I find it a bit frustrating that I can't cycle from my village into Stirling, about four miles away, without having to ride on a pretty busy - and pretty cyclist-unfriendly - main road. There is a back road I can use (and often do on our Sunday cycles), but I still have to cycle part of the way on main roads, and I just don't enjoy being on my bike on main roads at busy times.
This morning, while I was gathering my things together to head into Stirling for a keep fit class (it's called 'Stretch and Relax', so 'keep fit' might be stretching it a bit...), I was really wishing I could cycle there. It was a lovely Autumn morning and simply perfect for a ride!
And then it dawned on me that Next Bike recently launched its scheme in Stirling! Perfect!
I quickly registered online, drove to the nearest docking station (in an outlying Business Park), dumped the car and hopped on to a bike. Aw man, I loved it! It was less than two miles to the dock nearest to the place where I was going for the class - but two miles is better than no miles! And, I took a bit of a detour on the way back, so I cycled a whole six miles in total.
I guess I could've shoved my own bike onto the car rack and did the same thing using my own bike. But I struggle to lift my bike up onto the rack on my own and it was so easy just jumping into the car, out of the car and onto a bike!
I know it's not the same as ditching the car altogether, leaving it at home and cycling the whole way, but it did feel like a good compromise - and it did save me some money on centre-of-town parking! If I use the scheme often enough I'll definitely spend less on Next Bike fees than I would on parking.
So, since I'm very much a fair-weather cyclist, I'm hoping for plenty more lovely Autumn and Winter mornings in the weeks to come - so that I can keep on enjoying Parking and Riding!
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| Parking and Riding past sunny Stirling Castle |
