Day 1

Despite riding a bike that weighs, fully laden, somewhere approximating a small car, I have safely arrived at my first destination: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. Bit of a cushy one this, as my friend Leah lives at her parents' house here so I have a bed for the night... but here on in it's canvas all the way!
Taking advantage of the computer facilities here too as I don't know when I'll next get near one, what with the wilderness that is the north of England being so rugged and inhospitable...
Tomorrow morning I'll be heading down to Hebden Bridge's very own Alternative Technology Centre, to find out more about how they're helping people in Yorkshire to live sustainably, or at least with as little environmental impact as possible...
For anyone who's just chanced upon this blog and/or doesn't know what the hell I'm doing I should explain that the end result of this cycling tour around the country's renewable energy centres, sustainable housing projects, farms, academic institutions etc. is an educational theatre project for young people focussing on climate change and sustainable development. Probably. Or it might be that I decide to go and chain myself to a tree on mushrooms while listening to bad trance music.... but don't tell my funders that.
I've not published my itinerary because it's still evolving but basically I'm heading south to London, then up to Scotland for the G8 Summit with a bunch of cycling protesters, down to the Lake District, Wales, and finally the West country. Well, Cornwall. That's as long as I don't run out of money, or my legs don't fall off, or my bike doesn't break or... well that's enough.
See you all in blighty. Or not if I don't know you.
Peace. x

...it hits the fan in 3 days

Hi folks,

So this is the downsized version of my blog ambitions, though to be honest it's probably quite good that my website couldn't haul its sorry self online in time, because it was looking a little shoddy... At least now I have time to make it beautiful before you all get to see it.

So... I leave in 3 days time on my epic and increasingly daft-seeming bicycle journey around the country, laughably under-prepared, hopelessly over-budget and severely lacking in fitness. But it's not all bad news, I have a bike, a tent, a stove and at least some of the people I'm visiting know I'm coming... the rest will just have to be pleasantly surprised!

For anyone who doesn't already know (I must have banged on about it enough by now but you never know...) I'm off to investigate attempts being made by people in this country to live sustainably (ie meeting their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs) and mitigate the threats of climate change (which was my starting point)... and other impending disasters. Other impending disasters such as the predicted peak oil crisis and subsequent collapse of the global economy, neatly summed up here by Schnews. I know some of you will be thinking it's all lefty econspiracy theorising and warrants about as much attention as David Icke and his lizards... and I hope you're right. Unfortunately, I think the general scientific consensus is a bit too, well, general really.

So, what you gonna do when your well runs dry? As I said, I have a bike, a tent and a stove... that uses petroleum fuel. Shit. Oh well, let's just enjoy the summer while it's here...

Testing

Computers are very...