Bridge 11 - 'The Bridge to Nowhere', Bellhaven Bay, Dunbar, Scotland

 Robin turning the bike for me in the wind

 21 April 2013
Thanks to Robin MacEwen for the idea, planning (including tide tables), lifting and turning my bike and great images.

 The tide was not as high as we had anticipated but that did mean that my lovely shiny new wheels didn't have to touch the seawater.  The wind was so strong that it was really difficult to ride the bike on the bridge and there was a great deal more posing than cycling.  After a nice picnic, some of it in the JamesBond-like car that Robin has, I enjoyed exploring Dunbar's nooks and crannies.  Then I got the train back (in case anyone thought I had cycled from Edinburgh to Dunbar!) but left my precious spectacles behind, thus starting a whole trauma for me, as I am lost without them.  I am sure I will be reunited with them soon.  Meanwhile, this was number 11 and I have 9 to go.  The next one is the Dean Bridge in Edinburgh on May 10th.  See you there!

Bridge 10: Galata Bridge, Istanbul

                           Sponsored by Debbie Davidson

Galata Bridge, Istanbul

Neither cyclists nor pedestrians are allowed on the Borphorus Bridge so I had to settle for the Galata.  Indeed, this is actually where Debbie D would have been in the 1960s when her father broke his false teeth on a fish sandwich - the Bosphorus was only built in 1973.

Atek Bike Hire gave us free bikes!

Support team, Frank and Sally, did a lot of research in advance so, while I didn't believe that bikes were banned from the Borphorus Bridge and had to check it out for myself (what's new?), their advance work made it possible for me to do the Galata very easily.  Ishak Tekkol of 'atek', which sells and rents bikes was mystified at our short rental and, since he was in the middle of lunch when we got back, didn't charge us at all.  Huge thanks to him for that and go there if you need a bike or a bike-related service in Istanbul.  We only found him because of a helpful waiter in a nearby restaurant.

Enthusiastic waiter! 

Galata Bridge Support Team

We cycled on the footpath as I was not completely suicidal that day, though I did cycle a bit of the short distance from the bike hire shop to the bridge.  My support team then bought me lunch and I got a lovely pic with the same waiter who had found the bike hire in the first place.  Altogether a good day's work.

Bridge 9: Se-o-Se Pol, the 33 Arches Bridge, Esfahan, Iran

Se-o-Se Pol at night

Biked in honour of Janina Stepek, whose grave in Tehran I visited a few days earlier and whose grandson, Martin, has particularly sponsored this bike crossing.

This amazing bridge dates from 1603 and has 33 large arches below, with 64 little arches on the bridge level.  The bridge is pedestrianised now and is a place of picnic and leisure for Iranians, both local and visiting.  Sadly the river bed is currently dry, the water having been diverted, it is said, to Yazd.

There is no law against women cycling here in Iran but the Council-run city-bike rental place would not hire to a woman.  Doing a walking reccie of the bridge, we met some Iranian young men on bikes and persuaded them to lend me one of their bikes to do the crossing.  In spite of their grave reservations, as reported in my travel blog, the crossing was completed without any police interference. 

My support team - Fouad and Svitlana

Thanks to my super-guide, Fouad Vali, for persuading the Iranian young man to part with his bike and for doing the necessary photography and to Svitlana, my tour companion, for holding my bags (an essential support!).

Postscript:  The water was returned to the Bridge a couple of weeks later - see video and pics.

Bosphorus for Debbie D

The Bosphorus and its amazing Bridge

Now I have actually seen the Bosphorus Bridge and took this photo this morning.  Cycling over it doesn't seem to be a common hobby but I have some ideas as to how to make it possible and will get onto that once I am back in Istanbul on 6th April.  There's a bridge or 33 to be done in Iran first.

Iran and Istanbul

Last day of prep for my trip to Iran, via Turkey.  The plan is to cycle across the Si-o-se Pol or 'Bridge of 33 Arches' in Esfahan in Iran and then bike across the Bosphorus on the way home.  You can sponsor the individual crossings or just the whole venture!

Bridges that got away

At the Meeting of the Waters, near Avoca

Lovely bridges in Co Wicklow, Ireland, but no-one had a bicycle that I could borrow.  The blizzard conditions probably contributed to that problem.  So, none were cycled but aren't they lovely?

Derrybawn bridge in Laragh

Glendalough between blizzards

Signed route to a B&B, Glendalough

Bridge 8 - Crossing the River Trent

Nottingham - 4 bridges over the Trent

23rd February 2013

Had a lovely cycle today with Green Cllr Richard Bearman from Norwich. We crossed the Trent by one Wilford Bridge, then went along and crossed the Toll Bridge, which looks like Princes Street in Edinburgh (tram works). Fortified by chocolate brownies, the bringing of which raises Richard high in the ranks of my bridge co-bikers, we crossed the pretty suspension bridge and then the more scary Trent Bridge, where I saw the 'Welcome to Nottingham' sign and nearly caused an accident screeching to a halt for a photo.  Well worth it, don't you think?


After all that we had a nice ride along the canal, resisting almost all the bridges there and back to work at our GPEW Conference just as it started to snow.

After all of that I can only really count the escapade as one bridge (set).  Thanks for a great outing, Richard!