Not only was I able to have a pot of tea on the terrace of the third floor, but I was also able to have it stripped to the half, luxuriating in the sunshine and even feeling that slight skin-prickle that suggests that you might be overdoing the exposure! And that after a night of quite unnecessarily demonstrative rain.
Our rain water drainage in Castelldefels is woefully inadequate and so we have to navigate (a quite apt word) sudden finger lakes stretching the length of gutters. Other low-lying areas have more considerable expanses of water, but a regular cyclist with well worn routes, I know the danger areas and I am more than prepared and now that I have (at long, long last) my throttle attachment for my bike I am able to whisk my way to relative dryness while avoiding on-coming cars.
The only real problem is the section of the cycle lane along the front that is technically in Sitges. Given the rather odd geography of the Sitges region it does mean that the ostensible ‘end’ of Castelldefels to the south is not actually in Castelldefels, but administratively it is in Sitges which is, in reality about twenty-minute drive away through tunnels. Anyway, for cyclists who want a level surface and a view of the sea Castelldefels allows us to cycle along the Paseo next to the beach, until at the end of one section of the resort, the Paseo moves out to run parallel with the Maritime road. On this particular section of the Paseo we cyclists have a dedicated cycle lane.
Having a dedicated cycle lane does not mean that all cyclists use it and keep the paseo free for pedestrians. I must admit that when I am cycling (in the dedicated cycling lane) I share the irritation of pedestrians who have to put up with sometimes recklessly rapid cyclists weaving their way through people rather than using a relatively empty cycle lane. This particular section of the cycle lane is in Castelldefels and is smooth and well maintained.
When you get to ‘Sitges’ the story is rather different. During the full lockdown of the earlier part of the year the number of cyclists expanded exponentially. Cars were infrequent and cyclists came into their own. The dedicated cycle lane ran out at the end section of Castelldefels/Sitges and so you were forced on to the Paseo until you got to Port Ginester and the end of the bay.
The municipal solution was to create a cycle lane by using the car parking strip on the left side of the road next to the paseo as a sudden bike lane. This was done by putting a line of rubber bumps on the outside of the lane, painting a middle line for two-way traffic and cementing the gutter area to make it sort-of level. This means that the part of the lane next to the Paseo is ‘a bit bumpy’ to put it mildly and, although a few drains have been left in situ they are woefully inadequate and they form disconcerting obstacles. This means, of course, that after rain there are thin gutter lakes to negotiate. What this means in practice is that everyone uses the outside lane next to the traffic and only veers into the gutter lane if they absolutely have to.
Sometimes it takes very steady nerves and a firm belief in your right, to maintain your position when one of those so-called professional bike riders comes hurtling towards you in ‘your’ lane. You are relying on their ability to swerve into rectitude and regain their proper lane before they hit you.
I am not a confident bike rider. I am, I think quite reasonably, apprehensive when on the road. I am acutely aware that all it takes is the slightest touch from a larger vehicle to unsettle me and then you discover just how unprotected the normal bike rider is. Obviously, I wear a helmet and I am punctilious about using lights when necessary, but riding is precarious and I have a lively understanding of what might happen if another road user is unwary. I also, as a car user, know just how loathed we bike riders are.
The first question asked in the old Highway Code was, “For whom is the Highway Code written?” to which the answer was, “For all road users, motorists, cyclists, pedestrians etc.” The worst road users are, without doubt, pedestrians. They are reckless, inconsiderate, suicidal, idiotic and most of the time they don’t actually realize that they are road users at all. Then in descending order of awfulness come electric scooters, motor scooters, motorbikes and bicycles. Everyone hates skateboards. And rightly so.
There are, of course, different types of cyclists. I am one of the sit-up-and-beg cyclists, back straight looking like a superannuated clergy man from the 1950s. I wear a T-shirt when the weather is hot and a wind cheater with hood when it isn’t. My bike is a MATE X 250, and is coloured what they describe as ‘burn orange’ and I describe as red. It is electric and has ‘fat’ wheels, eight gears and hydraulic brakes. It looks impressive and, in spite of MATE’s god-awful customer service, I like it. I travel at a sedate power-assisted rate and thoroughly enjoy my daily 11 kilometers or so along pleasantly level and fairly safe routes. I am not a ‘real’ cyclist.
‘Real’ cyclists are inconsiderate bastards. They wear wildly inappropriate, unflattering clothing as if none of them have significant others to tell them that Lycra does nothing for them. They also look diseased as they affect those skin-tight shirts with various hidden pockets where they can secrete the impedimenta necessary for their progress on their thin, thin wheels. They also wear ‘serious’ helmets which make them look as though they have inexplicably attached a row of sausages to their heads in the name of safety.
And talking of safety, these ‘professional’ riders scorn the word. They weave in and out at high speed insinuating their way into spaces that don’t exist to the ‘unprofessional’ eye. They ignore traffic lights, ‘no entry’ signs and ‘one way’ prohibitions, they over-take or under-take with no warning and with no indication that they might be followed by hundreds of other bikes. They pass too close and far too quickly, their lane discipline is non-existent and they assume that no other traffic exists.
I know that the preceding is grotesque generalization and the majority of riders are considerate and fair. But that is not how it seems when you are actually cycling. It is only in the calm after the ride that reason takes over again!
So, back to the gutter-lakes.
The ‘Sitges’ section of the bike lane is long and straight, you can see a long way ahead and plan accordingly. When I am making my way back home from Port Ginester (in the wrong part of the lane because of the bumpy concrete apology of a surface) I can see any cyclists making towards me, I can check the proximity of gutter-lakes and plan my speed to avoid splashing my way through. Normally, this works out fairly well a gentle increase or decrease in speed means that the passing is without incident. Not everyone has my consideration and I have experienced those who think that the onus in on me to get out of the way in my lane to give more space to the cyclists who think that they have a god given right to pull out, when what they should actually do is stop.
As motorists, you will also have experienced this: motorists pulling out behind stopped buses and gong into the other lane in spite of the fact that they can see you approaching in the other direction. They should just bloody well wait! What are they doing that is so important that it requires them to risk injury to gain a few seconds that they will lose at the next set of traffic lights? But then logic has never been the driving feature of, well, driving!
Part of my problem, of course, is that the sedate speed that I adopt allows me time to observe my surroundings and my fellow road users and, let’s face it, observation is often condemnation. At least for me it is!
I finished off the Suzanne Collins prequel to The Hunger Games and I think that it will make an excellent film - surely it was written with that in mind? The ending was clever and allowed the reader of The Hunger Games to tick a few more boxes of the pre-knowledge details that makes any prequel engaging. I would recommend The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I think that the actual ending of the novel might divide opinion, but I thought it was an interesting and appropriate culmination of what is a very long novel. And don’t we always, sometimes secretly, like the baddies in literature rather than the heroes and heroines? And Snow has legs, and Collins make the most of them!
