Having spent yesterday evening desperately trying to find a
bike shop that could sort out Fred’s bike, we were ultimately unsuccessful.
There are three problems: To start with, the gears are pretty badly buggered
meaning that repairs will take a bit of time and on top of that, they need to
be the right replacement bits as it is such a major component that has broken.
As well as that, yesterday was Saturday and today is Sunday (for those of you
who struggle with days of the week!!) therefore most bike shops are shut, so no
chance of fixing the bike. Also Swiss towns are rather sparely located across
the region of the Alps we are in. All this means Fred’s bike is out of action
till Monday morning at the latest.
Why does Fred not use Archie’s or Jack’s bike, I hear you
say? Well Fred is quite a lot taller than us and genuinely can’t peddle the
bike unless he is out of the saddle. Given that there is a large amount of climbing
to be done, this could prove very troublesome/nearly impossible.
Anyway, this morning (Sunday, for those who are struggling
to keep track of the days here!) Jack and Archie set off; in the hope that Fred
by some miracle could find an open bike shop and fix his bike. Unfortunately we
have already used up our quota of miracles for the trip on the hearse. On top
of that, Jack is in no fit state to cycle. He has a pretty awful
cold/cough/headache, and really struggled on the gentle climbs that we had this
morning. Given his condition, there was absolutely no way he would be able to
get up the much bigger climbs (over 1000m of STEEP ascent) that was due later
in day.
As two of the team are out of action, we made a decision
that it was rather pointless to carry on with just Archie cycling. So we have
paused momentarily to sort out Fred’s bike and let Jack get better. Archie is
refusing to allow Jack (who is has been asleep for a few hours already) to do
anything, even move. Along with ensuring Fred finds out the exact location and
opening times of every bike shop within a 50-mile radius.
We know this all sounds a bit pathetic and like an excuse
for us to have a rest day… But we are all absolutely gutted about having to
wait around in more Swiss campsites and would dearly love to be cycling if we
could.
This rather ill fated adventure continues…
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