Safe Return Doubtful

63 miles (101 km) – Total so far: 1,868 miles (3,006 km)

And yesterday I forgot to add a moan… Surely if I forgot then it wasn’t so serious? The wind. All day into a breeze, a gentle wind. What a difference a day makes (24 little hours) – today that gentle breeze was behind me. I would say 1 to 2 mph, but that is doubled if the wind tails you. Psychologically though there is a big difference, it’s a positive view to the whole day.

Despite several riders I have met saying I would enjoy Durango, I was pleased to leave it this morning. It’s a city of 20,000, a bit big for me…

There’s a bike path alongside the dual carriageway highway 3 for about 10 miles but it does little to make the ride any more pleasurable. The road, which becomes the 160, is busy all the way to Bayfield. I had expected the holiday traffic, but there were many trucks also, and in places very little shoulder. I had been advised to take the longer route to the north, via Florida, and if I had had more time I would have done.

A pleasant interlude just before Bayfield. I was stopped and a guy in a pickup truck pulled over for a chat. He asked if i was in a hurry. I ended up detouring to his horses and delivering 3 bales of hay that he could not lift. He (Sandy) is retired from a big international dairy farm company, and as he said, always likes a bit of good conversation.

Back on the bike and after Bayfield the riding becomes the sort you might expect in Colorado high country, spectacular, and the road much quieter. It is all hilly of course, and goes up to 2350 metres at one stage, but it is a superb ride. I am staying tonight at an Airbnb recommended in a conversation a week ago. It’s about 2 miles off the 160 highway along a gravel road into the mountains, wonderfully peaceful, and a great experience.

Busy roads – rush hour traffic around Durango at 8 in the morning

Looking back at the town of Bayfield

Typical scenery once on the 160 – tremendous riding

Wee break after a climb – bit of shade though

Approaching Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock from the east side

A cool drink here in the town of Turkey Creek sat outside with the two old timers.

When I left they told me to “Keep Wild, and Be Safe”

Storytime:

Humour Influences

Humour dominated Nigel’s life. All friends and family would agree, and it was part of what made him such a great person to be around. Many examples are in the stories I have written about, but where did it all come from? What were his influences?

Having three older brothers obviously helps, and to some extent Nigel enjoyed the same characters from TV, film and radio that we did. Also, he got to mix with adults in a social setting from a young age through playing cricket, and many of those people were real characters.

My influences growing up in the 1970s were mainly from Peter Cook and Monty Python, and the various spin offs. These also played a big part in Nigel’s upbringing, but he also enjoyed some slapstick, more ‘in your face’ humour (literally quite often), with Laurel and Hardy, and Harold Lloyd. I think he knew every piece of film from them.

TV in the 1970s was pushing the boundaries. If it annoyed Mary Whitehouse we wanted to watch it. If our parents thought something was inappropriate, it was like a red rag to a bull. I’m thinking of things like Sid James and the Carry On crew, Steptoe and Son, The Likely Lads, Are You Being Served. Peter Cook’s Derek and Clive (which both he and Dudley Moore tried to sweep under the table once they were more famous) was a good example, it was hugely shocking at the time. Python was different though with a narrower and more exclusive audience. Coming from that genre was more off-the-wall material, The Young Ones, Fawlty Towers, Black Adder.

Nigel’s son, Cameron, knows all these, and can quote scenes as well as any of us, he was brought up on them.