Pedalling round the world
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BIKE Week begins tomorrow across the UK, but Inverness councillor Hamish Wood needs no encouragement to get on his bike.
Hamish has cycled across the USA and to the roof of the world at Everest Base Camp as part of his cycling adventures in five continents — all in his seventh decade.
So no wonder he is the council’s health and wellbeing champion and a keen advocate of the benefits of pedal power.
However, for Hamish, cycling began through necessity rather than choice.
"My parents didn’t have a car so the only way I could get about was by cycling," he explained.
As a scout in Aberdeen he would think nothing of putting a rucksack on his back and cycling into the country for the day.
In those days, children had perhaps more freedom to go exploring than they do today, but even so he admits he worried his parents.
"We went to Banchory and over the hills to Stonehaven, just 10 or 11 year old boys," he said.
"Fortunately my friend had an aunt in Stonehaven who put us up for the night — I remember the shocked expression on her face when we knocked on the door!"
When he started working and could afford a car, Hamish found himself cycling less, but when his children got older he decided to take them cycling on the Continent.
"My daughter was 10 and my son was 12 when we did our first trip to Holland," he said.
The years that followed saw the Woods making other overseas trips including one to Paris to see the finale of the most famous cycle tour of all, the Tour de France.
"We were at the finishing line when the Italians came over as a team," he recalled. "The atmosphere and the razzmataz is something you don’t always see on television. We had a great day, but we went back to the bikes and discovered our three bikes were down to two. Someone had stolen my son’s new bike."
This resulted in Hamish and his daughter having to travel separately from his 14-year-old son on parts of their return journey to Britain and again when they had to cross London to catch their train to Scotland.
"He had to go into the Tube himself and me and my daughter had to cycle across London. I don’t know who was more relieved to see the other at the end," he admitted.
However, when he was 16, Hamish’s son decided to call a halt to the family cycling holidays and it was not until after the death of his wife that Hamish took up cycling seriously again.
"I had two ways to go, not do things or build up another way of life," he said.
That was when he decided to begin cycling tours, beginning with Vietnam.
"That was fascinating. We had the opportunity to go underground and see the tunnels used by the Viet Cong," Hamish said.
"The tunnels were quite claustrophobic, but they pointed out they had actually widened them to allow Europeans to go down and put in electricity."
On that trip Hamish met fellow cyclist Phil Child and they began planning how to complete their long held ambition of cycling across America.
Taking the continental crossing in two stages by cycling for 21 days non-stop and then returning a year later to exactly the same spot to conclude their journey, they took the recommended route from west to east.
"It’s supposed to be the best way to go because you get the wind at your back. In reality we got very little assistance from the wind," he said.
The route took them from San Diego in California to Jacksonville in Florida, taking them through Texas and across the south-western deserts.
"One of the most boring parts of the whole trip was a place where the road was dead straight for 25 miles and on either side of the road was exactly the same scenery," Hamish said.
"I like cactuses, but after that I didn’t want to see another one for a long time.
"The Americans have no concept at all of the UK. One chap came up and asked us: ‘Do they speak English in Britain?’ It was a genuine question. Americans don’t travel outside their own country. Another one asked us: ‘Do you know Tony Blair?’"
That was in 2003 when Hamish was 61.
Since then he has increased the number of countries he has cycled in to 26, including Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Equador, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand, along with a number of countries in Europe.
"Age should not be a reason not to do something," he said.
"If you do your preparation right age isn’t an issue. I regularly go to the gym, but whenever I have a trip I go more."
Preparation was especially important for his 65th birthday present to himself, a 1000 kilometre cycle trip which took in Everest Base Camp, 5545 metres (18,200 feet) up in the Himalayas.
"That was a real challenge," he acknowledged.
"We flew into Kathmandu in Nepal and spent a few days there to acclimatise and flew to Lhasa in Tibet and spent a few days there.
"Because of the high altitude, you can’t do things fast. You can cycle for a couple of minutes and then have to stop, completely out of breath. Sometimes even the fittest person can come down with altitude sickness.
"The Tibetans were incredibly friendly. I knew from previous experience of cycling in Nepal that it’s not money they are after because there is nowhere to spend it, but the children loved getting a pen. The Tibetans don’t have a good life, but they never let it get them down."
However, there were some cultural differences to overcome.
"The great drink out there is buttermilk and they prepare it for you fresh," Hamish said.
"We finished the drink and it was filled up again and this went on a couple of times. We didn’t realise that in their culture an empty cup has to be filled again so you always leave something in your cup."
Hamish believes that inability to speak a language should be no more a barrier than age to travel.
"There are other ways of communicating," he said.
"People recognise that you are non-threatening and interested enough to come to their country."
A Buddhist convert himself, Hamish also took an interest in how the religion fared under Chinese rule.
"One chap had a book he was showing us and out fell a picture of the Dalai Lama," he recalled. "He became very agitated and was worried that we would report him to the authorities. It brought home to us that people still have strong feelings about him."
However, exotic trips are not necessary to enjoy cycling.
"Inverness is a good place to cycle in," the Scorguie resident said.
With work beginning on the Kessock Bridge this week, Hamish suggested now might be a good opportunity for travellers from the Black Isle to park on the north side of the firth and use their bikes for the rest of the journey into Inverness.
"Get the cycle out of the shed," he advised.
"One thing though, take it slowly. People think they can cycle for miles and miles but if you do too much it can be a strain."
Hamish has also put his cycling to use by joining a group taking visually impaired cyclists on the road both locally and internationally.
"There’s a local tandem group and that started me doing holidays abroad with the visually impaired," he said.
"I went to Sri Lanka with one visually impaired cyclist, crossed the Pyrenees and also went to Italy. Tandem cycling for a visually impaired person is quite fascinating. One person invited me to his house and we went out on a cycling route. This person is 100 per cent blind and he talked me through the whole route. He knew exactly where to turn and when to slow.
"Tandem cycling is very hard going, especially on hills, but not on the flat. One guy went past us on his bike, so I said: ‘Let’s see if we can pass him.’ When we got on the flat we ended up shooting past his superfast bike. That felt good."
