A motorcycle parked in front of a tent on a pleasant green campsite

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Perhaps I'm Not So Tough.

Blog Date - 18 January 2015

The Plan

The plan is to go to Scotland this winter. It is meant to be more than just a camping trip, it is meant to be a challenge, an adventure. I've camped around Scotland a few times now, I've never been in winter though. Any fool can camp up there in the warmer months, and many fools do. You have to be a brave fool though because while the risk of freezing to death is reduced the midges, the wee beasties will make you itch so much the notion of freezing to death becomes a welcome release from their torture. Why do you think the Romans built Hadrian's Wall? I imagine there's a Latin inscription on the wall yet to be found that reads "Go No Further For Fear Of Your Sanity"

To camp there in winter brings relief I hope from the evil that is the hardy Scottish midge. Instead it will be replaced by the fear of the weather. Snow, ice, gales and torrential rain all come to the North West of England where I live. These are scary enough when I am but a handful of miles from the safety of my home. Scotland offers more intense weather and nowhere to run home to. This past few months I've been dismissing these fears. "If I get snowed in I'll just have to stay where I am until it passes." "Yeah, it might be icy but the main roads will be clear. I'll stick to the main roads." "I've camped in storm force winds before now without mishap." "I can ride slowly and carefully if the weather is against me." "I'll keep a few days in hand in case the weather turns." "I can always get a Bed and Breakfast if it gets really bad."

A Reality Check

I've had these fears brought into crystal clear focus these last few days. We've had a couple of days of hail showers and a little snow. We've had freezing nights that have hardened the hail and snow into concrete ice. As the hail fell yesterday it compacted into ice even on the busy main roads. I saw cars with broken bumpers at wrong angles to the flow of traffic. I saw pedestrians slip as they crossed the highway. Even when I was riding extra carefully and slowly I feared the speeding drivers sliding into me, the front or rear breaking loose and the loco pedestrians walking in the road. After 5 miles I found good tarmac but the damage was done, I was frozen stiff with cold and fear. Today the main roads are clear but every side road is a treacherous mix of slush, frozen hail, black ice and crispy puddles. 

Today I believe if I pushed the bike onto the main road and loaded her up I could get to Scotland on the motorway without mishap. But once there? The main roads are quieter up there, maybe they're still icy. If I turn off the main road to shop for supplies or get to a campsite will I slither away? If there's a hill to somewhere I want to be will I get traction going up? Will I be able to brake coming down?

I've camped on some cold nights too yet the BBC weatherman is telling me that in the Scottish countryside temperature could drop as low as -14 Celsius! Now I understand that's a worse case scenario and on top of some bleak mountain but hell's teeth that's some chilly camping that is. I'd be interested and yet worried what minus 14 feels like in a tent, what it does to motorcycles and what it does to tarmac. Thing is, I'd like to find out but only if I'm a couple of miles away from somewhere warm and safe just in case I can't handle it.

A Conspiracy

Not only is the weather against me, but the bike is to. Or should that be bikes? On Thursday the 125, the bike I was planning to use, decided that it did not like the idea. As such it has eaten it's alternator in a fit of pique. Damn you to hell! Yes I do know it's a motorcycle and it is incapable of such acts but I swear to goodness it knows what is afoot and has spat it's dummy out. I look to the 250 instead. At least this one is running but that back tyre is right at that awkward tread depth. There's a few more miles left in it but maybe, just maybe not enough for the trip. The last thing I need is to get halfway home, have a spill on some ice and have a copper stitch me up for a bald tyre. 

Letting Everyone Down

If I don't go I have failed to meet the challenge I have set myself. I have failed. I'm like the naughty balloon with a pin, I've let myself down, I've let my friends down, I've let my readers down and I should go and stand in a corner and hang my head with shame. That's how I feel right now. I feel like a wimp. 

Should I? In an effort to cheer myself up I recall Sean Conway's recent adventure. Sean Conway? Oh he's just some bloke that has swum all the way from Land's End to John-O-Groats, in the sea. And cycled it, though not in the sea. And lots of other endurance stuff. You can follow him on www.seanconway.com. Last year he set out to run from John-O-Groats to Lands End. Just himself and a rucksack, no hotels or swanky support vehicles, just a bloke and his legs. Only this time he'd barely got started when his knee gave out. He had to call the whole thing off.

Now I've got a handful of people following me, Sean's got thousands. I imagine Sean has sponsors to please, I don't. Sean makes a career out of doing random adventures, I'm just a bloke with a blog. Sean had to cancel this adventure and let an awful lot of people down. People don't want to see him fail, of course not, but if things aren't meant to be they aren't meant to be. I was moved by the outpouring of support and care that his readers showed Sean. Me, if I apply logic I guess most of you reading this couldn't give a flying monkey's chuff about whether or not I go. 

