Brighton World Naked Bike Ride.

Getting up early, Paul and I set off for Brighton in the hope of finding a Halfords shop so that we could get Paul's bicycle tyre fixed or replaced before we headed on to the world naked bike ride (WNBR).  After going around in circles we found Halfords - the shop had moved.  We offloaded Paul's bicycle and took it inside where one of the bicycle technicians was able to look at it straight away and got the tyre off.  He replaced it instead of repairing it.  Putting the new tyre back on fairly quick but putting the wheel itself, back on, was a bit of a nightmare and the poor chap struggled a bit.  He ended up having to get some help from his colleagues but eventually it was put back on.

We found a parking spot and cycled our way to the start point of the WNBR.  In an enclosed area of a park people were either getting painted or dressing up in 'fancy dress' outfits.  There was a good jovial atmosphere amongst the participants.  Once again we bumped into some people who attended the Amsterdam body painting day and a few who were at last year's naturist walks in Germany.  It was lovely to see them.

The ride itself, around Brighton, went well.  The weather was good and there were no hiccups along the way.  One lady was in a mobility wheelchair and was accompanied by 2 other women who cycled beside her.  Almost everyone who saw the WNBR group cycling through Brighton took in the 'sights' very well, even trying to take selfies of themselves with some participants as and when we stopped during the ride.   

At some stage we all stopped in a park where there was a small take-away kiosk selling, amongst other things, ice cream.  Should we or shouldn't we?  We caved in on the grounds that it was a nice sunny day.  By the time Paul got to the kiosk there was a long queue - it couldn't handle the crowd that had suddenly descended on them.  Paul eventually got us some ice cream - but only just in time for when the bike ride started rolling again.  So Paul and I had ice cream 'on the run'.  It was worth it though - delicious!

After winding its way through Brighton, the ride finished at a naturist beach, Black Rock.  There was a party afterwards but we didn't attend - we wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit of peace and quiet.  So, donning sarongs, we headed back to the car and then drove back to the campsite.  

All in all it was a great day.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My back is getting sunburnt and I've still got
yesterday's markings on my back from where the
sun tanned the areas around the paint.

London World Naked Bike Ride.

Today was a fun day with a  hiccup.

After looking at cycling or taking a train to one of the starting point for the London World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) (there were a few starting points so we chose the closest to where we were staying), we found it wasn't quite as easy as we thought so we took the car in and parked it close by.

Cyclists gathered at what turned out to be someone's house.  In the courtyard people were getting painted with slogans or anything that they wanted, and there was a group from an Asian television company interviewing a few people.  We also bumped into Rayner from the German naturist walking group as well as a few others from the group.  It was good to see them again.

Paul and I painted each other, trying not to make a mess of the courtyard floor.  

And then it was time to go.  The idea was that each starting point groups would start off and meet as a huge group somewhere in London.

As we were cycling along the road we bumped into Marcus who goes to the body painting events that we attend, and we also bumped into another friend, Mark, who also goes to the body painting events. They were also attending the London WNBR.  It was good to see more familiar happy faces!

The bicycle ride eventually took us into London's city centre where we joined up with other smaller WNBR groups.  It was a big crowd!  With so many people, the bicycle ride got slower - so that everyone, could keep up.  There were a few people who walked the bicycle course, a few were on skates or skateboards.  Some people were in fancy dress, others were painted, others not.  It made for a very jovial atmosphere.  Londoners and visitors took the 'sights' very well - cheering, clapping, joking, taking photographs of the cyclists, and one or two clothed cyclists passing by the group whipped their clothes off and joined the group.

We forgot to bring our camera so we don't have any photographs of the bicycle ride.  I had remembered my telephone so was able to take a few pictures of us before the ride.  And someone kindly emailed me a picture of Paul and I during the ride.

This picture was taken from an internet
news article.

Unfortunately I didn't wear sun block so got sunburnt.  And, Sod's Law, Paul got a flat tyre at Piccadilly Circus.  We had to stop and to repair the tyre but there was no glue in the repair kit.  So we ended up getting dressed and wandered around the streets looking for an elusive Halfords, only to discover it was a depot and but they were closed.  We managed to flag down a taxi and the driver agreed to take us back to our car - after we explained that our bicycles would fit in the cab once they were folded down.  He was fine about it and we were soon on our way.  It took us ages to get back to our car because traffic through London was very busy.  It would have been quicker to cycle - if it weren't for the puncture.  And we were unsure about trying to take our bicycles on the underground.  Paul gave the taxi driver a tip - a nice goodwill gesture because he had to get a bit of some of the water-soluble paint off his seats that we had left behind from our exposed legs.  

Once back at the car, we packed up the bicycles and headed back to the Naturist Foundation where we had a long shower to get the paint off and then hit the pool for a nice swim.

