Bologna – the city

Really enjoying our first trip to Bologna – the old centre is most attractive. There are many lovely food shops as well as fine old shops fronts. We are also eating very well – both lunch and dinner – in very welcoming friendly restaurants with excellent food. Naturally the charcuterie is wonderful. 

We are already very tempted to do a return visit to this delightful city – why the hell are we leaving the EU!? 

Details of restaurants to follow.


  

Street in the old centre

Sala Borsa

Piazza Nettuno – a contrast between old and new  

 

Towers in the centre of Bologna 

(above and below) 

 Cakes and sweet shop in the old centre

 Wide range of pasta 

(above and below)

 Charcuterie including the famous mortadella

Plenty of people biking around Bologna, 

so lots of cycle parking 

France: cycle helmets to be obligatory for children under 12 from 22nd March 2017

A décret published on 22nd December 2016 signed by the French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve decrees that from 22nd March 2017 all children under 12 riding a bike or on a bike ridden by an adult must wear a cycle helmet. See report here. Once the law comes into force parents, whose kids are not wearing a helmet, will face a fine of 135€. 

The new law is intended to protect young children from head and face injuries. For the moment there is no obligation for cyclists from 12 and above to wear a helmet when cycling.  

I welcome this new law, which should offer some protection to young children. However, as far as I know this new law has not been widely publicized, so many parents from the UK with young children intending to holiday in France with their kids and intending to cycle with them need to be aware of this new law.    

Excellent Cadence but some thoughtless drivers

The top of Anerley Hill 
approaching Crystal Palace

Cadence stocks Giant bikes 

Cadence Performance is almost at the top of Anerley hHill about 100-metres on the left down from the traffic lights at the start of Crystal Palace Parade. Years ago the late Ken Bird, who died in late January 2005, had his bike shop at the bottom of the hill on the right hand side. 

Some four years after we bought our mountain bikes, CRM and I have decided to invest in a couple of road bikes. This time we have opted to buy from Cadence in Crystal Palace. I bought my second Scott mountain bike from Evans Cycles in Clapham and, although the staff were friendly and helpful, the bike fitting service from Evans is not a patch on what is offered by Cadence if you are buying a new bike. Even if you are not buying a new bike you can pay £150 to have a similar thorough fitting. 

I was very impressed with the thoroughness of Sandro Ferramaichi, the fitter who is Portuguese despite his Italian first name. His family comes from Sétubal and some members of his family are involved in wine in the Tejo Valley as well as making chorizo.   It isn't until you ride a modern road bike do you realise how much drag there is from the heavy tires of a mountain bike.

Having picked up my new Giant Contend SL yesterday, I made sure I benefited from today's glorious late autumn weather, although initially it was quite cold.

Apart from the short ride from Sydenham Hill to the Crystal Palace Park on my mountain bike and a couple of rides, today was the first time I had ridden on London roads for years.

The increase in road furniture since the early 1980s has been dramatic. Although these refuges may provide safe places for pedestrians to cross a busy road, they do little for a cyclist as they create pinch points. If it is a tight pinch point I aim to ride in the middle of the road to prevent traffic passing me in the fairly brief time it takes to pass through the road furniture. For some drivers this brief hold up is too long. Traveling through Beckenham towards Elmers Road, some idiot in a large car accelerated and then swung in to make sure they passed through the pinch point – a gain of just a few seconds but a foolishly dangerous manoeuvre. 

Despite driver idiocies I enjoyed my ride, which gave me a chance to get used to the new bike and its ways. One big change is, of course, that you change gear on the handle bars not by using levers on the bike's down tube.    
              

 Our expanding stock of bikes – 2 VTT and 2 road bikes 

La petite reine – an occasional series

 Bike@the Edinbane Pottery

This is first of an occasional series featuring la petite reine (or bike if you prefer). It will feature bikes I find interesting either from their shape and style etc. or where they are. The first two examples both come from the Isle of Skye.   

 Bike@the Talisker Distillery  – 

parked just across the road with a Loch side view