The Chain Gang Diary Competition Feb 2008 - Winner
Glenys Ockwell - UK
Memories of a Chain Gang Cycling Holiday
I am very chuffed that you are willing to give me the Guide Hachette, without working for it! However, it doesn’t seem fair, so I shall tell you why I like the Chain Gang holidays anyway and relate a couple of favourite memories.
The Chain Gang holidays are great because they combine for me everything I enjoy – cycling in the fresh air in new countryside, traveling abroad and really seeing the country and its people in places that tourists don’t always get to.
I love the idea of meeting a whole new group of people from all walks of life and different countries and learning about their backgrounds/lives/countries. Lastly of course, I enjoy staying in a different (great) hotel every night and look forward to fantastic local authentic cuisine and superb wines – and lively conversation and stories during dinner with the group.
A couple of memories stand out. Last year when we stopped to picnic up on a hill (sorry can’t remember name), and Tim was talking with the delightful Canadian couple, Mark and Tina, and Tim can’t remember what the topic of conversation was about now, but he said something like “Oh, we’ll just have a whip round”. Tina looked a little aghast and then asked what this meant – Tim explained, to which she burst out laughing and said she thought it meant everyone having a pee together. Tears were shed!
The previous year, we were nearing the end of our day and were cycling along a newly tarmaced (is that how you spell it?) road – fantastic road surface for cycling. We had all got rather strung out but suddenly being on one’s own seemed very enjoyable. I then came to a left-hand turning off this beautiful road, where a couple of the men had stopped and said they were convinced we had to turn left – so Annette and I did (she had caught up while we deliberated).
We ended up CLIMBING up a hill, in fact a gully – it wasn’t even a footpath! We girlies were not amused – the men had to help us drag our bikes up this really steep hill. Then suddenly after about what was probably only 15 mins, we came out to the village where we were staying and were only about 150yds from the hotel. We discovered that we could have stayed on the road, which simply went straight in to the village, which of course all the others had done. Not amused – but funny after the event.
Well there you are – hope it brought a smile to your face and thanks again for the book!