So here we go, one week of the Walk The Width challenge under our belts. I will be undertaking the first part of probably my favourite aspect of this challenge, our team blog entries! My name is Kerensa and I am the Social Media and Publicity Officer for our expedition, making blogging part of my job. As such, I thought it would be best (and probably most convenient) if I write the first Walk The Width Diary Entry.
A great picture of me cycling past some bins in the rain yesterday
Week 1, what a week! Now this challenge has been described by several people as seeming 'kinda easy'. For your average person, yes, maybe completing 24.4km a week is 'kinda easy'. However, I would not consider a group of students approaching their end of year exams the 'average people'. Wherever possible, I have been trying to record my distances out with my usual commutes and chores. But, when I find myself still on campus as the sun sets, it is extremely helpful that I live about 3.5km from the University. Thanks to this challenge, I have been getting on my bike and cycling to campus to study rather than locking myself in my room (which has become a slight post-lockdown habit).
Anyway, back to the challenge. As previously mentioned, I have been completing my daily distances by cycling around Glasgow and after having covered the city centre, west and east ends (sorry southside, I'll get to you eventually) I have several thoughts on cycling in this city:
First, the sheer amount of broken glass that litters the streets makes cycling a dangerous game. In the last two weeks alone, I've had two punctures, and I have a nagging feeling that when I go to get on my bike later today I will find another. I carry my puncture repair kit with me as often as I remember.
The second reason Glasgow is an interesting place to cycle is the quality of the cycle lanes, or lack there of. Glasgow has plenty of cycle lanes and overpasses that conveniently keep us bike users away from the roaring M8 that cuts through town, but their upkeep ranges from having mini-cycle traffic lights (which bring me an indescribable amount of joy) to chipped green concrete that suggest at some point between now and the distant past there was a cycle lane. Sometimes, finding a safe cycle route feels impossible but after I once found myself on the motorway, I have become quite good at it.
Glasgow is littered with these cobbled lanes which run behind peoples gardens and provide ideal shortcuts to avoid one way streets, road works and just general weird areas of city planning. For that reason, I love them. However, cycling on cobbles is a bit of a nightmare in the best of times but when they're wet (as they often are with Glasgow's temperamental weather) and littered with weirdly deep potholes AND you're going either sharply up or down hill, cycling these unsuspecting back lanes becomes a strangely thrilling adventure, not to mention the added obstacle of people backing out of their garages at breakneck speed.
Finally, Glasgow is annoyingly hilly. I live on top of one of these hills and the University sits on another. So, no matter where I find myself going in order to get my distances in for this challenge, I have to return up hill eventually, which really is not that fun. As a child, I was going to pull a 'She's The Man' style exploit to be the first woman to cycle in the Tour De France (obviously revealing myself on the stage 21 podium after having won the entire race) however, if I can be defeated by the hills of Glasgow, its probably best I don't take my talents to the Pyrenees.
Left: A mini cycle traffic light that didn't turn green for about 5 minutes so I ended up ignoring it anyway, but its the thought that counts right? Middle: the only evidence that I was on a cycle lane. Right: My new favourite street in Glasgow aka a wet, pothole filled cobbled back street.
All four of those ramblings about cycling in Glasgow were born while I was on my bike completing this challenge and trying to come up with what I'd write in this blog. My first thought was a greatly detailed description of each route that I cycled so be thankful I landed on whatever this is. Despite these irritations however, cycling in Glasgow is overall a very enjoyable experience. The natural beauty of the canals, rivers, and parks means that as a life science student I get to see a lot of wildlife on my travels and, I finally mastered the excellent skill of repairing punctures myself (which my dad did teach me when I was younger but I only remembered the last few steps so essentially I've had to re-teach myself. None the less, thanks dad).
So, while I spend my time sat in various buildings on campus studying for my end of year exams and wishing that I very much wasn't, I also have the excuse to give myself days off and cycle through Glasgow, usually hoping to see an interesting duck, as I do my bit to complete the Thailand Expedition Walk The Width Challenge.
And guess what? You can sponsor me!
All sponsorships should go to our GoFundMe which you can find here. The money raised will go towards funding our exciting environmental research, not directly to me, don't worry. We are in the final legs of our expedition planning og pending on the details of that) and the only thing holding us back now is money. We hope you will appreciate the great effort our team is going to in completing this challenge by engaging with our Walk The Width Diary Entries (this, of course, being the first) and see fit to donate. Even just sharing these blogs with your friends and families will help us reach our goal.
Now, I'm sure you're thinking what my geography classmate shouted when I was 13 and I told the entire class that we should engage more with the natural turning of the seasons:
"Wow, you're such a hippie!"
Because yes, you did just read an entire blog in which I wrote exclusively about cycling and used the phrase 'hoping to see an interesting duck'. However, that has been my favourite part of this challenge so far; being able to get outdoors in the often unpredictable spring weather during a time of year that students spend an unreasonable amount of time indoors. I hope that I can facilitate seeing more of Glasgow through this challenge and dispel some of that pre-exam anxiety. I have some great routes planned for the next few weeks, what a shame I won't be writing another Diary Entry!
But less about me, on to the future! Weeks 2 through 4 of our Walk The Width challenge are approaching fast, I hope you're ready, we certainly are! Once again, you can sponsor our team by donating to our GoFundMe here and by sharing our progress with your friends and families. We will have further Walk The Width Diary Entries coming in the next few weeks from the other members of our team so you can hear all about their views on cycling in Glasgow. In all seriousness however, I can almost guarantee that no one else will write so exclusively about bike travel (apologies to the few people who have actually enjoyed reading my opinions on cycling). What they will write about however, I have no idea so you'll have to read their posts to find out.
If you want to engage in less-wordy media relating to our Walk The Width challenge, turn your attention to our Instagram or Facebook pages. There, you will find pictures and significantly fewer words. Finally, we have a '2 Months To Go' blog in the works detailing everything you could ever want to know about the progress of our expedition.
Thank you for all your support as our expedition draws ever closer and for making it this far through the ravings of a caffeine-fuelled-cycling-obsessed student who enjoys writing these expedition blogs a little too much. Thankful, I won't be writing anymore of these Diary Entries so you'll hear the views of someone else for once. Now don't waste anymore time and get those donations coming in, I'll put the GoFundMe link right here so you don't have to scroll to find it:
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