Recycling a couple of bikes

I bought a couple of matching Hybrid bicycles that were advertised in the Western Telegraph market place. They were as good as new, hardly used at all. A week or so later, I bought a couple of sets of mudguards from ebay, along with a front wheel complete with hub dynamo. I wanted a hub dynamo so I could charge my sat nav and phone as we cycle along. The only problem is a dynamo produces 6 volt AC current and I needed 6 volt DC current, so I bought a rectifier device to achieve this, from the good old USA. I seem to be rebuilding these bikes but they have to be right, for our European trip next May. We were about to take our bikes out for our maiden voyage today. We filled the flasks and packed the snacks ready for our trip, then, all hell let loose. The blue sky’s disappeared to be replaced by heavy rain and thunder and lightning. We decided to leave it until tomorrow, which is supposed to be a better day. I am now searching ebay for a cheap Trangia compact cooking stove, and a couple of self inflating mats for sleeping on, in our 50% off, £24 Tesco four man tent. I found out last week that for only £10, you can take yourself and your bike on the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk in France, an absolute bargain. We will be doing this trip on a tight budget to include wild camping across Belgium, Holland and Germany where possible (it is not really allowed, but you can get away with it if you pitch late and leave early). It should take two months to complete the trip, but there is no rush. I am hoping I lose a bit of weight cycling the 1800 mile round trip, can’t wait, but let’s get the cycling around Pembrokeshire and beyond underway first.

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