‘Once upon a bicycle rides again Jo Cowan You may remember me setting a challenge last year for people to tell a story related to a bicycle. Several of you took up the gauntlet. It’s now Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022, so here’s a heart-warming tale sent in by Tony Beckett: The Pain in Spain falls mainly on the Plain I was on my third day of cycling the Camino de Santiago when two things started to irritate me: one was the splint on my broken finger which had become loose and the other was my rear wheel which needed to be centred. It was a hot dry day in August in the north of Spain as I sat upon a low wall at the side of a quiet country road on a high plain to tend to my problems. First, I attempted to re-strap the splint but found I couldn’t do it with one hand. Frustrated, I turned my attention to the bike and tried to tighten the rear wheel but lacked the necessary strength in my injured hand. Unable to make progress, I decided to drink some water and survey the lone and level landscape. At this point, on the horizon, a vehicle bounced in the heat haze and slowly made its way towards me. It came to a stop about 100 metres away and four young people dressed in cycling gear got out of a beaten-up, old van. One of them, a Spanish woman, saw
me trying to sort out my slippy splint. I speak Spanish so when she asked me about my hand I was able to explain. ‘I’m a nurse,’ she said. ‘Roberto, pass me my bag.’ Roberto did as he was asked and she began to wrap the splint firmly in place. While she was doing so, Roberto studied the upturned bike surrounded by tools and asked me what was wrong. I told him and he immediately set about fixing it. My problems resolved, my Spanish Samaritans packed themselves back into their van which spluttered away in a cloud of dust, leaving me astonished by my good fortune. The whole encounter had only lasted a couple of minutes but it restored my faith in humanity. Viva Espana.
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