Tomorrow is the Brighton World Naked Bike Ride and I hope that we can find a Halfords on the way in order to get Paul's puncture repaired or get another tyre fitted.

Exeter World Naked Bike Ride – Not!

We were up early to go to Exeter for the world naked bike ride and looking forward to it.  The weather forecast wasn't too great but at least it was positive; overcast but warm.  

Just outside Brynmawr traffic was diverted due to roadworks and we navigated the alternative route without any hiccups.

We stopped briefly at a service station along the motorway to pick up breakfast.  Whilst there I one of my flip flops felt a bit strange on my foot and on looking at it, discovered that the toe thong was coming loose.  I ended up having to get a pair of cheap flip flops in a hurry, which was a pity because I did rather like my comfy croc flip flops.

Next thing to start going awry was  a traffic  notice on the motorway advising that  there was traffic congestion one junction along a road that we intended to take to Exeter.  We ended up getting off the motorway at the next junction 5 miles further on, only to get off and find at the next turn-off to Exeter was chock-a-block with traffic .  So we continued up the road to take an alternative route to bypass the traffic, an 8 mile diversion, but it did the trick.  We finally arrived close to the destination and drove around a bit trying to see if we could see anyone else with bicycles or signs of life near the area that they were due to meet.  We didn't see anything.  Contrary to weather forecasts, it started to drizzle and we were at loath to take the bicycles out, pump the tyres and cycle around the estate and private roads to get to the river and see if we could see the group.  Unfortunately the map that we had been as to where the group was meeting up wasn't very good.  We drove around a bit more and even sat waiting a while to see if the drizzle would ease off but it didn't.  We ended up giving altogether, cutting our losses and heading towards Exmoor for a cream tea (scone, cream, jam, tea/coffee/hot choc) somewhere.  

Tarr Steps  was an obvious choice because it a lovely area and also there is a tearoom there, as well as accommodation.  We decided to take the direct route there rather than the fastest routes.  It made for an interesting journey:  very narrow roads, tall hedges, stopping or reversing for oncoming traffic to pass.  Sometimes it was tricky to find a passing point and try to not to end up in a hedge or go off a steep cliff.  Found eventually got to Tarr Steps but on the wrong side of the river.  Fortunately the river wasn't too deep and we managed to cross it at the 'ford' crossing point.  The area was very busy with visitors as was the tearoom so we didn't stop.  Further along the road there was a farm (Liscome Farm Ice Cream Parlour) that advertised home made ice cream and cream teas.  We couldn't let that pass us by so we went in and consoled ourselves over warm home made scones, thick clotted cream and jam and Paul had a cup of tea.  We finished our visit with a delicious ice-cream.

Whilst having our scones and ice cream we were able to watch cows being milked via a dividing glass panel of the barn/tearoom walls.  It was a very interesting mechanised process.  From what we could see, a cow would enter the milking area and a reader would read a chip in her ear to check whether she had been milked or not. If she had, a chest-high barrier would remain open for her to leave, if she hadn't the barrier would close.  The machine would then get to work via sensory lasers.  An arm would go between the cow's back legs and brushes gently washed and cleaned her udder and teats.  The automated laser guided suction cups would go onto the teats and the milking started.   In the meantime the cleaning brushes were washed/disinfected.  You could see milk going through the pipes to a big glass container, and which also measured how much milk the cow yielded.  Once the cow had been milk, the suction cups were released and the barrier would open so she could walk out into the barn.  Usually another cow was waiting to go in or in time a cow would take herself to the milking machine.  In between cows the suction cups would go to a cleaning point where they were cleaned.  It was a very interesting piece of equipment and a fantastic way of seeing cows being milked whilst having a snack.

Absolutely full and just about 'creamed out' we waddled back to the car for the drive back up to Brynmawr.  Part way back Paul got me to take over the driving because he was very tired.  I've not driven a car, let alone a big car, for a while so it took a bit of getting used to – width vs lane size.  Poor Paul was almost sitting on the edge of his seat and by the time he got back I can almost swear he had a few more grey hairs!  We also had to negotiate a diversion because one of the roads towards Brynmawr was closed off due to a traffic diversion.  Somehow we lost sight of the diversion signs and ended up having to use the satnav to find our way around but even then Paul had to do a bit of zooming in on the satnav map because the unit quite often got confused as to where exactly we were.  What a shemozzle!  We got back to Brynmawr in the end though.  If not we would have sent out smoke signals to Sue and Ian!

Dinner was absolutely delicious.  Ian had sliced up some salmon, dotted it with garlic, lemongrass and ginger; and then baked it.  He also did some stir-fry with it.  Some beers and plonk were on hand to compliment the meal.