Festival fun?

The middle months always seem packed with things to do- last weekend I popped along to the Green Fayre then the Festival of Cycling and this weekend I spent a little time at the Godiva Festival- The best bits of each were the chance meetings





At the Cycle festival I was fortunate to meet with Alec Wagstaff, a coventrian cycling into his 90's. The first thing I noticed was his lovely bike a Tommy Godwin

He took the time to tell me about his life with bikes, cycling in the army during WW2 as as a part of the Buckshee wheelers and then returning and continuing to cycle on the bike that he had with him on the day.







The Godiva festival was a whole other experience, i'm not sure what i thought it was going to be like, but it was more overwhelming than I remember it being. There were certainly lots of people which I guess is a measure of success. Thankfully amoungst the swarm of determined teenage drinkers, there was a small oasis in the Greenspace tent. Oddly though this (along with the childrens tent and the life and times tent) was on the periphery of the main site on the main thoroughfare forming part of the bottleneck into the festival proper.







Here there was a small taster of the green ingenuity going on in Coventry. It was fantastic that we were able to watch as Pip the thatcher demonstrated how to thatch and the beekeepers showed off their bee's in their see-through hive and get the chance to speak with the guys from warwickshire wildlife trust.













I even spotted one of the guys from Gardening Together arriving with a tree and bits of his stall on his old Moulton






Obviously there is a balance between producing a commercially attractive event and including elements such as the green tent whilst maintaining (particularly during the day) a family friendly feel, i'm not sure it achieved it this year.

A fantastic day at the Green Fayre

Well it was a windy, wet and early start for me and the guys organising the Green Fayre, 7.30am standing in an empty bit of the Memorial park with nothing but a pile of unbuilt stalls and a hoard of 'boot camp' fitness folk to keep us company. The Fayre was in a fantastic position this year and it didn't take long for things to take shape.






As soon as the stalls went up, people starting arriving, the music and food marque appeared and in the blink of an eye all was ready and waiting.













From 11am onwards there was a steady stream of new people, i'm not sure how many people attended in the end, but it was constantly busy.









It was lovely to see so many people, parent and children cycling to the Fayre- encouraged somewhat by the presence of Dr Bike and the free bike checks.














I did manage to spot this lovely tandem at Fayre, a handbuilt bromwich adapted at the back for a little one






There's a definite feel of the Glastonbury green fields of old at the Green Fayre, it's really relaxed and inoffensive, which is a welcome relief. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the event, there was some great music, fab food and I had some great conversations with many truly interesting people...roll on 2012!

Glad i'm not at glastonbury?

Can't believe its Glastonbury again, another year gone by and another summer just beginning. This year I've done the sensible thing and stayed at home, not only did i save myself the £200 it would cost to get in, i've avoided the festering pools of mud, half eaten kebabs, beer cans and thankfully there's no fear of drunken folk crashing through my home and landing on my bed this weekend...That said, i'm still tuning into the coverage, having a sneaky peaky at what i'm missing- BB King's just finished a stonking set that would have made my weekend......who am I kidding- even in its modern beer fueled form i'd love to be there, if only to hang out in the green field and once again hear the wonderful sound of the Wandering Ska Solar Powered Sound System

Anyway found out these great bike hack pics from my last venture to the festival, its amazing how many uses the bicycle can have when you're not allowed to bring a generator

Brilliant free phone charging. There was a whole rank of these, 20 mins of cycling equated to about a bar of charge on your phone- you can find the instructions on how to make your own here.
















Found this guy working away in the green field, living out of his van and working off this homemade, pedal powered grinder/ polisher to make jewellery, fantastic.










Green Fayre tomorrow- looks like the glasto weather has settled over coventry, but don't let that put you off don your wellies and get down to memorial park for a look.

Team green britain bike week

We're at the beginning of 'Team Green Britain Bike Week', which is promoting cycling across the UK for the week of the 18th -26th June. There's lots happening- even a few events that you can attend locally to fix and chat about all things bike- not least the wonderful Green Fayre where Dr bike will be present along with (I think) a couple of the local cycling groups.

Have a look at both sites, they're full of useful information.