to feast our faces on these delicate little juicy fruits, before setting off again, fully rejuvenated.

Lunchtime Lunatic

I'm quite sure that my work mates think I'm nuts, so here's confirmation for them...

Apple Trees

I popped out this lunchtime (on my bike) in an attempt to capture some of the variety and abundance of fruit in the area.

First Came The Apples

Apple Trees

I wanted to check on the local apple trees for progress and plum trees for picking.

Apple

I was not disappointed.

Apple

The apple trees looked just great.

Apple

They were loaded.

Red Apples

So many different types...

Green Apples

They taste just as different as they look.

Green Apple

Every apple pip that grows, will result in a new and interesting variety of apple tree.

Green Apples

Which is a very good reason to experiment.

Red Apples on a Branch

Then came the plums.

Red ones.

Plums

Cherry like ones.

Yellow Plums

Purple grape like ones with a dusky bloom.

Purple Plums

Very jucy yellow/greengages that burst in your mouth.

Greengages

Firm fleshed speckled ones.

Speckled Plum

A veritable cornucopia.

Peachy Plums

How long did it take me to take all these photographs and sample the plums?

Yellow Plums

Half a lunch hour!

Cherry Like Plums

The cherries have mostly finished now but there was a similar variety and amount here last month.

Traditional Plums