College adventures in Hello.

Friday and Saturday was my second college session going towards my countryside and environment qualification. Friday started off with a photography session for a press release. We posed pretending to build a dry stone wall and laying a hedge. We also had a quick flying visit to the college’s farm to look at their dairy herd. Can’t say I approve of their methods, but apparently they’re commonplace. We were told the cows are kept in temperature controlled stalls 24/7 all year round, only being allowed out to pasture fur a few weeks to dry out before being impregnated again. Their bedding is made from their own waste, being taken away, drying it out and putting it back in the stall. It’s called green bedding and is apparently better for the cows because they’re not introducing new bacteria into the herd. It sounds hideous, but when I went to visit the Maasai in Kenya, they used a similar method, the cows and goats sleeping in the middle of the village on a giant mountain of shit, so it’s not really a new thing.

Our tutor, Pam, is lovely. She’s only young, around 30, but she’s so patient and thorough. Last time I was told that I didn’t have to operate the quad bikes if I didn’t want to. (I wasn’t confident doing it in front of my group as I was the only person who didn’t drive!) This time she told me I had to do it if I wanted to pass my assessment. We were learning about trailers, working out how much weight we could safely carry and learning how to hitch and unhitch. She got the group going with a trailer, then told me to come to the other side of the arena to familiarise myself with the bike.

I felt a bit of a div, as the plan had been to get both bikes hitched and running, but because of ME, they could only run the one! Thankfully my group is really nice and they were egging me on. My fears had been totally unfounded as it was literally just a case of getting on it, starting the engine, pressing the throttle and off. It did take a bit of getting used to, as the throttle is a thumb lever on the right handlebar, so every time I turned right, I was also pressing the throttle and speeding up. She told me to have a go at the slalom until my speed was consistent, which took me about 15 minutes. Then she got me changing into second gear and I was off, whizzing around the course!

Day two was theory in the morning, learning about the health and safety legislation and labelling the parts of the bike. After lunch she wanted us all to have a go at reversing the bike into their bollard “garage”. Again she set everyone else off and took me for a quick lesson in reversing. It’s not straight forward, as reverse involves pressing the gear lever down, which would be really easy to do by accident. So on one bike you’ve to turn a knob before going into reverse, the other bike you’ve to depress the foot brake, press a button with your right hand, apply the back brake THEN press the gear lever. I didn’t feel comfortable taking both hands off the handlebars, but that’s the only way to do it!

She got me doing a reverse slalom, then I had to drive to the trailer, reverse up to it and hitch it myself, which none of the rest of the group had to do! I was then reversing round the slalom with the trailer, before she wanted me to have a go at reversing it into the garage. It took me a few attempts, as you’ve to turn the handlebars in the opposite direction to what you think, before righting it. I jack knifed several times before it finally clicked and I sailed straight in....to a round of applause from the rest of the group!

I told Pam how great and patient she was and she looked a bit chuffed with herself! :)

Next time, we’re getting assessed. We’ve to do pre start checks, tyre pressure, oil, coolant etc, then get on the bike correctly (left hand side, three points of contact at all times), move off safely then stop and get off properly.

I have to say I’m a hell of a lot more confident about getting behind the wheel of a car after that.

This is the bike I first learnt to ride on and hitched the trailer to.

This is the bike and trailer I reversed into the garage. I hadn’t realised I’d learnt how to operate the bike without power steering, so once I hopped on this it was a piece of piss!

Photo of dad with Blue.

Handsome boy.

Last updated November 24, 2014