And so to some of yer actual boncycling; a 40 mile cycle up to the Swindon & District Bonsai association’s winter image show. Now, I’ve never been to this particular event before but the legends were growing and I felt it was time I did hie me to it.

So off we toddled for a weekend at me sister’s just down the road from the event (40 miles down the road) and on the Sunday I was duly deposited at the start of the road to Swindon. Now in a gas guzzler it takes a mere half hour as you can belt it up the M4 in no time. I had selected the back roads as, quite apart from the legal issues, the traffic around that part of the world is significantly heavier than we get here. When I set out it was overcast but dry and that was about the best I encountered throughout the ride.

The early stage was reasonably fast espite a bit of a headwind at times, and I made it to the outskirts of Swindon – some 35 miles – in about 2 and a quarter hours. Then, the fickle finger of fate intervened, in the shape of roundabouts. Lots of roundabouts. Roundabouts with roundabouts going off them. Roundabouts which had, seemingly, nothing coming off them except the road you just came up on. Despite several phone calls to Steve harleyrider Jackson who was already at base camp, it took me the best part of another two hours to reach the venue.

But when I got there I was treated to a very very special show indeed. Sadly I have no photograohic record of it but there are a number on the IBC forum (see links). The overall impression was of a well-organised show that had set its sights well above the usual quality associated with such an event. Well done to the Swindon folk for maintaining (and indeed enhancing) the quality of this show year on show. This is precisely the sort of event that pushes the bar of UK bonsai right up.

Next year I shall cycle there all the way from Elderslie.