It Is An Adventure

AD-venture. Not venture, adventure. The idea is that adventure is supposed to be unpredictable. If you book a package tour to Spain it is a venture in that to the best of everyone's ability you will likely get to Spain, get to the hotel, have lots of sun, sit on the beach, get a tan, get drunk, make an ass of yourself then fly home and return to work with tales of how good a time you had. Nothing is completely safe or predictable but millions of people successfully do what I've described every year.

Adventure ought to be about not knowing exactly what is going to happen. Look at The Adventurists website (www.theadventurists.com). They organise events that are specifically configured to allow the unknown to happen. They're set up to not always go smoothly. In fact those that make too many preparations and make the trip too easy are often mocked. Anyone can drive to Mongolia in a state-of-the-art 4x4, but can it be done in a £300 Nissan Micra? Yes it can, but not always. 

This is my mini adventure. Can I ride around Scotland in winter? Yes, of course I can. Is it going to happen next week though? Maybe not. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know as yet, but that's the adventure.

My Options.

Option 1. Go, no matter what. This is what I want to do because it means I won't have failed. But then what am I trying to prove and to whom? I'm trying to impress myself I guess. No one else really cares if I don't go. There's the risk of falling off, that's my biggest concern. I can handle some cold nights, I can deal with bad weather. What I don't want is to fall off and hurt myself. My ego, my need to prove myself to myself could really ruin the next 6 months if I hurt myself. I won't be able to work so I'll have no money. I won't be able to ride so I'll be bored to tears. Some poor sod will have to look after me and that's not fair. I'm talking myself into not going unless the risk of ice and snow greatly reduces.

Option 2. Don't go. This is chickening out and being a big girly wuss. But considering the fact that as I look out of my window it's snowing again it helps refocus the mind.

Option 3. Wait. This seems to be the best and most logical option. I can wait until the weather turns from icy back to just plain wet, windy and miserable. I can ride in the rain and the wind. It's not pleasant but I can do it and I've been doing it for years and years. There's a part of me that realises it's not the toughest option but it's certainly the most sensible option. This way I get to see Scotland in winter but as long as the weather doesn't catch me out I'll be more confident about the whole thing with a better chance of staying upright. Maybe if I wait I can get the 125 fixed. That little bleeder's not getting away with it THAT easily.

And Finally.

Brave adventurous people jump out of planes with a parachute. They wouldn't though if they thought the parachute wasn't packed correctly and in good order. I suppose there's a line between pushing yourself a bit and just being plain daft. As the snow falls outside I reckon to go now would be just plain daft. Wait. If the weather stays icy in Scotland until spring then so be it. There's always next year. Still, I can't help feeling like I'm a big girly wuss. I'm off to do something manly to compensate. I'm off to do the washing up.

Reader's Comments

Daf said :-
Maybe the idea of a winter trip still works and would be an interesting test, but why not go a couple of degrees warmer and do a ride down to Cornwall or something? Same idea, slightly more sensible implementation...

... Hope you get the 125 sorted out, ad hope the 250 behaves for you mate! :)
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Hi Daf

The 125 is sorted, YAY! I'll write it up and put it on here soon.

Regarding heading South rather than North. I can certainly see the logic and the fact remains that the weather is far more likely to be manageable than Scotland. At the time of writing however it seems the worst of the weather has passed for this spell and the plans to head North are back on. I think. Hopefully. Perhaps.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Latchy said :-
Bad weather passed? Not up in Scotland it hasn't mate, I've seen it for myself training with the army in the 80s
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Davie said :-
Hi ren,met you at southwaite services on Saturday while you were in for a heat,I take my hat off to you heading up north,and you must be mad camping lol.Hope the weather is kind to you matey.you have an interesting blog also.
You take care on they roads up north,roll on the spring to I get out on mine.nice to have met you and all the best.

Cheers

Davie
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
Davie! You know I never thought you'd actually read the site. I'm back home now, had to cut the trip short because of the impending bad weather. Next time I'm "ooop north" you can make me a brew :-) Great to hear from you, keep in touch.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Davie said :-
Hi Ren
That's a pity you had to cut your trip short,I thought you were tougher than that,lol.Charlie Boorman wouldn't have turned back..lol
Only joking of course,I still think your mad.You'll be glad your home,best place in this weather.Thanks for responding.I'll keep checking your site to see what your up to.
Meantime all the best.
Cheers
Davie.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC

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