Climate Change Champion Discovers The Strumble Shuttle

However, I have had one revelation - the Strumble Shuttle. I live slap bang in the middle of nowhere, so it can be a pretty daunting prospect of having to get to and from town when you don't have parents to give you lifts. With my exams I was forced to develop my own strategies for getting to and from school, else, I was stuck with the less than inviting idea of having to sit in a deserted classroom revising. This can seem even less of a good idea when the other option is to be sitting, sunbathing, with a Calypo in one hand and a textbook in the other, shielding your eyes from the sun. So I had to find my way to and from a school, five miles away from home. The first thing I did was to consult the county bus service. It turns out that the bus (the Strumble Shuttle - great name) only passes my house twice a day, once at 10.20am, the other at 2.30pm, neither of which fitted into my exam timetable. It took my cousin and I two and a half hours to walk home from town when we missed a bus, so there was no chance of me doing that. My last option was my bike, well, not mine, my Mum's. This bike and I have bonded. It is a real vintage bike with long curves and a heavenly, massive comfy seat. The only thing missing is a basket on the front, I'm not going to lie, I expect I looked like a complete fool, but you know, sometimes you just have to make exceptions.

This bike and I are now best buddies. I have finished all my exams now, not having missed one. The only thing I could possibly find fault about cycling was the prospect of cycling up a half a mile hill which even makes the bus driver apprehensive with the little horse power he has, to power his bus filled with lazy teenagers. However, I am proud to say that not once did that hill get the best of me, not once! I developed a technique, which was, that if I just kept pedaling, I would get to the top. That technique never failed me. I am now reformed, although the first couple of times the cycle in and out seemed arduous and excessively sweaty, however as exams went by, the time seemed to pass quicker, and I began to find it really relaxing and enjoyable. And if I really couldn't face the cycle home after a two and a half hour Welsh exam, I could just hop on the Strumble Shuttle at 3pm with my bike and glide home.

So the moral of this story is... cycling isn't hard. You just need to get used to it, and when you do, there's almost nothing better to get rid of pre-exam or work stress. Just a word of caution to everyone who, I'm sure is already wondering where their cycling helmet's got to: make sure that you have a nice big fat seat on your bike too!

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