David Currie

887I had last week booked off work and, as we were at Longleat on the Sunday, we thought we’d look at the option of staying on at the adjacent Center Parcs. Mid-week term-time the prices are pretty reasonable. Sadly though, it’s Monday to Friday and, having decided we couldn’t face packing the car for a week on the Sunday morning, we actually ended up driving back to Southampton for Sunday night! That wouldn’t have been too much of a problem if we hadn’t spent much of the journey back up north again sat in a traffic jam approaching Salisbury. It was, however, pretty wet on Monday anyway. Thankfully things cleared up for the rest of the week and we were treated to blue skies for the next couple of days.

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875Ever since we borrowed the Broderick’s cycle chariot back at Easter we’ve been umming and ahhing about getting one ourselves. The big question was, given that prices range from around £60 to £800, how much would we actually use it? Finally caved in last week and bought a Phillips Cleveland on eBay last week for £90 (about half price). It has the benefit of having a hard base but no fancy suspension or add-ons to turn it in to a running buggy or such-like. We picked it up yesterday and took it for a quick spin around the cycleways of Valley Park. The attachment to the bike isn’t as robust as the axle hitch on the Chariot as it just clamps on to the frame. It’s a fine line between attaching it far enough forward that the frame is thick enough and having it not catch on my heel.

More of an issue was the sibling rivalry going on in the back. At one point Duncan was banging Emma over the head with a spade (of the bucket and spade variety I hasten to add! Today Emma insisted that I took her to the supermarket in the trailer (and that Duncan didn’t come.) In the end it was just as well that Duncan wasn’t there as we got a bit carried away with the shopping. Thankfully there aren’t too many hills on the way home!

All things considered, I think it was a good move. The trailer makes less difference to cycling than having a seat on the back and I’m sure Duncan will appreciate it for his ride to nursery when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Most importantly, it means one of us can take both the kids out (providing they learn to get on a bit better!).