Ok, so there I am yesterday, covering ground on the cross bike, mainly along well known walker laylines aka; The South Downs Way.
And I passed a lot of people.
And a few bikers.
And a couple of motocross riders.
And a horse.
The issue I have here is that I said hello to all (except the motocross riders on the principle they were both illegal and dangerous at the time and they couldn't hear me with full face helmets on at 50mph!). The mountain bikers were sort of friendly (probably just embarrassed at being overtaken off road by a chap on a racing bike...
) but the foot users....
I have come to the conclusion that outsiders on foot fall into three categories.
a) Amateurs.
These wander off into the outer edges of the nature in trainers and sunburn and don't say hello, not because they are grumpy, but rather that they are from the urban and don't yet know (or have now forgotten) that they can speak to a fellow being and not get mugged or considered a sexpest. No problem with this version
b) Walkers.
These are the friendly ones. The ones that love the outdoors as much as you and I and appreciate that that is what it's all about. The on foot version of the soul rider. No problem here either.
c) Ramblers.
The red sock brigade. This lot are trouble. The Mujahadeen of the outdoor world. They appear to do it for the misery. In that respect I am surprised to find them on the 'tame' South Downs' and not battling the elements in Yorkshire or Basra instead. And The stabilisers...I stopped using stabilisers three decades ago...why do they flail them around like it's the North Face of the Eiger on top of Graffam Woods...?
I can imagine this bunch having a rule that if your beard's not long enough, you're not allowed in - like the Taliban.
This will obviously not stop me trying to break through the 'nay'lines of their weathered faces and corrupt a smile out of them, but sometimes, it does seem like an impossible task.
And I passed a lot of people.
And a few bikers.
And a couple of motocross riders.
And a horse.
The issue I have here is that I said hello to all (except the motocross riders on the principle they were both illegal and dangerous at the time and they couldn't hear me with full face helmets on at 50mph!). The mountain bikers were sort of friendly (probably just embarrassed at being overtaken off road by a chap on a racing bike...
) but the foot users....I have come to the conclusion that outsiders on foot fall into three categories.
a) Amateurs.
These wander off into the outer edges of the nature in trainers and sunburn and don't say hello, not because they are grumpy, but rather that they are from the urban and don't yet know (or have now forgotten) that they can speak to a fellow being and not get mugged or considered a sexpest. No problem with this version
b) Walkers.
These are the friendly ones. The ones that love the outdoors as much as you and I and appreciate that that is what it's all about. The on foot version of the soul rider. No problem here either.
c) Ramblers.
The red sock brigade. This lot are trouble. The Mujahadeen of the outdoor world. They appear to do it for the misery. In that respect I am surprised to find them on the 'tame' South Downs' and not battling the elements in Yorkshire or Basra instead. And The stabilisers...I stopped using stabilisers three decades ago...why do they flail them around like it's the North Face of the Eiger on top of Graffam Woods...?
I can imagine this bunch having a rule that if your beard's not long enough, you're not allowed in - like the Taliban.
This will obviously not stop me trying to break through the 'nay'lines of their weathered faces and corrupt a smile out of them, but sometimes, it does seem like an impossible task.
